Chen Xianghui Yang Xiaoming, etc.: The historical evolution and development trend of ice and snow sports in China

Author: Chen Xianghui Yang Xiaoming Zhang Baohua Hu Rui

Source: Journal of Physical Education, No. 4, 2021

Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics

In 2015, the Altay region of Xinjiang was internationally recognized as the "origin of human skiing", and the 24th Winter Olympics in 2022 will be held in Beijing, which is the earliest and latest record in the history of ice and snow sports in the mainland, and also the two most important Chinese elements in the history of ice and snow sports in the world, connecting the history and future of China's ice and snow sports. In the past, the mainland was the origin of human skiing; in the future, ice and snow sports will become a solid cornerstone for the implementation of the national fitness plan and the realization of the grand blueprint of a sports power. From the historical context, the development process of ice and snow sports in the mainland is comprehensively sorted out, reviewed and prospected, which is conducive to the Chinese people to understand the history of ice and snow sports, feel the culture of ice and snow sports, and participate in ice and snow activities.

1 Inheritance and Development: The Transmutation of Traditional Ice and Snow Sports in Ancient China

1.1 History of Rock Painting: The Origin of Skiing in the World - Altay, Xinjiang

Altay is located in the southern foothills of the Altai Mountains in Xinjiang, is the earliest snowfall and the longest snow period in the mainland, known for its large amount of snow, excellent snow quality, long snow period, and wide mountains and forests, with unique ice and snow resources. For more than 10,000 years, nomadic herders living here have been producing snowboards made of white pine wood and horse calf skin. In 2005, a petroglyph of a human pedaling snowboard and a single pole holding a ski hunt was found in Dundebulak in Khandegat Township, Altay City. Archaeologists have determined that it was made from the late Paleolithic period 10,000 to 30,000 years ago, at least thousands of years earlier than the petroglyphs found in Norway and ancient skis found in Sweden and Finland. In 2015, more than 30 experts from 18 countries, including Norway, Sweden and Finland, analyzed, examined and identified the petroglyphs, and jointly determined that the Altay region of China is the "origin of human skiing", and jointly issued the "2015 Altay Declaration" at the "China Altay International Ancient Ski Culture Exchange Seminar". Since then, the Altay region has been internationally recognized as the birthplace of skiing in the world.

1.2 History of Poetry and Painting: Mongolian "Ancient Ski Tune", "Ice Fun" and "Ice Play Map"

To this day, in the Mongolian Ethnic Township of KhanDegat in Altay City, there is still an "ancient ski tune" with a thousand-year history - "in the high Altai Hangai (Mongolian, meaning high mountain) mountain, carrying a bow and arrow made of willow wood, pushing the ski pole obliquely with both hands, stepping on the skis made of red pine and white pine wood, quickly sliding and running in the pine forest, dragging the goatskin bag behind him, it was the brave, flexible and clever hunter..." In the form of a long tune, the scene of hunters in the Altay region riding horseskin skis hunting in the vast sea of snow is vividly sung. The "ancient ski long tune" provides strong evidence for the origin of human skiing from another side.

Successive emperors and poets have a love for the ice and snow scene, poetry flourished, using beautiful verses to describe the beauty of nature's ice and snow and the scene of people's ice movement, and painters of various dynasties also splashed ink and recorded the scene at that time with paintings, so that future generations could appreciate it as if they were immersed. In 1745, the Qianlong Emperor of the Qing Dynasty personally wrote a 1300-word "Imperial Ice Frolic Endowment", believing that "ice frolic is valued by the national system", and his poem notes that "national customs often have the code of ice frolic". In his poem "The Minister of the Former Domain of the New Yingtai Small Banquet and the Mo we Par" wrote that "a thousand groups of people can still be ice frolicking", describing the magnificent grand scene of the "ice frolic celebration" at that time and the spectacular scene of a thousand people racing to speed skate. The late Qing Dynasty poet Ai Xinjue Luo Baoting's "Even Zhai Poetry Grass" "Shuo Wind swept the ground and the river condensed, and the new ice was flat. Who braves the cold to do ice play, and the iron is crossed to do the knee. Iron like a sword ridge ice mirror, with the pedal sword grinding mirror line ..." vividly depicted the scene of skating at that time.

On the second day of the first lunar month in the twenty-sixth year of Qianlong (1761), in order to celebrate the renovation of the Purple Light Pavilion, the Emperor, together with 107 ministers of culture and military affairs and 11 envoys of the Fan State, drank and watched bingjiao, and the "Purple Light Pavilion Banquet Map" drawn by the court painter Yao Wenhan depicted this incident. The two national treasure paintings collected by the Palace Museum, "Ice Play Map", both vividly show the scene when the Qianlong Emperor admired ice play. The superb skills of figure skating at that time were vividly presented in front of people, and the ice athletes had different postures, each showing their own skills, and the fish went through the line to form a giant dragon, winding and circling, and the scene was grand. This painting gives us an visual and intuitive understanding of the ice frolic activities in the Palace of the Qing Dynasty. The above poems and paintings not only depict the scenes of skiing and skating, but also record the history of ancient ice and snow sports on the mainland.

1.3 History of games, performances and competitions: "bamboo horses", "ice bed" games, ice frolic activities and ice games

During the Sui and Tang dynasties, some interesting ice and snow games were widely circulated in the folk. In the northeast region, there is a "bamboo horse" game, people step on the "bamboo horse", hold a hockey stick, and slide on the ice, which not only saves effort, but also speeds, which is also the origin of Chinese ice sports. The Song Dynasty's popular "ice bed" game was when two or three people sat on a wooden board and let a person play with a rope in front of them. The Song dynasty Shen Kuo was amazed when he saw the ice bed coming and going like a shuttle up and down the river in Cangzhou, and wrote this scene into his book "Mengxi Pen Talk". The ice bed used by the emperors of the Qing Dynasty and the dignitaries has been luxuriously decorated. The book "Yu Nest Miscellaneous Knowledge" says: "Winter liquid pool, on the royal drag bed." Its system is like a tatami without feet, like a car without wheels, with people pulling through the ice and snow, to the poop. There are casters and those decorated with dragons and phoenixes. That is, the ice bed used by the Qing Emperor is not only beautifully decorated, but also cold and warm, which can be called "ice yacht". It can be seen that the ice bed during the Qing Dynasty was not only an ice game, but also a means of transportation when participating in the game.

The ice sports that emerged during the Sui and Tang dynasties developed over several dynasties, and gradually evolved into an annual "ice celebration" held during the Qing Dynasty. The ice frolic ceremony of the old calendar month was first used to review the etiquette of training the army, and there were special skating troops, called "technical courage skate battalion", as well as corresponding management systems and training methods, and gradually evolved into entertainment activities in the palace. Beihai Park on the west side of Beijing's Jingshan Mountain is one of the sites of the Qing Dynasty Royal Parade, where thousands of people who are good at walking on ice enter the palace every winter for training. Yu Minzhong's description of "Winter Moon Is Chen Bingyi, Practicing Labor and Rewarding, cultivating the national custom cloud with simple martial arts" in the "Examination of the Old Wen under the Sun", records the scene of the ice performance for the emperor's concubines in Tailiuchi (now Beihai and Zhongnanhai in Beijing) every year on the winter solstice, including formation speed skating, speed skating shooting, figure skating, and ice bowing. There is such a record in the "Yanjing Chronicle": "The skates are made of iron, and there is a single strip tied to the shoes, and the body can be lifted and cannot be stopped." Skillful people, such as dragonflies dotting water, purple swallows through the waves, can also be considered. "It can be seen that at that time, ice frolic activities were widely carried out and skates were well made.

During the Ming Dynasty, ice and snow activities were widely carried out in the northern ethnic minority areas. According to the "Manchurian Old Archives Secret Record" (also known as the Manchu Old Archives), in the first month of 1625 AD (the fifth year of the Ming Xi Sect's Heavenly Revelation), Nurhaci, the leader of the Jurchen clan in the northeast Jianzhou, held a grand ice sports meeting in the Prince River, and the competitions included ice hockey, speed skating, figure skating, ice archery and ice martial arts, etc., and the reward method was 20 silver for the champion and 10 silver for the runner-up. Among them, there is a kind of "double flying dance", two people dance on the ice, performing various postures, the dance posture is beautiful and light, extremely beautiful. There are many kinds of martial arts on the ice, including stacking arhats, playing with knives and so on. The ice races were attended not only by well-trained soldiers and retinue guards, but also by Baylor's wife and the wives and children of the soldiers. This is the first recorded ice sports meeting in ancient mainland China, and it is also the "prototype of modern ice sports".

In summary, skiing activities have a long history in the mainland, since its birth, with its rapid movement, outstanding transportation capacity, and people's production and life is closely linked, with strong practicality and certain entertainment, played an important role in fishing and hunting activities at that time, and became one of the people's favorite snow activities in winter. With the change of the times, the change of dynasties, the continuous improvement of productive forces, the deepening of human understanding of ice and snow resources, and the presentation of ice and snow activities are constantly enriching and changing, showing a strong vitality to live endlessly. The emergence of skating activities is much later than skiing, the Qing Dynasty as a leisure entertainment and competition of ice activities increased, professionalism is more prominent, folk and royal ice activities are numerous, marking the continental ice sports reached a climax, the later mainland ice and snow sports prosperity and development has an important impact.

2 Absorption and Reference: The Initial Development of Modern Ice and Snow Sports in Old China

2.1 Modern ice and snow sports were introduced to old China

1) Foreign soldiers, expatriates and missionaries introduced ice and snow sports to China.

With the outbreak of the Opium War in 1840 and the introduction of Western culture, modern sports as a symbol of "Western civilization" also began to be introduced to China. The winter sport that accompanied their army, expatriates and missionaries into China was skating. With the signing of the Treaty of Tianjin and the Treaty of Beijing in the middle of the 19th century, Britain, France, the United States, Italy, Germany, Japan and other countries successively designated the southern part of Tianjin as their concessions. In 1881, the Beiyang Marine School first incorporated skating, which had been introduced to China, into the discipline of exercise. At the end of the 19th century, the establishment of the "British Concession Sports Field" in the British Concession of Tianjin and the "United Club" of the French Concession gradually increased the number of skating members. Shortly thereafter, ice hockey began to appear in the skating team, and on this basis, the Tianjin Ice Hockey Club was established. It then spread to Beijing, and then to Dalian, Harbin and other places. With the introduction of speed skating, figure skating and ice hockey, cross-country skiing and alpine skiing also came to the mainland.

2) "Ice Running" and "Skating" books introduce ice sports knowledge and equipment.

"Ice Running" is the first book written by Wang Huaiqi and Wu Hongxing in 1927 and published by the Commercial Press to introduce roller skating. The book is accompanied by 17 illustrations to introduce the practice methods of various tricks and movements, and also introduces the benefits of ice running, and there is a chapter "Ice Hockey Play" that mentions the rules of ice hockey, which is also the first time that ice hockey has been mentioned in China. Compiled in 1930 by the Pigeon Shadow Cooperative, Ice Skating is the first book dedicated to ice sports, with 7 parts, including preamble, rules, utensils, basic graphic exercises, and makeup skating. At the end of the book, there are also 6 advertisement pages for the purchase of various skating equipment, such as the Qianxiang Shoe House that makes skates to Wangfujing, the best ice knife grinding knife is the Best beijing photography agency, the skating costume is the best in Wangfujingyuan Tai Suit Zhuang, and the makeup mask is the most complete in Chongwenmen's Yongxing Foreign Paper Line. These two books are the initiation textbooks and equipment guides for modern ice skaters (roller skaters) and skaters (skaters) on the mainland.

3) The book "I Can Compare" brings the Winter Olympics to China.

In 1930, the Commercial Press published the book "I Can Compare: The World Games Series", which is the first historical document in China about participating in the Olympic Games, filling a blank page in the history of modern chinese sports. The author of the book, Song Ruhai, is the first chinese delegate to officially send to participate in the Olympic Games, and he collected his observations on the 9th Olympic Games in the Netherlands in order to introduce the Olympic Movement to the Chinese people and thus improve their understanding of the Olympic Movement. In the preface to the book, the 2nd Winter Olympics were held in St. Moritz, Switzerland, in 1928, and is accompanied by five pictures of the Games, namely alpine skiing, steel frame snowmobiles, ski jumping, cross-country skiing and women's figure skating. The book introduced China to the Winter Olympics for the first time, proving that Chinese had some understanding of the Winter Olympics at the beginning of the Winter Olympics.

2.2 The spread of modern ice and snow sports in old China

At the end of the 19th century, European skating was introduced to China, and speed skating gradually became a winter sport loved by the people in the north. At the beginning of the 20th century, ice and snow sports in North China also spread among the public, and the mainstream was school students. Yenching University, Peking University, Fu Jen University, Tongzhou Luhe Middle School, Nankai University, Beiyang University, Nankai Middle School and other schools have opened ice rinks in winter for students to skate. Beijing's Beihai Park is a place for royal ice play, the people are forbidden to enter, in the early days of the Republic of China, there were many suggestions made by military and political leaders to open to the public, until the Republic of China's five-year minister of internal affairs Xu Shiying's proposal was passed. According to the Beiping Morning Post, on January 31, 1926, a make-up skating competition was held on the ice of Beihai Park, with thousands of spectators and more than 130 participants. Make-up skating festivals in the form of Beihai Park are not uncommon in northern China, and similar events have been held in Shenyang Xiaoheyan, Tianjin's Beining Park, Beijing's Zhongnanhai Ice Rink, Taiyuan and other places.

In 1935, a skating competition was held in Beijing. In the same year, at the 19th North China Games "Ice Performance Conference", speed skating, figure skating and ice hockey were listed as performance events. After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan, some ice and snow activities did not stop, and in 1938 Changchun founded the first ski club. In February 1943, the Ice Games were held in Yan'an, the revolutionary base area, with men's and women's 100m speed skating and various exhibition competitions.

Modern skiing came to the mainland relatively late. In December 1932, the Harbin Railway Bureau built a ski resort in Beishan, Yuquan Town, Acheng City, Heilongjiang, with cross-country and alpine skiing lines and a small jumping platform, which was the first ski resort on the mainland. In 1948, the Xinjiang Branch of the Whampoa Military Academy held a "Ski Training Course for the Troops of the Five Northwest Provinces", in which more than 1,000 officers at or above the company level underwent three months of training, followed by heavy weapons snow traction, ski shooting and 10km cross-country competitions, which was a large-scale skiing competition held in the modern history of the mainland.

In the process of the introduction of modern skiing, modern bobsleigh also appeared in the Northeast in the 1930s. According to reports, in the winter of 1938, in order to further promote the development of outdoor activities in winter, the Harbin Railway Bureau purchased 4 sleds, with 2 seats and 4 seats, as an activity for employees, tourists and ski enthusiasts. Unfortunately, on August 15, 1945, the Japanese burned down along with the snow equipment as they fled.

Modern ice and snow sports were introduced to old China in a special historical background, with strong colonialist overtones, reflecting a special cultural phenomenon under specific historical conditions. It has been disseminated and popularized through leisure and entertainment, military needs, and has entered people's lives together with traditional ice and snow sports in China. In this process, the mainland has introduced ice and snow competitions, built ski resorts, established ski clubs, and held snow and ice sports events. Although the traditional ice and snow activities on the mainland during this period were restricted by natural conditions and special history, they still influenced and integrated with foreign modern ice and snow sports, forming a situation of mutual learning and integration, laying a solid foundation for the development of ice and snow sports after the founding of New China.

3 Innovation and breakthrough: the development of ice and snow sports in New China

3.1 Taking Root: The Initial Stage (1949–1965)

The Common Program of the Political Consultative Conference of the Chinese and The People's Republic of China stipulates that "national sports should be promoted". In October 1949, the "Preparatory Committee of the All-China Sports Federation" was established and a decision was made on "carrying out winter sports". Subsequently, ice and snow sports in the northern part of the mainland entered a new historical period. In January 1951, the 1st National Ski Show Conference was held in Jilin Province, and other events such as ski jumping and alpine skiing were set up. The first National Ice Games were held in Harbin in February 1953, with 219 athletes competing in speed skating, figure skating and ice hockey. In 1956, the National Winter Sports Association was founded and he joined the International Skating Union and the International Ice Hockey Federation. In February 1957, the first Ski Games were held in Tonghua City, Jilin Province, with two major events, alpine skiing and cross-country skiing, and in the same year, men's and women's speed skating teams were sent to participate in the World Championships. In 1958, the earliest ski teams in New China, the Tonghua City Ski Team and the Jilin City Ski Team, were successfully established. In January 1959, at the World Men's Speed Skating Championships, Yang Jucheng won a silver medal for China with a tie of 1st place. In February 1959, the 1st National Winter Games were held in Harbin and Jilin, of which the ice sports speed skating, figure skating and ice hockey were held in Harbin, and the snow sports cross-country skiing and alpine skiing were held in Jilin. In the same year, Wang Jinyu, the first chinese speed skater, won the 5000m speed skating championship in the Six Nations Invitational Tournament held in Almaty. In the 57th Men's Speed Skating Championships held in Nagano, Japan in 1963, Luo Zhihuan won the 1500m race with a record record, becoming the first winter sports world champion in mainland China. In the past ten years, ice and snow sports have begun to be carried out in the northeast, north China and northwest and other conditional areas, and ice and snow sports events and mass activities have been held everywhere, and even become the main way of winter entertainment and fitness in some northern regions. New China's ice and snow sports have taken a solid step in development.

3.2 Frostbite: A Tortuous DevelopmentAlty (1966–1976)

At the beginning of the "Cultural Revolution" in 1966, sports organizations at all levels were impacted, many sports teams were disbanded, New Sports and Sports Newspaper were suspended, international exchanges and competitions in Chinese sports were reduced or terminated, and the development of various sports projects was basically in a state of stagnation. In 1968, China's first artificially refrigerated ice rink was built at the Beijing Capital Gymnasium, and the training and competition of some ice and snow sports gradually recovered. The national ice hockey team first participated in international competitions in 1972, and since then, the state and local governments have gradually resumed the construction of venues and facilities for winter sports and the construction of a small number of sports teams. In 1975, at the World Speed Skating Championships in Oslo, Norway, Zhao Weichang won the second place in the 500m. The 3rd Winter Games in 1976 was held in Harbin, with 223 young athletes, accounting for 71% of the total number, becoming the largest number of young athletes in the history of the Mainland Winter Games. At this stage, although ice and snow sports are affected by the political environment, many ice and snow sports teams no longer exist, but under the joint persistence and efforts of ice and snow athletes and many ice and snow enthusiasts, ice and snow sports projects are still continued in the mainland.

3.3 Bud Primording: The Resuscitation and Improvement Phase (1977–2001)

The Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in 1978 opened the chapter of New China's reform and opening up, and the legitimate seat of the Chinese Olympic Committee was restored in 1979. Since then, Chinese sports have entered a new historical stage, and ice and snow sports have begun to go abroad and go to the world stage. In the 1980s, the National Winter Sports Administration put forward the strategy of "North Ice South Exhibition" for ice and snow sports, and quickly formed teams and built venues in some southern provinces and cities, mobilizing the enthusiasm of the southern masses to participate in ice and snow sports.

In the early 1980s, the development of ice sports in the mainland reached a peak, especially in some large cities in the northeast region, such as Harbin, Qiqihar, Changchun, almost all primary and secondary schools, public institutions in the winter pouring ice rinks, many factories and institutions have their own ice hockey teams. In 1978, short track speed skating was introduced to China, and then included in the national winter games competition, and also participated in the World Championships held in Tokyo. The 4th National Winter Games in 1979 were held in Beijing, Xinjiang and Heilongjiang. In February 1980, the Chinese Olympic Committee sent 28 athletes for the first time to participate in the 13th Winter Olympic Games held in Lake Placid in the United States. In February 1984, the Chinese Olympic Committee sent its team for the second time to participate in the 14th Winter Olympic Games held in Sarajevo, the former Yugoslavia. At the same time, Chinese athletes also participate in various world and intercontinental ice and snow sports events, such as the 1986 Chinese ice and snow athletes participating in the 1st Asian Winter Games held in Japan. In February 1988, Chinese athletes participated in the 15th Winter Olympics in Calgary, Canada, and in addition to participating in speed skating, figure skating and cross-country skiing, they also sent athletes to participate in short track speed skating exhibition events. China's Li Yan won the 1000m gold medal and the 500 and 1500m bronze medals in the short track speed skating exhibition competition, and the five-star red flag was raised for the first time in the Winter Olympic Games. In February 1992, the 16th Winter Olympics were held in Albertville, France, Ye Qiaobo won two silver medals in women's 500 and 1000m speed skating, and Li Yan won the silver medal in women's 500m short track speed skating, achieving a breakthrough of "zero" medals at the Chinese Winter Olympics. In 1994 and 1998, China participated in the 17th Norwegian Lillehammer and the 18th Japan Nagano Winter Olympics, and the participation of athletes in the sports increased year by year, and the number of medals won also increased steadily. In 1996, Harbin hosted the 3rd Asian Winter Games, and the Chinese team topped the medal list with 15 gold, 7 silver and 15 bronze results, which accumulated experience for the mainland to host higher-level international events. With the revival of ice and snow sports, the first college and university ski competition was also held in 1999 at the Yabuli Ski Resort in Heilongjiang. In 2001, Xu Yuanyuan and Yu Shumei won the World Cup Finals Freestyle SkiIng Aerial Skills and Biathlon (12.5km Collective Departure) championships respectively. During this period, the construction of ice and snow sports infrastructure developed rapidly, and the Yabuli Ski Resort in Heilongjiang was built, and China's first national training base was also located in the Jilin Changbaishan National Ice and Snow Training Base.

The participation and hosting of international events such as the Winter Olympic Games, the World Championships, and the Asian Winter Games has actively promoted the development of Ice and Snow Sports in China, and China's modern ice and snow sports have begun to gradually integrate with the world. The results of the competition continue to make breakthroughs, the number of participants from small to large, the number of participating projects from few to many, the infrastructure from thin to thick, and the ice and snow audience from small to large.

3.4 Qunfang Tuyan: The Stage of Repeated Achievements (2002-2014)

In 2002, the 19th Salt Lake City Winter Olympics in the United States was an important milestone in the history of China's ice and snow sports, short track speed skater Yang Yang won two gold medals in the 500 and 1000m competitions, achieving a breakthrough of "zero" gold medals in the Chinese Winter Olympics, and the Chinese team ranked 13th with 2 gold, 2 silver and 4 bronze, refreshing China's best performance in the Winter Olympics. In 2006, at the 20th Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, Han Xiaopeng won the gold medal in men's freestyle skiing aerial skills, which was China's first gold medal in the snow sports Winter Olympics, Wang Meng won the short track speed skating 5009m championship, and the number of medals of the Chinese team reached a new high. At the 6th Asian Winter Games in Changchun in 2007, the Chinese legion topped the gold medal and medal table with a total score of 19 gold, 19 silver and 23 bronze. At the 24th Winter Universiade in Harbin in 2009, the Chinese delegation won 18 gold, 18 silver and 12 bronze results, ranking first in the gold medal list. In the 21st Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada in 2010, the Chinese delegation won 5 gold, 2 silver and 4 bronze achievements, ranking 7th in the medal table, creating the best result since the Chinese sports delegation participated in the Winter Olympics, ranking among the second group. Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo won gold medals in figure skating pair skating, Wang Meng won three gold medals in short track speed skating 500, 1000 and 3000m relay, and Zhou Yang won the short track speed skating 1500m gold medal. In 2014, at the 22nd Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, the Chinese legion ranked 12th in the medal table with a score of 3 gold, 4 silver and 2 bronze. Over the past 10 years, through the Participation and Hosting of the Winter Olympic Games, the Asian Winter Games, and the Great Winter Games, the mainland has cultivated a number of outstanding ice and snow talents, strived to create a series of outstanding achievements, summed up and accumulated experience in the competition, and created good conditions for the successful bid for the Beijing Winter Olympic Games.

3.5 Blooming Everywhere: A Comprehensive Development Phase (2015–present)

At the 128th meeting of the International Olympic Committee in Kuala Lumpur on 31 July 2015, Beijing won the right to host the 24th Winter Olympic Games in 2022. This is not only the first time that China has hosted the Winter Olympic Games, but also made Beijing the only city in the world to host the Summer Olympic Games and the Winter Olympic Games, and from that moment on, the whole country has taken the Hosting of the Winter Olympics as an opportunity to vigorously develop and popularize ice and snow sports. General Secretary Xi Jinping put forward the goal of "driving 300 million people to the ice and snow", the State General Administration of Sport and a number of central departments formulated and promulgated the ice and snow sports development plan, site construction planning, mass winter project promotion plan, these programmatic documents for the hosting of the Beijing Winter Olympics to provide strong policy support, become a strong promoter to promote the rapid development of ice and snow sports, established the mainland ice and snow sports development led by Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, based on the promotion and development of the three northeastern provinces, give play to the advantages of Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia and other places. A new pattern of coordinated development in the southern region.

The promotion and popularization of winter sports for the masses throughout the country has activated the enthusiasm of the whole people for ice and snow. According to the "2019 China Ski Industry White Paper" study, the number of ski trips in domestic ski resorts rose from 19.7 million in 2018 to 20.9 million in 2019, an increase of 6.09% year-on-year, with 770 ski resorts, and a number of high-quality ski resorts in the southwest, central and southern regions. It can be seen that the development of ice and snow sports on the mainland is no longer limited to the north, but is vigorously popularized throughout the country.

The level of ice and snow competition is constantly rising. In the 2017 Asian Winter Games short track speed skating competition, Wu Dajing won the 500, 5000m relay championship, and in the same year, he won the men's 500 and 1000 m competitions in the short track speed skating World Cup Shanghai. At the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, Wu Dajing won the gold medal in short track speed skating 500m, Li Jinyu won the silver medal in short track speed skating women's 1500m, Jia Zongyang won the silver medal in men's aerial skills in freestyle skiing, Sui Wenjing and Han Cong won the silver medal in double skating, the Chinese team composed of Wu Dajing, Han Tianyu, Xu Hongzhi and Chen Dequan won the silver medal in the men's 5000m relay, and Gao Tingyu won the bronze medal in the men's 500m speed skating, which is the first time that a Chinese male athlete has reached the speed skating podium at the Winter Olympics. The 2019 "China-Finland Winter Sports Year" was successfully held, which was the first time that China held a "National Year" with the theme of sports with other countries, raising sports exchanges to a national level. At the beginning of the new year in 2021, General Secretary Xi Jinping inspected the preparations for the Winter Olympic Games and stressed that "it is necessary to promote the construction of a sports power by hosting the Winter Olympic Games and the Winter Paralympic Games to promote the construction of a sports power".

4 Inheritance and transcendence: the development trend of ice and snow sports in the mainland

4.1 Ice and snow sports policies and regulations are improving day by day

Since 2014, when the state issued Document No. 46 "Several Opinions on Accelerating the Development of the Sports Industry and Promoting Sports Consumption", which first mentioned "encouraging the development of ice and snow sports", the central and State Council and other normative documents have been promulgated so far, reaching 16. In the preparation process for the Beijing Winter Olympics, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council promulgated the "Healthy China 2030" Planning Outline in 2016, pointing out that it is necessary to actively cultivate fashion leisure sports with consumption-leading characteristics such as ice and snow projects; in 2019, it issued the "Opinions on Vigorously Developing Ice and Snow Sports with the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics as an Opportunity". In order to implement the spirit of the "Opinions", the sports bureaus of Fujian, Henan and other provinces issued the "Implementation Opinions on Promoting the Development of Ice and Snow Sports", and various provinces, municipalities and districts have successively issued a series of local policies and regulations for the development of ice and snow sports. The 13th Five-Year Plan for Competitive Sports and the 13th Five-Year Plan for the Development of the Sports Industry formulated by the General Administration of Sport of the People's Republic of China propose to take the preparation of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics as an opportunity to vigorously promote the development of ice and snow sports and develop the ice and snow sports industry. At the same time, in conjunction with a number of central departments, we jointly issued policy documents such as the "Ice and Snow Sports Development Plan (2016-2025)", "National Ice and Snow Venue Facilities Construction Plan (2016-2022)", "Mass Winter Sports Promotion and Popularization Plan (2016-2020)" and so on. From the aspects of input mechanism, implementation of policies, land use needs, standards and statistics, talent training, cultural publicity and organization and implementation, etc., it will provide guarantees for the development of ice and snow sports, which will effectively promote the wide popularization and comprehensive development of ice and snow sports in the mainland, and escort the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. In the next few years, the Central Committee and the State General Administration of Sport will also issue a series of policies and regulations on ice and snow sports to create a good environment and provide strong policy support for the future development of ice and snow sports in the mainland.

4.2 The construction of ice and snow sports infrastructure has been steadily enhanced

Infrastructure construction is the basis for the smooth development of snow sports. Xi Jinping stressed: "All construction projects of the Beijing Olympic Games must be in accordance with the requirements of green Olympic Games, shared Olympic Games, open Olympic Games and clean Olympic Games. Adhere to the century-old plan, careful design, meticulous construction, advance according to the plan and plan, ensure quality and quantity, and ensure that it becomes a high-quality, ecological, humanistic and incorruptible boutique project..." By 2022, the number of skating halls in the country will not be less than 650, of which no less than 500 will be newly built; the number of ski resorts will reach 800, the area of ski slopes will reach 100 million square meters, and the length of the slopes will reach 3500 kilometers, of which no less than 240 new ski resorts, no less than 70 million square meters of ski slopes, and no less than 2500 kilometers of slope length. The effective supply of ice and snow venue facilities in the country has been greatly improved, the economic and social benefits have been significantly improved, and a network of ice and snow venue facilities with reasonable layout, diverse types and basic needs has been initially formed. Taking the preparation of the 2022 Winter Olympics as an opportunity, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region will build a number of venues that can host high-level and comprehensive international ice and snow events. At the same time, it is necessary to give full play to social forces, encourage social capital to operate ski resorts, ski resorts, indoor ski resorts, ice and snow parks, dry snow fields, roller skating rinks and detachable ice fields, and also introduce foreign advanced technologies, such as enoki mushroom dry snow technology, ice pouring technology, Dutch condensate board technology, etc. Starting from the popularization of the project, the provinces and cities will build, reconstruct and expand ice and snow sports venues according to local conditions to meet the needs of the broad masses of people for fitness, schools to open ice and snow sports courses, athlete training and competition.

4.3 Mass ice and snow sports are gradually becoming popular

"Driving 300 million people to the ice and snow" is not only the instruction of General Secretary Xi Jinping, but also the commitment to the International Olympic Committee, or the development goal of ice and snow sports on the mainland. With the advancement of the strategy of "North Ice South Exhibition West expansion and eastward expansion" of ice and snow sports, the area of ice and snow activities has been continuously expanded, the types of ice and snow activities have become increasingly rich, the number of participants has increased rapidly, the scope of coverage has gradually expanded, and the enthusiasm of the masses to participate in ice and snow sports has been rising. According to the results of the "National Ice and Snow Sports Participation Survey" of Chinese University, the cumulative number of people participating in ice and snow sports in the mainland in November 2018 has reached 270 million, accounting for about 24% of the total population. By 2022, mass ice and snow sports will be widely carried out, mass ice and snow events will be rich and colorful, mass ice and snow sports service standards will be perfect, and mass ice and snow sports venues and facilities will basically meet the diversified and multi-level needs of the people. Ice and snow sports are closer to and integrated into the lives of the people, the people's sense of acquisition of the development results of ice and snow sports is further enhanced, and the attention, love, support and participation in ice and snow sports have reached a higher level. Young people participate in the ice and snow games more confident, sunny, healthy and brave, ice and snow sports are increasingly becoming a new way of fitness and leisure for teenagers and the public, and play a positive role in promoting the quality of the people and the quality of life. By 2020, the Ministry of Education plans to select 2,000 ice and snow sports schools, and by 2025, it plans to select 5,000 special schools and more than 700 demonstration schools to effectively promote the popularization and development of youth ice and snow sports.

4.4 The ice and snow sports industry has a good momentum

Ice and snow industry is a sunrise industry, after several years of accumulation and development, in 2017 the scale of the mainland ice and snow industry has reached 397.6 billion yuan, in recent years has maintained a steady growth trend, with the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics is approaching, China will usher in the golden age of ice and snow sports development. The State Council's "Guiding Opinions on Accelerating the Development of the Fitness and Leisure Industry" pointed out: "Focus on creating sports industry clusters and industrial belts with characteristics such as ice and snow sports, focus on ice and snow sports, guide fitness and leisure projects with consumption leadership, promote the development of the ice and snow sports industry, and form a new sports consumption hotspot." "Seize the opportunity of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, take advantage of the venues of high-level and comprehensive international ice and snow events in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, rely on the strong consumer demand in the region, actively popularize ice and snow sports projects, and vigorously develop the ice and snow fitness and leisure industry, high-level competition performance industry and ice and snow tourism, so as to drive the overall rapid development of ice and snow sports in the country." The mainland ice and snow sports industry has initially formed an industrial pattern based on fitness and leisure, competition performances, venue services, sports training and sports tourism, and has gradually moved towards the goal of "Jinshan Yinshan". On July 10, 2020, the "Helping the Winter Olympics , Burning Ice and Snow - 2020 Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Ice and Snow Forum" was held in Guangzhou, which is the first ice and snow forum held in South China and will surely promote the development of ice and snow sports in South China. On September 19 of the same year, the first "Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Ski Elite Challenge" was also held in Guangzhou Huadu Sunac Cultural Tourism City. It can be seen that in the next few years, the national ice and snow sports participation and training demand is strong, competition and performance activities are increasingly rich, ice and snow tourism is developing rapidly, the degree of marketization of ice and snow venue construction and operation is improved, the manufacturing growth space of ice and snow supplies and related products is large, ice and snow sporting supplies, event broadcasting, and ecological tourism will drive the development of a large number of related industries, by 2025, the number of people directly participating in ice and snow sports will reach 50 million, and drive 300 million people to participate in ice and snow sports, and the scale of the ice and snow industry will reach 1 trillion yuan.

4.5 The level of ice and snow sports competition is constantly improving

As of the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, the mainland has won a total of 62 Winter Olympic medals. Judging from the past 4 Winter Olympic Games, the level of ice and snow sports competition in the mainland is basically between 7 and 16, and the best ranking is the 7th place of the Vancouver Winter Olympics, which is a big gap with the world's ice and snow sports powers. The 24th Winter Olympics, jointly hosted by Beijing and Zhangjiakou City, will be held in February 2022, and the mainland has unique advantages: first, the brilliant achievements of the Summer Olympic Games, especially the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, have inspired ice and snow athletes; second, they have the strong support of the national system of sports; and third, they have the objective advantages of the host (natural environment adaptation, familiarity with venue facilities, audience tendency incentives and other factors). In addition, in recent years, the mainland ice and snow sports have developed steadily, especially the rapid development of ice sports, and have achieved excellent results in the World Championships and the Olympic Games. There is reason to believe that at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, the mainland's ice and snow sports competition performance will achieve a new level of ice sports and snow sports to a new breakthrough.

Author Affilications:Department of Physical Education, Sun Yat-sen University School of Physical Education, Shanghai University

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Editor: Xiang Yu

Proofreader: Water Life

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