Ice sport excitement in Beijing ahead of Winter Games

Since Beijing's successful bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics in July, 2015, the city has witnessed a growing enthusiasm for sports on ice.

The government, schools, companies, professionals and the public have been attempting to hit a Chinese government goal of "getting 300 million people involved into sports on ice and snow."

As of the end of 2016, the Shijingshan district government, collaborating with Tus Winter Sports Company, launched construction of the Citizen Ice and Snow Sports Center in the form of a public-private partnership.

The ice stadium opened to the public in September, which covers an area of 28,700-square-meters and contains three 1,800-square-meter ice rinks.

The venue now functions as a training base for ice sports, a platform for ice events and performances, and a recreational center for citizens.

Twenty-three-year-old Li Yao is an ice hockey coach in the center.

"We have received strong support from public schools since the successful bid for 2022 Winter Olympics," said Li Yao, "Many schools provide ice sports education for students to receive training here."

To enhance China's ice sports on a more professional level, the stadium operator employs several foreign coaches to teach ice hockey.

"These teenagers are at different levels, but they are all promising players," said Dmitrii, a Russian coach.

The facility also caters to the public, with around 100 people skating there every weekday. The figure doubles on the weekend.

Figure skating is also being popularized at ice centers across Beijing.

Pang Qing and Tong Jian, former world champions, have set up a figure skating program to train aspiring skaters.

They put on the first show of the series entitled "Magic on Ice" at the Hi-ice Center near the Beijing Wukesong Sports Center on Sunday night, attracting a large crowd of figure skating enthusiasts.

Speaking exclusively with China Plus, Tong Jian says they hope to continue promoting figure skating in China through ice shows.

"On the one hand, we are dedicated to cultivating young figure skaters with professional training on an international level. On the other, we just hope to popularize figure skating through presenting ice shows," said Tong Jian. "I hope that by 2022, people in China will know more about figure skating and have a growing interest in it."