Let's ski together
Our reporter Song Meiqian, correspondent Zhang Jie
On the morning of August 15th, Zhang Can, a resident of Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province, drove more than ten kilometers with his two daughters to the indoor ski resort of Changqing Ice and Snow Town in the west of Luquan District of the city to learn skiing.
Zhang Can told reporters: “Skiing is not only trendy and fashionable, but also good for physical and mental health. Especially in summer, skiing can organically combine refreshing summer and refreshing with exercise. After practice and screening, I decided to keep this sport for a long time. Children. We usually come to class once a week, and every other day during the winter and summer vacations."
Like Zhang Can, there are many people who like ice and snow sports.
Liu Yan, manager of the Qingbing and Snow Town of the West Minister, told reporters: "Through the past 10 years of market cultivation, the western evergreen ice and snow town has become more and more famous, with more and more participants, and sports groups have covered North China and Central Plains. In the region, the annual reception volume exceeds 200,000."
Winter Olympics ignite passion
According to Liu Yan, the ice and snow town mainly includes outdoor ski resorts, indoor ice and snow halls, Tuscany-style shopping streets and resort hotels.
The outdoor ski resort here is equipped with high, medium, and elementary ski trails, ropeways, drags, magic carpets and other facilities and equipment. The length of the ski trail is more than 2,000 meters; the indoor ski resort covers an area of 14,000 square meters, the length of the ski trail is 230 meters, and the snow play area It is equipped with landscape supporting facilities such as ice sculptures, castles, and snow circle roads.
In order to meet the needs of different groups of people, the ice and snow town is also equipped with more than 2,000 sets of personal equipment for ice and snow sports, making it an ideal place for all-season skiing, day and night skiing, and parent-child play in the snow.
"When the ice and snow town was first built, domestic ice and snow sports were in its infancy, and there were not many people who knew the sport. At that time, ice and snow sports was a'cash-burning' project, equipped with a set of mid-range snowboard equipment. At least an investment of more than 10,000 yuan is required. In addition, the construction and operation and maintenance costs of the ski resort are more expensive. The admission ticket costs three to five hundred yuan. The consumer group is not wide." In 2017, my country bid for the Winter Olympics. It ignited people's passion for ice and snow sports, and formed a wave of people's understanding of ice and snow sports and participation in ice and snow sports.
After the successful bid for the Winter Olympics, the state actively promoted the goal of "driving 300 million people to participate in ice and snow sports" and organized and subsidized the national ice and snow sports through various activities.
Hebei Province not only carried out extensive publicity and mobilization, but also gave each skier a 50 yuan ticket subsidy, which provided an opportunity for the large-scale and standardized development of mass ice and snow sports.
"The number of people coming to ice and snow town to participate in sports has doubled, and the town's annual sales income has reached about 30 million yuan." Liu Yan said.
Li Xiangming, a tourist from Beijing, told reporters: "Since my bid to host the Winter Olympics in 2017, I have fallen in love with ice and snow sports. I didn’t know much about this sport in the past. I don’t know where to buy equipment, where there are ski resorts, and where to find coaches. After the Winter Olympics, many good ice and snow sports bases have appeared everywhere. Among them, the western evergreen ice and snow town not only has complete facilities, but also has an indoor ski resort. I often come here to ski in the summer."
Consumer prices are close to the people
Li Bin, the principal of Shijiazhuang Shengya Ski School, who has nearly 30 years of coaching experience, told reporters that his hometown, Harbin, has a cold climate and a long winter ice and snow season. It is one of the earliest locations for China's ice and snow sports. He has been coaching in Harbin in his early years.
"In China, ice and snow sports were not popular before. Everyone thinks it is a luxury sport. Now the situation is different. With the increase of people's income and consumption level and the popularity of ice and snow sports, there are gradually more ice and snow sports venues. Tickets have also dropped from three to five hundred yuan to one to two hundred yuan, and coaching fees have dropped from 800 yuan per hour to 150 yuan in the past. It takes about a few thousand yuan to buy a set of ordinary sports equipment, which is generally acceptable to middle-income people. It has already begun to become popular."
As the consumption boom of China's ice and snow sports moved south, Li Bin opened the coaching school from Harbin to Shijiazhuang.
He believes that the facilities in the Changqing Ice and Snow Town in the west are good and the cost is moderate, which is very suitable for the development of mass ice and snow sports.
"Ski ticket prices are relatively fair. They are 150 yuan, 190 yuan, and 230 yuan on weekdays, weekends, and statutory holidays, respectively. In recent years, the government has provided a price subsidy of 50 yuan per person. It is acceptable, so more people come to consume."
The popularization of ice and snow sports is inseparable from government support and young people's enthusiasm for consumption.
The Shijiazhuang City Sports Bureau issued skating public welfare coupons to primary and secondary schools to carry out activities such as bringing ice sports to campus and campus skating classes to skating halls to promote youth ice and snow sports.
It is understood that in less than a month, 6,000 people have participated in the free experience activities, which has a very important demonstration significance for the promotion and popularization of ice and snow sports.
Indoor skiing speed
In the indoor ski resort of Changqing Ice and Snow Town in the west, the reporter met a group of young people from Jinan.
One of them, Shang Rongzhi, told reporters: "When young people gather together, in addition to work, study, and entertainment, physical exercise is also a very important content. When there are many snowfields in winter, we will choose to go to the northeast or go to Chongli. There are few ski resorts in summer, and the evergreen ice and snow town in the west of Shijiazhuang has become the first choice. The environment here is good, the snow quality is good, and the price is not expensive. We come every week." They said that the domestic indoor ski resorts are still relatively "If a large city with a large population builds one or two indoor ski resorts like Shijiazhuang, we don’t have to travel as far away as we do now if we want to enjoy the fun of ice and snow sports in the summer."
Since the successful bid for the Winter Olympics in 2017, Hebei Province has taken a series of measures to actively promote the development of mass ice and snow sports.
Up to now, Hebei Province has successfully hosted two provincial ice and snow games, realizing the "five full coverage" of ice and snow games, indoor skating halls, ice and snow sports associations, ice and snow leagues, and ice and snow sports into the campus at the county level and above. Implement price subsidies for ice and snow sports venues across the province.
Among them, the 22 counties (cities, districts) of Shijiazhuang City have built 9 real ice pavilions and 13 imitation ice pavilions. In some places, the government purchases services to organize competitions and training, which has effectively promoted the popularization of ice and snow sports.
According to statistics, the number of people participating in ice and snow sports in Hebei Province has reached 22 million by the end of 2020; it is expected that by the end of this year, the goal of driving 30 million people in the province to participate in ice and snow sports will be achieved.