The 5th Hebei Ice and Snow Sports Games are set to begin on Jan 7 in Qinhuangdao, Hebei province, and will run until Jan 10 to promote the development of winter activities in the province, a local official said.
The competition features three divisions — youth, social groups and university groups. The opening and closing ceremonies, along with ice events and a few snow events, will be hosted by Qinhuangdao. Most snow events will take place in Zhangjiakou, Wang Chun, an official with the Hebei Sports Bureau, said at a news conference on Friday.
Together with Beijing, the city of Zhangjiakou successfully bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics in 2015.
Since then, the province has actively promoted the ice and snow sports to the general public.
"After the majority of snow events for the 2022 Winter Olympics were held in Zhangjiakou, the development of ice and snow sports in the province took a leap forward," Wang said.
For holding the Winter Olympics in the city's Chongli district, Zhangjiakou built top-tier snow sports venues, including the National Ski Jumping Center, National Cross-Country Skiing Center, National Biathlon Center and Genting Ski Resort.
"These facilities have become valuable Olympic legacies and transformed Chongli into an international ice and snow tourism destination," Wang said.
Chongli, located at the intersection of the Yanshan and Taihang mountains, is also part of the golden ski belt, alongside renowned ski destinations like Davos, Switzerland, and Whistler, Canada, Wang said, adding that the district has emerged as one of the best-equipped ski resorts in the country and possesses the qualities needed to become a world-class ski destination.
Since 2019, Hebei has hosted four provincial ice and snow sports games, significantly driving the popularization and development of ice and snow sports across the province.
Wang said the province now boasts excellent ice and snow sports facilities, with 55 ski resorts, which ranks third nationwide. Of those, 21 feature aerial cable cars, the most in the country. Notably, six ski resorts in Chongli have made it to the top 10 nationwide.
The province also houses 213 indoor ice skating rinks, the most in the country, laying a solid foundation for the development of ice and snow sports in Hebei, Wang said.
