China’s budding skiers hit indoor slopes ahead of 2022 Winter Olympics
- Beijing began putting skiing on the map in 2016 after winning its bid to host the next winter games
- Government aims to add winter sports to the curriculums of 5,000 schools by 2025
Xia Zhiyi drove his family 40km (25 miles) to an indoor ski park in the east China city of Shaoxing so his 12-year-old daughter could practise skiing on a slope of artificial snow.
The 41-year-old said he was preparing his daughter to ski on mountains during a family trip he had booked for this winter.
“You have to book six months in advance to secure a good spot,” he said.
China hopes to turn 300 million people into skiers and snowboarders in the coming years as it seeks to generate interest in the sport before the 2022 games and eyes a sector expected to be worth 1 trillion yuan (US$149.2 billion) by 2025.
The government began putting skiing on China’s map in 2016, offering discounts on electricity and land usage to some ski parks, after it won a bid in 2015 to host the Winter Games.