Ice show is hot hit

After Beijing won the bid in 2015 to host the Games, the government announced its commitment to engage 300 million people in winter sports activities in the country.

According to Tu Xiaodong, director of the publicity department of the General Administration of Sport, the number of participants increased from 170 million in the 2016-17 season to 254 million in the 2020-21 season.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the promotion of winter sports resulted in 346 million Chinese taking part in ice and snow sports and related leisure activities.

"Chinese athletes are excellent," Wu says. "And I am deeply encouraged and proud when I see them competing in the international arena. I believe many people are now interested in winter sports. My wife and children are fans, too."

Zhang Yaning, a first-year student of sport management at New York University, also joined the show.

"Although I have practiced winter sports for more than 10 years, the COVID-19 pandemic reduced my chances of continuing to play. But thanks to the Olympics, I have decided to persist and finally became a more professional player," says Zhang, who has more than 150,000 followers on Sina Weibo.