Xi's vision shapes spectacular showpiece
The IOC's decision to award the 2022 Winter Olympics to Beijing makes the Chinese capital the first city to host both the Summer and Winter Games. Beijing impressed the world in 2008, and now it is ready to do so once again.
Ever since then, the president has demonstrated a personal commitment to ensuring the Games' success, paying numerous visits to the sporting venues and offering his encouragement to China's athletes.
On Jan 4, the first workday after the New Year holiday, he conducted his fifth inspection of the preparatory work for the Games. He visited the National Speed Skating Oval, the Main Media Center, the athletes' village, the Games-time Operations Command Center and a winter sports training base in Beijing, learning about concrete measures to ensure the event will be "a complete success".
During that inspection tour, Xi said that thanks to years of efforts, work on all fronts was ready. "We are fully confident and able to present a fantastic, extraordinary and excellent Olympic Games to the world."
As was advocated by Xi, all the preparatory work follows the concept of hosting "green, inclusive, open and corruption-free Olympics", an idea concurring with China's new development philosophy.
Xi has pointed out on many occasions that sport is an important way to improve people's health and fulfill their aspirations for a better life. That explains why he has pledged to get more than 300 million Chinese people on skis and skates, and why health has been incorporated into Beijing's second Olympic journey.
Just as China used the 2008 Summer Olympics to push its economic and social development, Xi also intends to use the 2022 Games as a catalyst to promote sustainable economic growth not only in Beijing, but in areas surrounding the capital. This is in line with the IOC's Olympic Agenda 2020, which aims to make the Olympic Games fit into the long-term development plan of a city and region.
Chongli was once an extremely poor county in Zhangjiakou, one of the competition zones in Hebei province, with a limited agricultural income. In 2015, 16.8 percent of the 100,000 residents in the county were classed as living below China's national poverty line.
But this mountainous town, where most of the 2022 Winter Olympics' snow events will be staged, has been transformed into a skier's paradise thanks to booming tourism. In 2019, The New York Times named Chongli as one of 52 ski destinations worth visiting.
In May 2019, Chongli was officially lifted out of poverty. Nearly 30,000 of its 126,000 residents are employed by ski resorts or related companies and organizations.
