SHIJIAZHUANG, April 23 (Xinhua) -- China's vision of giving 300 million people in the country access to winter sports before the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games draws on apace.
More than 10 million people took part in ice and snow events held in north China's Hebei Province last winter, representing a 30 percent year-on-year increase, local authorities said on Tuesday.
A total of 265 events were held over nearly four months, more than 80 percent of which were intended for the masses.
After Beijing won the bid to host the 2022 Winter Games, Hebei, with a population of 75 million, set a target of involving 30 million people in winter sports by that year. Hebei's city of Zhangjiakou will co-host the Games, staging the majority of the competition's skiing events.
Ski resorts, ice skating centers and other winter sports-related infrastructure have been constructed in recent years in Hebei, which currently has 37 ski resorts, ranking it third among all China's provinces.
18 ice and snow sports associations have been set up in Hebei to improve guidance to the masses, and the number of approved instructors now stands at 6,300.
