200-day countdown begins for Winter Olympics

The authorities in Beijing and neighboring Hebei province launched a 200-day countdown to the 2022 Winter Olympics, which will be hosted in February.

Events during the countdown mainly include volunteer work, social activities and boosting the development of the local sports industry. Residents living near Yanqing Winter Olympic Village participated in the launch, organizing 13 ice and snow teams on Sunday and vowing to share their enthusiasm for their work with more people.

Lang En'ge, the leader of the Haituo farmer skiing team at Yanqing, said, "We will actively assist all volunteer ski teams in popularizing ice and snow knowledge to attract more participants by giving full play of our team's role."

Ma Zhiyong, deputy director of the Yanqing District Bureau of Sports, said members of the 13 teams include skiing enthusiasts, who will enhance the talent pool for ice and snow sports in the district.

Beijing's western Shijingshan district, home of the organizing committee for the Games, together with university students from across the city, organized a wealth of experience activities on Monday, ranging from land curling to ice hockey shooting, to disseminate more ice and snow sports knowledge to residents.

Some of the university students will join volunteer teams to help visitors who come to Beijing for the Games.

By the end of June, 1.1 million people worldwide had signed up to attend the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. There are around 190,000 people from Hebei province who have applied to be volunteers, Hebei Daily reported on Saturday.

It is estimated that as of July 8, volunteers from colleges and universities in Hebei had undergone training and held 3,425 special activities, with 286,700 people trained.