Winter has come to the CIIE

An outdoor exhibition space at the China International Import Expo, on the northern square of the main venue, has an area where hundreds of visitors can experience ice skating, skiing, sledding, snowboarding on both virtual reality machines and on real ice and snow.

It is one of the four sections in the outdoor space. The others have high-end machinery such as helicopters, a test ground for self-driving cars and the world's biggest hotpot.

With the Winter Olympics 2022 being held in China’s Hebei Province near Beijing, the outdoor space aims to increase awareness and interest in winter sports.

The ice and snow sports area is divided in five sections — a virtual reality section with dozens of machines each featuring a different sport, a curling area, an ice and snow fantasy land for kids, a snow field and an ice field.

Equipment, helmets and outdoor jackets are provided while volunteers and professional coaches are on hand to help visitors unfamiliar with winter sports.

“I never went skiing before so this felt OK. I fell a lot but I think I will do better next time,” a CIIE staff member staff in CIIE surnamed Chen told Shanghai Daily after he went skiing on a VR machine.

The outdoor space is popular with CIIE staff who need to have some fun after hours of intense work indoors.