Colorful Events Heating Up Ice and Snow Sports (Towards the Winter Olympics, Popular Ice and Snow Stories)

From December 18th to 19th, the 2021-2022 ISB City Cross-Country Skiing China Tour Shanghai Station was held on the banks of the Huangpu River. This event is also a points race for the Beijing Winter Olympics, in which Chinese and foreign ice and snow athletes compete in the same field to win Olympic points in the final stage of the preparation for the Winter Olympic Games. This cross-country skiing competition adds the content of international snow events to the process of Shanghai's construction of a world-famous sports city, and also provides an opportunity for the people of Shencheng to approach, understand and even participate in ice and snow sports.

With a series of innovative measures such as ice and snow sports", such as "expanding from the south to the west and expanding east" and "ice and snow sports into the campus", the beautiful vision of "driving 300 million people to participate in ice and snow sports" is becoming a reality. In the north and south of the great river, inside and outside the Great Wall, the mass ice and snow sports have shown unprecedented development vitality and potential, the climax of the event activities, the ice and snow venues are scattered, the enthusiasm of the masses to participate is high, and the ice and snow industry is in the ascendant. As the Beijing Winter Olympics approach, ice and snow sports are being integrated into life.

Cross-country skiing events are held in the city

"The scenery is so beautiful and the mood is very good during the skiing." In the first day of the Shanghai race, 20-year-old Diniger Yilamujiang from Xinjiang won the women's group in the individual sprint competition, and she was very satisfied with her performance and the venue of the competition.

In order to maximize the promotion and popularization of skiing, in the 1990s the International Snow Federation introduced cross-country skiing events to the city. The ITU City Cross-Country Skiing China Tour, which was first held in Yan'an in March 2018, has been held in Beijing, Tianjin, Hangzhou and other places, and has been highly recognized by the International Olympic Committee and the International Snow Federation.

The Shanghai race adopts advanced environmental protection and energy-saving urban high-temperature snowmaking technology, which has low energy consumption, low loss and zero pollution to the surrounding environment, which is currently a highly respected urban snowmaking model. With the help of science and technology, southern cities already have the conditions to carry out cross-country skiing.

"In recent years, Shanghai has been carrying out various types of ice and snow sports according to its own characteristics to meet the needs of the public for ice and snow sports." Yan Jiadong, president of the Shanghai Ice and Snow Sports Association, said, "This event provides a good demonstration effect for promoting Shanghai citizens to participate in ice and snow sports, and I believe that under the impetus of the event, the enthusiasm of Shanghai citizens to participate in ice and snow sports will be further enhanced." ”

Innovative practice serves the benefits of the Winter Olympics

Cross-country skiing events have been recognized in the city, which shows that promoting ice and snow sports, innovative practices, and serving the benefits of the Winter Olympics are important starting points. A number of ice rinks and snow parks in Beijing, Zhangjiakou and other places have reached cooperation intentions with primary and secondary schools, and regularly open ice and snow courses for students free of charge. A series of events such as the National College Curling League and the "Love Ice and Snow for the Winter Olympics" have set a stage for the majority of young people to participate in and enjoy ice and snow sports. The public ice and snow technology level standards and social sports instructor training are simultaneously launched, adding heat to the ice and snow sports boom from the perspective of scientific participation.

In view of the current shortage of urban ice and snow venues and facilities, the State General Administration of Sport launched the "100 Cities and 1000 Ice Plan", planning to promote more than 1,000 convenient, professional and green outdoor ice rinks in no less than 100 cities to further reduce the threshold for people to participate in ice and snow sports. In July this year, the launching ceremony of the "Ice and Snow Benefit Plan" was held at the Capital Gymnasium, and 33 ice and snow venues in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei became the first batch of support units of the plan, which are regularly open to the public free of charge to facilitate the participation of the masses in ice and snow sports.

In recent years, favorable documents such as "Opinions on Vigorously Developing Ice and Snow Sports with the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics as an Opportunity", "Ice and Snow Sports Development Plan (2016-2025)" and "14th Five-Year Plan for Sports Development" have been introduced, outlining the coordinate system and new blueprint for the development of ice and snow sports in China. Liu Chenyu, deputy director of the Public Ice and Snow Department of the Winter Sports Management Center of the State General Administration of Sports, said that according to incomplete statistics, 26 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities have issued policy documents related to ice and snow sports to help ice and snow sports drive on the "fast track" of development.

"In the future, we will build more platforms for the public to participate in ice and snow sports, and at the same time do a good job in basic work, promote ice and snow sports into campuses, comprehensively promote ice and snow culture, and build a public service system for public ice and snow sports." Ding Dong, director of the Department of Mass Sports of the State General Administration of Sports, said.

Promote ice and snow sports according to local conditions

With the east wind of the Beijing Winter Olympics, indoor ice rinks in shopping malls have become very common, and the joy of enjoying ice and snow sports is no longer limited to winter. More and more people are going to the ice rink and into the snow, adding a different color to daily life. Liu Chenyu introduced that by the beginning of 2021, there will be 654 standard ice rinks and 803 indoor and outdoor ski resorts in the country, an increase of 317% and 41% respectively over 2015.

All localities have formed a mature and perfect ice and snow sports promotion and popularization system according to local conditions. In Beijing, the "City of The Two Olympics", the "Happy Ice and Snow Season for Citizens" drives more people to feel the health and joy brought by ice and snow sports, creating a strong atmosphere to welcome the Beijing Winter Olympics. In the northeast region, which is blessed with unique ice and snow resources, Liaoning's "National Ice and Snow Games", Heilongjiang's "Enjoying Ice and Snow", and Jilin's "Playing Ice and Snow, Healthy Jilin" series of activities have become the "silver business card" of regional development, and the high-quality development of services through "ice and snow + tourism" and "ice and snow + industry" has been developed.

Recently, the 25th Changchun Ice and Snow Festival opened. With the theme of "Changchun Ice and Snow Welcoming the Winter Olympics", the event was supported and guided by the Cultural Activities Department of the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee, sponsored by the Changchun Municipal People's Government and the Department of Culture and Tourism of Jilin Province, and will last for 120 days and plan 187 ice and snow activities of various types. Changchun Ice and Snow Festival has been held for 24 sessions since 1998, and has received a total of 230 million tourists since the statistics are available, and this event will integrate the elements of the Winter Olympics to create a good ice and snow atmosphere. "It's so beautiful to watch fireworks in the world of ice and snow!" At the opening ceremony, Ms. Zhang from Jilin City said excitedly.

From the Shanghai station of the city cross-country skiing China Tour to the eighth national mass ice and snow season launched in Hubei on the 19th, the ice and snow events held in various places are blowing the horn to promote and popularize the ice and snow sports of the masses, and constantly respond to the increasingly diverse winter fitness needs of the masses. "We will continue to expand the comprehensive effect of 'driving 300 million people to participate in ice and snow sports', and promote the transformation of ice and snow sports from expanding scale and quantity to building systems, improving quality and stimulating internal vitality." Liu Chenyu said.

Layout design: Zhang Danfeng

People's Daily (20 December 2021, 15th edition)