Why was Zhangjiakou also selected to host the Winter Olympics?

On the evening of February 25, at the closing ceremony of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, as "Beijing Eight Minutes" came to an end, the Winter Olympics officially entered Beijing time. Four years later, Beijing will become the first city in Olympic history to host both the Summer Olympics and the Winter Olympics.

It is worth mentioning that compared with the 2008 Summer Olympics, the 2022 Winter Olympics will not only be hosted by Beijing, but also Zhangjiakou in Hebei Province will be the host city.

It is reported that Beijing will host all ice sports, and Yanqing and Zhangjiakou will host all snow sports.

Why do the Winter Olympics favor this place?

Zhangjiakou’s unique advantages

The origin of the name Zhangjiakou is quite interesting. In the eighth year of Jiajing (AD 1529), guard Zhang Zhen opened a small gate in the north city wall, which was called the "Little North Gate". Because the gate was as small as a mouth and Zhang Zhen opened and built it, it was also called "Zhangjiakou".

At first, there was only one door between Zhangjiakou and Beijing. Even now, the southeastern part of Zhangjiakou is adjacent to Beijing. Its urban area is only 180 kilometers away from Beijing. Beijingers often call it "Kouwai".

Li Mingde, an academic consultant at the Tourism Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told a China News Service reporter that the reason why Zhangjiakou co-hosted the Winter Olympics with Beijing is because of its special climatic and geographical conditions.

“Zhangjiakou is colder than Beijing, so the snow season is a little longer. In addition, Zhangjiakou has also vigorously developed ice and snow sports in recent years, especially Chongli ice and snow sports, which are well developed, both in terms of ice and snow facilities and conditions. The quality of the ice and snow has reached international standards," Li Mingde said.

When it comes to ice and snow conditions, Chongli has to be mentioned here. It is understood that Chongli District, located in Zhangjiakou City, will be the main venue for snow sports in the Winter Olympics.

This is because the natural skiing period in Chongli can last up to 120 days, and the snow storage period can last more than 140 days. In addition, the slopes of Chongli's mountain slopes are steep and moderate, and the area available for tourist skiing and competitive skiing reaches 300 square kilometers. It is known as the most ideal skiing area in North China.

If the natural climate conditions make Zhangjiakou a success, then the convenient transportation is the icing on the cake.

Li Mingde told the reporter of Guoshi Express: "Zhangjiakou has taken advantage of Beijing as the capital of China and a large city in the world to bring it a large market, making up for its shortcomings in this area. Beijing's The advantage has become Zhangjiakou’s advantage.”

Sports drives tourism

With the successful bid for the Winter Olympics, Chongli’s ski tourism industry has also developed rapidly.

So far, Chongli has held several International Ski Festivals, and was rated as one of the “Top Ten Most Influential Ice and Snow Tourism Festivals in China” for the 2016-1017 ice and snow season. In 2017, Chongli Ski Area also won the title of "Top Ten Winter Tourism Destinations in China".

The development of Chongli’s tourism industry is inseparable from the craze of “ice and snow tourism”.

According to the "China Ice and Snow Tourism Development Report (2017)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Report"), in the 2016-2017 ice and snow season, China's ice and snow tourism market reached 170 million people, and the ice and snow tourism revenue was approximately 270 billion Yuan.

Among them, ice and snow tourists account for 72.4% of the total number of domestic ice and snow tourists in China, and tourists for skiing and leisure vacations account for 27.6%. The magnificent scenery of the frozen North, thousands of miles of snow drifting, and the rich local folk customs have become ice and snow. An important attraction for tourism.

From a regional perspective, Heilongjiang Province, Jilin Province and Beijing and Hebei have formed a tripartite situation in ice and snow tourism. Among them, Heilongjiang Province and Jilin Province have become the main representatives of Northeast ice and snow tourism. Beijing and Hebei are the typical Olympic ice and snow tourism cores, with Yanqing and Miyun in Beijing and Zhangjiakou in Hebei as the typical core.

In addition, emerging ice and snow tourism growth belts, mainly Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia, are also emerging.

Take the Altai Mountains in Xinjiang for example. It is the birthplace of ancient fur skiing. With an altitude of 2000-3500 meters, it is internationally recognized as the best skiing area and will not be troubled by altitude sickness. . Therefore, the Altai Mountains are a "powder snow paradise" for ski enthusiasts. From the top of the mountain, you can go down as much as you want, surrounded by white snow.

Of course, in addition to the north, ice and snow tourism in some southern cities has also become the highlight of the local winter tourism industry. Qiaobo Ice and Snow World in Shaoxing, Zhejiang, Shennongjia Ski Resort in Hubei, Xiling Snow Mountain Ski Resort in Sichuan, and Yushe Snow Mountain Ski Resort in Liupanshui, Guizhou are very popular among local tourists.

According to the "Report", in the 2021-2022 ice and snow season, the number of ice and snow tourists in China is expected to reach 340 million, with revenue reaching 670 billion yuan. Ice and snow tourism will drive the output value of tourism and related industries to 2.88 trillion Yuan.

The pursuit of “playing with quality”

In Li Mingde’s view, ice and snow sports have two forms: one is pure sports, focusing on competition; the other is fitness tourism Type, mainly for fun. Obviously, ice and snow tourism belongs to the latter.

“For ice and snow play, the facilities can be relatively simple and do not need to be international or standardized. But the tricks must be renovated and add your own creativity, such as the construction of houses, the design of slides and cable cars, and the use of equipment, etc. Keep it as diverse as possible," Li Mingde told reporters from China Express.

At present, Harbin is one of the more unique ice and snow tourist resorts in China.

Every International Ice and Snow Festival, Harbin not only displays large-scale ice sculptures, snow sculpture tours, ice lantern tours, etc. to the country and abroad, but also holds ice hockey games, ice sculpture competitions, ice and snow festival poetry, ice and snow photography exhibitions and other activities, in order to Sports increase the experience of tourism, and tourism promotes the fun of sports.

The Gongchangling Hot Spring Ski Resort in Liaoning Province provides tourists with the opportunity to feel warm and cold at the same time. It is understood that Gongchangling Hot Spring Ski Resort is located east of Tanghe Hot Spring. It is surrounded by mountains and quiet pine forests. Visitors can experience skiing and enjoy hot springs at the same time.

In Shuangfeng Forest Farm in Mudanjiang City, known as the "Snow Town of China", every winter, under the action of negative force, the white snow takes shape and appears in various poses. Snow hangings on the eaves and snow mushrooms are fully displayed, forming A fairy tale world carved from ice and jade.

As the number of ice and snow tourists continues to expand, Li Mingde pointed out that "the management department must have certain plans to make the total volume and layout trend reasonable." At the same time, during the operation process, recreational ice and snow sports must use Tourists "play for culture, play for health, and play for pleasure", only in this way can they move towards "quality" ice and snow tourism.