Wuhan, 20 Dec (Xinhua) -- On the evening of the 19th, with the change of countdown figures on the ice rink, the eighth national mass ice and snow season was opened at the main venue of the Wuhan Sports Center. Hundreds of kilometers away, the snow field of Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture and Shennongjia Forest District in western Hubei province opened this moment together through video connection.
On December 19, the actor performed at the launching ceremony of the 8th National Popular Ice and Snow Season. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Xiao Yijiu
This is the first time that the launching ceremony of the national mass ice and snow season has come to the central region after Beijing, Hebei, Shanghai, Tianjin and Jilin. From the north of Sai to the south of the river, from the western border to the eastern coast, the strategic effect of ice and snow sports "expanding from the south to the west and expanding to the east" has become increasingly prominent.
Out of Shanhaiguan," "cold resources" leverage "hot industry"
At the Shennongjia International Ski Resort, five teenagers dressed in ski uniforms representing the five colors of the Olympic Ring Road came down to the wind and slowly unfolded their letterheads to wish the Beijing Winter Olympics a successful hold; in the ski slopes of the Luliangpo Town Ski Resort in Enshi Badong County, ice and snow sports enthusiast Deng Yi came here for the second time to enjoy the exciting experience brought by skiing. "There are plenty of pistes here, and the mid-to-high slopes are very exciting to slide. It just happened to coincide with the opening of the Ice season Enshi venue, so I first came to feel the atmosphere, and I planned to go back and bring more friends to experience it together. Deng Said.
Enjoying ice and snow with Deng Huang on that day were also ice and snow lovers from 12 cities and prefectures in Hubei. Despite the impact of the epidemic, the Luliangpo Town Ski Resort, which was built in December 2019, has received 100,000 tourists, driving economic income of nearly 100 million yuan. Shennongjia, the first to start ice and snow sports in Hubei, has been able to steadily receive more than 200,000 ice and snow enthusiasts every year in recent years.
Aerial view of Hubei Wufeng International Ski Resort (drone photo)
Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Du Huaju
Once upon a time, due to factors such as geography, climate, and sports traditions, ice and snow sports were difficult to carry out in the south. Today, under the call of "driving 300 million people to participate in ice and snow sports", the ice and snow sports that once "did not go out of Shanhaiguan" are breaking the restrictions of space and time and becoming popular in more and more southern cities. Hubei is located in the north-south boundary, is an important fulcrum for the promotion of ice and snow sports, the unique location advantages also make Hubei in the ice and snow industry layout has great potential.
"The launching ceremony of the national mass ice and snow season came to the central region for the first time, which is a concrete embodiment of the ice and snow sports in the context of the in-depth implementation of the strategy of 'expanding from the south to the west and expanding to the east', forming a new situation in which traditional areas are more fiery and the vitality of emerging areas is constantly emerging, and it is also a vivid practice of ice and snow sports to help regional development." He Hongyu, second-level inspector of the Department of Mass Sports of the State General Administration of Sports, said.
Hero Hubei creates a new business card for ice and snow
Under the shining spotlight of the main venue Wuhan Sports Center Gymnasium and the dynamic rhythm of music, young athletes and actors chase, slide and jump on the ice rink, and raise their eyebrows.
The hour hand is set back to the Spring Festival of 2020, when the new crown pneumonia epidemic is raging in Wuhan, the stadium was converted into a square cabin hospital within 72 hours, providing 1,100 beds for new crown pneumonia patients and a total of 1,056 patients.
Nowadays, the temporary leasing of ice-making equipment, the "Ark" that once held up life has once again become the "hot land" of public fitness, taking the opportunity of the opening ceremony of the volkswagen ice and snow season to show the good style of Hubei's post-epidemic revitalization and the new business card of the ice and snow sports "South Exhibition West Expansion Eastward Expansion" demonstration base.
In the ice sports center of Wuhan International Sports and Culture Exchange Center, the "Slide to 2022" National Youth Ice Hockey Series (Wuhan Station) came to an end after two days of fierce competition. Peng Junda, a primary school student who represented the U10 group of Wuhan Ice Dragon Hockey Club, lifted the runner-up trophy with his teammates.
On December 19, the young players of Wuhan Ice Dragon Hockey Club received coaching guidance between the matches of the "Slide to 2022" National Youth Ice Hockey Series (Wuhan Station). Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Xiao Yijiu
'It's a bit of a shame, I was aiming for the championship, we've won it in other races before. Peng Junda, who attends Triangle Road Primary School in Wuchang District, said that after practicing ice hockey for more than 4 years, his body has become stronger and stronger, more and more confident, and more and more golfers.
According to Zheng Lihui, deputy director of the Hubei Provincial Sports Bureau, hubei has 26 ice and snow venues of various types, including 10 ice rinks, 16 snow fields, and 4 ice rinks under construction. About 2.6 million people in the province directly participate in ice and snow sports and 5.7 million people indirectly participate in ice and snow sports every year. In addition, in recent years, Wuhan has used the government to purchase services to organize skating training camps for thousands of people every winter and summer vacation, and more than 5,000 children have mastered skating skills.
Trickles converge, and rivers and seas are just beginning to take shape. The scale of the masses participating in ice and snow sports in Hubei is expanding day by day, and the development of ice and snow sports is also becoming more and more vigorous. Since 2017, Hubei has started from scratch, established the Wushu and Winter Sports Management Center of the Provincial Sports Bureau, and has organized 8 batches of more than 1,200 people in the province to participate in the cross-border cross-sports selection of the national team, and has sent 144 cross-border cross-sports athletes to the national training team. Today, five professional teams have been initially formed, including short track speed skating team, speed skating team, curling team, snowboard parallel event team and snowboard U-shaped track skill team.
"300 million people participate in ice and snow sports" from vision to reality
In 2014, the national mass ice and snow season with the theme of "helping the Olympic bid, burning ice and snow, and building the Chinese dream together" was opened in Beijing. At that time, this was the first large-scale event for the society to popularize and promote ice and snow sports, mainly in the Beijing-Tianjin region, as well as in the northeast, north China, and northwest China.
The following year, Beijing and Zhangjiakou successfully bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympics. This is the first time that China has hosted the Winter Olympic Games, and it has also become an important opportunity for China to promote and develop ice and snow sports and promote the construction of a sports power. Looking back at the nearly seven years of preparation for the Winter Olympics, ice and snow sports have ushered in an unprecedented development in China, and "300 million people participating in ice and snow sports" has moved from vision to reality.
On December 27, 2020, the opening match of the Super Fixed Point Ski Open, one of the 7th National Popular Ice and Snow Season series activities, was held in Beidahu Ski Resort in Jilin Province. Xinhua News Agency reporter Xu Chang took the photo
In 2018, the opening ceremony of the Volkswagen Ice and Snow Season crossed the Yangtze River and entered Shanghai; in 2020, the Volkswagen Ice and Snow Season set up a launching sub-venue in Hainan, during which more than 1,200 mass ice and snow events were held across the country, with more than 100 million participants.
Beijing, Tianjin, Jilin, Xinjiang, Ningxia, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Chongqing, Hunan, Guangdong... On the evening of the 19th, at the opening ceremony of the eighth national public ice and snow season, a short film of place names recorded in dialects across the country was impressive. Riding on the east wind of the Beijing Winter Olympics, the seeds of ice and snow sports have taken root all over the country, and people speaking different dialects are looking forward to "realizing the dream of the Winter Olympics and sharing the future".
"But the Winter Olympics are not a gust of wind. I believe that, just like the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics will leave a rich talent, resource and technical heritage, and promote ice and snow sports to a new level. Wang Jun, vice president of the Wuhan Ice and Snow Sports Association, said.