150m take to ice, snow for fun and health

About 150 million people in China participated in ice and snow sports last winter, according to a report by Renmin University on Saturday.

Renmin University of China has conducted an annual survey on the nationwide participation level of ice and snow sports since 2018, to reveal who people do such sports.

This year’s report found 41.2 percent of respondents have participated in ice and snow sports more than three times a year, and 27.2 percent have participated in ice and snow sports in any season other than winter.

The report also shows that 45 percent of the people participated in ice and snow sports for recreational purposes, 23.3 percent for health, and 17.5 percent for stress relief.

However, the lack of nearby facilities is the primary limit on the sport, and this year’s COVID-19 outbreak has also hindered the prevalence.

In the past three years, the public’s attention to the Beijing Winter Olympics has been increasing year by year, and the proportion of people who pay attention to the Games through various media has been stable at about 70 percent.

Stratified probability random sampling was used in the survey in 2020, covering 333 prefecture-level units in 31 provincial districts.

More than 960,000 people have applied to be volunteers for the Beijing 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games a year after the global recruitment began, according to the Beijing 2022 Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games.

The BOCOG launched the global appeal for Games volunteers on December 5, 2019.