In this undated file photo, skiers hit the slopes at the Genting Snow Park, a venue for the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games, in Chongli district, Zhangjiakou, in Hebei province. (WANG ZHAO / AFP)
Li Wei was a community worker when Beijing won the bid to host the Winter Olympics in 2015.
His daily job included arranging sports and cultural events for community residents in his jurisdiction to bond with one another.
"I had never thought of engaging much in the way of any winter sports, much less making a career out of it," says the 39-year-old local from Shaoyaoyu village in northwestern Beijing's Yanqing district.
"If my memory serves me right, I had only skied about three times between 2012 and 2017," Li says.
Like many residents in Yanqing, Li was simply excited that an international event of great significance is going to take place right on his doorstep.
When the local authority gave support to the founding of a ski team to encourage locals to participate in winter sports in 2017, he jumped at the opportunity.
"I signed up, because team members would be given free access to the ski facilities," Li says half-jokingly.
Home to venues for the upcoming Winter Olympics, Yanqing has been committed to popularizing winter sports and publicizing Winter Olympics culture by organizing public ski events and related classes at night, says Ye Dahua, an official with the district
Later, the initiative that founded the team also received business sponsorship that provided Li and his teammates skiing equipment and snowsuits.
Although the beginning was tough for Li as a skiing novice, it gradually became a nice diversion for him, especially after his team was given professional training on the slopes.
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"I would rather skip lunch than miss my ski practice at noon," he says.
Li's skills have improved tremendously, and he has gone from stumbling along on a junior-level ski runs to racing smoothly down steep advanced pistes. Eventually he has worked his way up to being a professional ski coach and judge.
His team has grown from 18 to about 80, and they have given training to more than 10,000 skiers.
"None of it would have happened, if it weren't for the city being named host of the Winter Olympics, which have offered a better platform for ski enthusiasts in Yanqing," Li says.
Home to venues for the upcoming Winter Olympics, Yanqing has been committed to popularizing winter sports and publicizing Winter Olympics culture by organizing public ski events and related classes at night, says Ye Dahua, an official with the district.
So far, in Yanqing, participants in winter sports classes have totaled 81,000, and about 50,000 people are making a living from businesses related to the sector.
Local primary and middle school students have been allowed to opt for skiing and other winter sports as their extracurricular activities.
To date, approximately 24,000 students in Yanqing have taken up winter sports.
The district will enjoy the wide-ranging prospects offered by use of the venues post-Games, and transform itself into an international ski and tourism resort, says Ding Zhangchun, deputy district head.
In this undated file photo, ice and snow sports enthusiasts play curling in Beijing's Haidian district. (YUAN YI / FOR CHINA DAILY)
After the Games, Yanqing will further enhance its skiing facilities for the public and build ice-and-snow resorts to provide winter sports, leisure and tourism, according to the Legacy Report of Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Beijing that was launched in June.
In spring, summer and autumn, a variety of outdoor leisure and sports activities will also be available.
The National Sliding Center, the only venue for bobsleigh, skeleton and luge in China, will continue to serve as the venue for various high-level competitions after the Games and provide a professional training venue for the national and youth teams
For example, the National Alpine Skiing Center, which will stage the alpine skiing events at Beijing 2022, will continue to be a sports venue for such competitions, as well as serving as the training venue for the national, and other professional, alpine skiing teams, according to the report.
The venue will also be open to high-level amateur skiers during winter, and will serve as a mountain sightseeing and outdoor sports venue for the rest of the year.
The National Sliding Center, the only venue for bobsleigh, skeleton and luge in China, will continue to serve as the venue for various high-level competitions after the Games and provide a professional training venue for the national and youth teams.
The center has a special starting point on the track reserved for the general public, which will allow people to experience the thrill of sports after the Games, creating a multipurpose venue that is capable of staging major sports events and catering to recreational demand, the report says.
Yanqing will also build new public ski resorts and expand existing ones, with the goal of offering more than 1 million square meters of professional and public ski areas, Ding says.
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The National Indoor Stadium will be converted to serve different types of sporting events, including cultural and tourism activities and general youth training programs after the ice hockey and para ice hockey events at Beijing 2022
The local authority will also integrate the district's Badaling Great Wall and World Horticultural Exposition with winter sports.
Outside Yanqing, other Olympic venues are also expected to join in the winter fun.
Beijing 2022 has made full use of the rich Olympic legacy of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Six venues from Beijing 2008 have been renovated and upgraded to accommodate winter sports.
The National Aquatics Center will host ice sports events, swimming events and large cultural performances after serving as the venue for the curling and wheelchair curling events at Beijing 2022.
The National Indoor Stadium will be converted to serve different types of sporting events, including cultural and tourism activities and general youth training programs after the ice hockey and para ice hockey events at Beijing 2022.
At the National Speed Skating Oval, also known as the Ice Ribbon, sporting events and public sports activities will take place following the Winter Olympics. It will be a multifunction ice sports center that serves the needs for sporting events, mass fitness, culture and leisure, as well as exhibitions and social welfare.
The Big Air Shougang is the first permanent big air venue in the world. It will serve the snowboard and freestyle skiing big air events. After the Games, the venue will offer fitness-for-all experiences for the public and stage winter sports carnivals.
The country has set its sights on encouraging 300 million people to participate in winter sports between 2018 and 2022.
This undated file photo shows a newly completed winter sports training center in Yanqing district, Beijing. (HE RONG / FOR CHINA DAILY)
The successful bid for the Winter Olympics has already sparked public interest in winter sports, with a growing number of participants over the past few years.
"We saw a significant increase in winter travelers last year," says Gu Jianfeng, who runs a private travel agency focusing on Yanqing tours.
The place where the Winter Olympics town is located used to be overwhelmingly inhospitable ... There was no internet network or roads, but now we have roads up the mountain, and even cable cars.
Li Wei, community worker in Beijing
Gu received more than 13,000 winter travelers in 2020. This year, he has catered to 16,000 customers so far.
When Gu founded the company in 2015, he says that most of his ski enthusiast friends would choose Northeast China's Heilongjiang and Jilin provinces.
"It is the improving local skiing conditions and hotel facilities that have enticed winter travelers," Gu says.
"My friends and customers see it from the point of view that if Yanqing can host the Winter Olympics, it must have great ski resources."
Li Wei says the changes around him are evident.
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"The place where the Winter Olympics town is located used to be overwhelmingly inhospitable," Li recalls when he visited the Xidazhuangke village in 2017.
"There was no internet network or roads, but now we have roads up the mountain, and even cable cars," he says.
Li is convinced that all these positive changes will enable him to work full time in the field of winter sports after the Olympics.
"I'm optimistic about the future. I believe more people will come here to have fun in the winter after the Olympic facilities are repurposed for public use," he says.
"I'm looking forward to sharing the charm of winter sports with more people."
Contact the writer at yangfeiyue@chinadaily.com.cn
