Discover China: Olympics ignites children's passion for winter sports

On a cold afternoon, Yuan Xin, an 11-year-old primary school student, quickly put on her skates and knee pads and stepped out onto the Mengqiyuan ice skating rink, the first indoor skating rink in Yanqing.

Two years into the hobby, Yuan said ice skating is a cool sport, and she hopes to become an Olympic volunteer in 2022.

"This skating rink can not only stage competitions and training sessions of short track speed skating, figure skating and ice hockey, but also provide a platform for young people all year round to have fun on ice," said Ma Zhiyong, deputy director of Yanqing's sports bureau.

Drawn by the coming 2022 Winter Olympics, more children have fallen in love with skating and many talented potential skaters have been offered professional training, according to Meng Meijun, a former Chinese athlete in short track speed skating and now a coach in Mengqiyuan.

Tickets for the skating rink are sold out every weekend, reflecting the unprecedented growing trend of China's winter sports industry.

Take the country's winter sports equipment sector as an example. The industry aims to rake in sales of over 20 billion yuan ($2.87 billion) annually by 2022, growing by an average of more than 20 percent year on year, according to an action plan by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the General Administration of Sport of China and seven other government agencies in June.

"As the Winter Olympics approaches, we will strengthen our efforts to promote courses teaching winter sports in schools, allowing children to master winter sports techniques as well as acquire more knowledge about the games," said Zhao Jianmin, deputy director of Yanqing district's education commission.