Crowd gathers to witness Sino-Russian sports events in Heilongjiang
The frozen Heilongjiang River came alive with activity on Saturday, as some 600 spectators from Heihe, Heilongjiang province, and the Russian city of Blagoveshchensk came to watch a Sino-Russian sports competition.
The two-day event featured a friendly Sino-Russian ice hockey match on Saturday and an ice and snow auto race on Sunday.
The ice hockey match was divided into children, youth and adults. Each team participated in three 15-minute periods.
The auto race was also divided into three groups. Each team from the two countries sent 30 automobiles to participate in a 3.45-kilometer race on the frozen Heilongjiang River (known as the Amur River in Russia).
Heilongjiang has a long history of sports exchanges and cooperation with Russia, especially in winter sports, such as figure skating, ice hockey, curling, cross-country skiing and speed skating.