Dated hobby is skating on thin ice with youth

As the temperature stays low and the snow refuses to fall, ice skating is filling the gap for many winter sport fans in Beijing.

The city's indoor skating grounds are packed, glowing under glitzy lights, exhilarating music and meticulously flattened surfaces.

But this manuactured experience is not what many skaters seek. They claim to want naturally-formed surfaces with fish frozen underneath, like jade sculptures blowing out bubbles that reflect contorted visions of the world above.

For many older residents, these "genuine" exterior skating rinks are also links to their pasts.

"When I'm skating on the ice, I feel connected to my father and grandfather," said Zhou, 45, while skating on Shichahai Lake with his wife. "Though the years have passed, I can still share in the same fun."

For Wang Peizhi, a skating blade polisher who works at the lake, he is seeing a freeze in his business.

"In the 1980s and 1990s we could polish as many as 40 pairs of skates a day, but now even half that number is a good result," Wang said.

Wang is the son of local polishing legend Wang Baoshun, who was once called the "king of ice skates". Their family has been practicing polishing in Beijing for 58 years.

"My father had no teacher so he developed his skills through painstaking practice," said Wang Peizhi.

"We follow an old-fashioned way of polishing and though the method is tiring, it is worth it when I hear laughter on the lake."

While Wang recalls his life, a group of children takes turns pulling each other across the lake on a wooden chair. Further away, skaters in their late 40s glide gently along, some arm in arm.

A similar scene is presenting itself at Taoranting Park, where skating instructor Bai Li has worked for years.

He said though he has received an increasing number of students recently, mainly children under 10 years, there is a larger trend at play.

"Most skaters are either around 10 years old or older than 40," Bai said.

He said the children love the sport because it is exciting, while the middle-aged people are chasing nostalgia from when ice skating was popular in the 1980s.

"I would like to see more skaters in their 20s and 30s," he said.

He did note though that some degree of this is happening. A lack of snow this year has pushed residents to look elsewhere for their winter sports and some skating grounds and parks are capping in on the phenomenon.

The Bird's Nest, for example, which had an area beside it converted into a comprehensive snow and ice park, is arranging programs such as ski running and curling.

And the CRD Snow Park in Shijingshan district has snow dogs ready to pull visitors on romantic sledge rides and there are also snow bikes for thrill seekers.

Whatever the truth, few activities help warm the soul so effectively on a chilly day than skating across a frozen lake.

China Daily

(China Daily 02/01/2011)