The upcoming 2022 Beijing Winter Games sparked a strong interest in skiing among the Chinese.
With Beijing successful in its bid to host the Winter Games 2022, China set out engaging 300 million Chinese in winter sports. The Chinese government aims to boost the participation rate of China in the winter games.
From a meager two percent, China has been devising tactics to reach their target participation rate of 22 percent. With two years left to launch the most prestigious winter competition, the Chinese government stated what is in store for the upcoming event.
Zhang Xu, one of the Chinese people learning winter sports, praised how the Winter Games ignited a passion among his fellow Chinese people.
The 2022 Beijing Winter Games became the springboard for China to attract many people to try the sports in the safest and coldest indoor structures.
The sudden boom of snow resorts has been more conspicuous, following an ever-increasing rate of participants four times the usual number. The burgeoning statistics of middle-class families contributed to the abundance of people's participation.
The 25-year-old snowboarder said that he started joining winter sports in July. It was when the Sunac Snow Centre opened in Chengdu.
"I fell in love with the sport. Skiing used to be a relatively small sport (in China) but now it's more popular, and the credit for that is down to the Winter Olympics," Zhang spoke.
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In 2010, China had only over 200 ski resorts. The demand for winter sports in the country is evident with the sudden spike in the number of ski resorts at 770 by the end of the year, as per real estate group JLL.
Only select areas in China have a perfect climate for skiing, so it is ideal for the residents to ski indoor.
"I have plans to go skiing in Xinjiang, Shandong, or Jilin. As I get better, the length of the slope here might not meet my needs," said Zhang, who prefers to ski in much colder provinces.
Liu Jia, the Sunac Snow Center manager, said that their first indoor ski resort in southwestern China was home to many visitors. The snow center had three ski slopes with varying levels and ski lifts and escalators.
Liu added that their pink-blossomed trees and neon-lit igloos are also a must for selfie-takers.
According to Liu, the enormous size of the ski resort was thought to be the largest in the world. The resort was compared to the size of 12 football pitches that is about 869,700 square feet.
In the next years, this might be surpassed by a work-in-progress ski resort based in Shanghai, in terms of area.
The host Beijing has high hopes for its athletes to bag more than five gold medals in 109 winter sports, according to the state news agency Xinhua in 2019.
China had 13 gold medals in Winter Games history, wherein the majority came from skating. From 1924 to 2018, the three leading countries in winter gold medals are Norway with 132 golds, followed by the United States with 105 golds, and Germany with 92 golds.
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