With venues tested, volunteers trained and the entire city turned into a winter wonderland, Harbin is all set to host another excellent edition of the Asian Winter Games. [Photo/Xinhua]
With mascots greeting visitors, and sports venues primed for action, the "Ice City" of Harbin is all dressed up and ready to be a warm and generous host of the 9th Asian Winter Games.
With just two days to go until the continental winter sports jamboree kicks off, the already popular tourism destination in Northeast China is bursting with excitement, ready to enjoy a special winter flourish to see out the season. Preparations have entered the home stretch, as the Asian Winter Games will open for a second time in the Heilongjiang provincial capital in spectacular fashion on Feb 7.
Relying on its abundant winter sports facilities, and prior experience of staging the gala event in 1996, Harbin is pushing ahead in full confidence that its encore as a host will help cement its status as an international sports and winter tourism wonderland, not just at home, but globally, according to organizers.
"With full support from the government, the public and all shareholders, we've moved into the home stretch of preparations," said Han Shengjian, vice-governor of Heilongjiang and vice-president of the Harbin organizing committee. "We are committed to hosting a world-class event representing the Asian spirit and Chinese style to promote winter sports across Asia, as well as the unique charm of Harbin."
"I believe, with all our effort, the city of Harbin will build an excellent stage for Asia's best winter sports athletes to demonstrate their talent and present ice and snow sports fans with an unforgettable treat," added Li Guang, competition director of the organizing committee.
The 2025 Harbin edition will mark the biggest representation across Asia, with 34 countries and regions — the most in the gala event's history — having confirmed their entries, including debutants Cambodia and Saudi Arabia.
A total of 1,275 athletes, according to the organizing committee, have signed up to compete in 64 medal events across six sports through Feb 14.
With venues tested, volunteers trained and the entire city turned into a winter wonderland, Harbin is all set to host another excellent edition of the Asian Winter Games.[Photo/Xinhua]
Among them, mixed doubles curling, ski mountaineering and synchronized aerials of freestyle skiing will make their program debut at the Games.
Meanwhile, many Southeast Asian countries and regions, including Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore, have signed up for the alpine skiing competition, which will have more participants than any other event in Harbin's program, underlining the expanding landscape of winter sports across the continent.
All the 13 existing competition venues for the Games — five for ice sports in downtown Harbin and another eight for snow events in Yabuli, a ski resort cluster 200 kilometers from the city center — have completed renovation and equipment upgrades to international standards, and have had all the equipment, operations and service protocols fine-tuned based on feedback from 14 test events.
The tests, that covered all of the competition events, went smoothly and ensured that "organizers left no stones unturned" to guarantee the best possible experience for all participants, said Li.
The two hosting areas are connected by a high-speed railway line, and the traveling time is only about one hour.
The refurbishment of railway stations, streamlining of transportation hubs and planning of shuttle services for athletes and accredited media professionals have been completed.
A newly built second runway at Harbin's international airport was opened on Jan 23, according to the organizing committee.
Thirty-one hospitals have been designated as medical service providers for the Games, while 550 medical personnel have been trained and deployed across all venues for administering first aid.
With venues tested, volunteers trained and the entire city turned into a winter wonderland, Harbin is all set to host another excellent edition of the Asian Winter Games.[Photo/Xinhua]
A total of over 700 dishes will be on the menus at official Games hotels to cater to the taste buds of the international athletes and officials.
Harbin's readiness and the committee's organizational expertise have impressed the Olympic Council of Asia.
"China has rich experience of organizing multisport events, and Harbin has seized international attention and praise for its professional and efficient preparatory work for the Games," said OCA President Raja Randhir Singh.
"They have the knowledge, the wherewithal and the government support. And they have the experience from the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022 and also the Hangzhou Asian Games in 2023, which have brought a lot of expertise in organizing international sporting events in China. So, I'm sure we will see a very high-standard Games here in Harbin," said Vinod Kumar Tiwari, the deputy director general of OCA.
To address the challenges of snowy weather, particularly for traffic during the Games, the city has mobilized over 40,000 sanitation workers, deployed 1,700 sets of cleaning machinery and prepared over 4,000 metric tons of eco-friendly snow-melting agent to be ready to keep the main roads and transport hubs near Games venues clean and dry, even in the face of heavy snowfall, according to Harbin's urban management bureau.
"We've done three rounds of snow-clearance drills so far this winter with the efficiency of the staff being very much improved," said Tang Kexin, head of the bureau.
"We will pile up some of the excessive snow in certain areas across the city, though, to make sure that we keep the city's winter characteristics within reach of visitors."
The highly anticipated opening ceremony of the Games, which will take place at the Harbin International Conference, Exhibition and Sports Center, has been rehearsed multiple times under the guidance of chief director Sha Xiaolan, who was also the mastermind of the well-regarded opening and closing ceremonies of the Hangzhou Asian Games in 2023, according to the organizing committee.
Contact the writers at sunxiaochen@chinadaily.com.cn
