Winter resorts get ski lift

For example, the National Alpine Skiing Center, which will stage the alpine skiing events at Beijing 2022, will continue to be a sports venue for such competitions, as well as serving as the training venue for the national, and other professional, alpine skiing teams, according to the report.

The venue will also be open to high-level amateur skiers during winter, and will serve as a mountain sightseeing and outdoor sports venue for the rest of the year.

The National Sliding Center, the only venue for bobsleigh, skeleton and luge in China, will continue to serve as the venue for various high-level competitions after the Games and provide a professional training venue for the national and youth teams.

The center has a special starting point on the track reserved for the general public, which will allow people to experience the thrill of sports after the Games, creating a multipurpose venue that is capable of staging major sports events and catering to recreational demand, the report says.

Yanqing will also build new public ski resorts and expand existing ones, with the goal of offering more than 1 million square meters of professional and public ski areas, Ding says.

The local authority will also integrate the district's Badaling Great Wall and World Horticultural Exposition with winter sports.

Outside Yanqing, other Olympic venues are also expected to join in the winter fun.

Beijing 2022 has made full use of the rich Olympic legacy of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Six venues from Beijing 2008 have been renovated and upgraded to accommodate winter sports.

The National Aquatics Center will host ice sports events, swimming events and large cultural performances after serving as the venue for the curling and wheelchair curling events at Beijing 2022.

The National Indoor Stadium will be converted to serve different types of sporting events, including cultural and tourism activities and general youth training programs after the ice hockey and para ice hockey events at Beijing 2022.

At the National Speed Skating Oval, also known as the Ice Ribbon, sporting events and public sports activities will take place following the Winter Olympics. It will be a multifunction ice sports center that serves the needs for sporting events, mass fitness, culture and leisure, as well as exhibitions and social welfare.

The Big Air Shougang is the first permanent big air venue in the world. It will serve the snowboard and freestyle skiing big air events. After the Games, the venue will offer fitness-for-all experiences for the public and stage winter sports carnivals.

The country has set its sights on encouraging 300 million people to participate in winter sports between 2018 and 2022.