China News Agency, Beijing, February 9th: Is ice and snow sports exclusive to the North?
"China News Weekly" reporter Li Jing
The Beijing Winter Olympics have kicked off. While watching the games, people also take ice and snow sports as a new way of recreation and exercise.
When the beautiful vision of "driving 300 million people to participate in ice and snow sports" gradually becomes a reality, is ice and snow sports still exclusive to the north?
Can the popularization and development of ice and snow sports in the private sector provide impetus for China's professional sports, and what opportunities will it bring to China's ice and snow industry?
China News Agency "East and West Questions" interprets this through interviews with relevant people.
Play ice and snow without distinction between north and south
As of 2021, there will be 13 indoor ice rinks in Shanghai, 8 in Wuhan, and 6 in Shenzhen... The ice training clubs that have accumulated enough experience and resources in Beijing are heading south one after another.
Hou Minghui, secretary general of the Beijing Skating Association, believes that there are dozens of figure skating clubs in China, including Century Star, Champion, All-Star, and China Resources, among which 80% of the large chain clubs are from Beijing.
"Century Star" is the first chain ice training club out of Beijing. Since 2003, it has set up 20 branches across the country.
The advanced training and management experience of these mature clubs has further driven the skating fever.
Children play ice hockey at an ice rink in Beijing in December 2021.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Hou Yu
Compared with figure skating, ice hockey is even less popular in southern cities.
In 2017, Shenzhen Kunlun Red Star Ice Hockey Club was established in Longgang.
Initially, compared with local residents in Shenzhen, Hong Kong and Macau parents who had been exposed to ice hockey earlier seemed to be more interested in their Olympic-standard ice rink, and would lead their children to practice ice hockey on weekends.
Du Congfei, deputy general manager of the club, believes that Shenzhen people's awareness and enthusiasm for ice sports have improved significantly since a year or two ago.
In Beijing, more and more schools put their classrooms on ice rinks and snow rinks.
According to statistics, in recent years, more than 460,000 primary and secondary school students in Beijing have been on ice and snow. By the end of 2021, there will be 200 schools featuring ice and snow sports. The number of participants in the Winter Games for primary and middle school students that have been held for 6 sessions has increased from 500 to more than 1,700. The project has developed from interesting projects such as ice puzzles and snow climbing to professional projects such as short track speed skating, figure skating, curling, ice hockey, alpine skiing, and snowboarding.
In southern cities far away from the ice and snow, more and more "ice babies" are born.
In the early years, Shenzhen Kunlun Hongxing Ice Hockey Club held free experience courses every year for college, middle and primary school students, but the number of students who ended up staying on the "ice" was limited.
From 2021, children in the south are more interested in ice than ever before. The school has begun to establish cooperation with clubs, ice hockey has entered the classroom, the school has established an ice hockey team, and middle school and college students have started regular ice hockey training.
Students of Guiyang No. 3 Experimental Middle School learn "skiing" on an indoor ski simulator.
The school offers ice and snow sports courses, mainly "indoor skiing" and "land curling". Each class will attract a large number of students to experience and learn.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Qu Honglun
Judging from the "Century Star" statistics, the number of people participating in ice training in the south is increasing.
In Shanghai, Shenzhen and other places, the revenue ratio of children who receive regular training to those who experience the ice skating experience has reached 55%, while in Beijing, where the figure skating market is mature, the ratio is 64% to 73%. The city is gradually catching up with Beijing.
After the slogan "300 million people go to the ice and snow" was put forward, the number of people going to the ice in Beijing has exploded, and other cities have also increased significantly.
Civilians can also build a "regular army"
There are three types of children who love ice sports.
Most children are for physical fitness, or to add a hobby.
Some parents are well educated and know that figure skating and ice hockey are popular sports in North America. They hope that their children will master this skill and prepare for studying abroad in the future, which will not only increase the admission rate, but also integrate into the local society more quickly.
There are also a small number of children who show high comprehension and talent in training, and hope to develop into professional players of the national team.
In recent years, the latter two types of children have increased significantly, and this quantitative change has brought about a qualitative change in the skating market to some extent.
For example, in the Century Star Club, once the outstanding amateur players are ranked in the Beijing competition, the club will train them. Not only do they not charge for training and equipment, but also provide subsidies according to their grades, provide teachers and venue guarantees, and support the players to develop on the professional path. The child is sent to the national team.
In January 2022, members of the short track speed skating team of Beijing Dongcheng Sports School train.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Jiang Qiming
In the 2014 National Men's Junior Ice Hockey Championship, the Beijing team, which was dominated by ordinary middle school students and "small returnees", defeated two professional ice hockey teams from the Northeast in succession and won the championship with a complete victory record. It is considered to be a landmark in the development history of Beijing youth ice hockey. event.
Ordinary kids who played in clubs began to defeat the "regular army" in the system.
The development of ice sports in the private sector is providing samples worthy of study for Chinese professional sports, and may also contribute to a brand-new professional development path.
Yukisuke Chongli takes off the "poverty hat"
Entering the snow season, I posted a post on Xiaohongshu about carpooling to Chongli, and I could receive seven or eight messages in half an hour. Not only carpooling, but also people taking the initiative to ask if they wanted to join us for private education.
Children are the absolute main force in ice sports, while skiing attracts mostly young adults.
For them, skiing is a way of decompression, has a sense of achievement in conquering nature, and is also an important social way to meet more like-minded friends.
The popularity of skiing is inseparable from the success of the Winter Olympics bid.
Wen Mengying, deputy training director of Chongli Fulong Mountain Sports Academy, was a professional skier 10 years ago. In her impression, before bidding for the Winter Olympics, the public had no concept of skiing. Skiing has always existed in the form of competitive sports and is well-known in China. The only ski resort in China is "Yabuli" in Heilongjiang, which is far away from ordinary people.
The first fully open ski resort in Chongli and the first fully open ski resort in China, Wanlong Ski Resort, was built in 2003. After that, many large-scale ski resorts such as Dole Meidi and Genting were successively built, but there are almost no supporting facilities. They can only live in local farmers' homes at night.
Chongli Wanlong Ski Resort, people experience skiing.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Zhai Yujia
Changes started in 2013.
In November, Beijing announced a joint bid with Zhangjiakou to host the Winter Olympics.
In the second year, the double promotion of the coordinated development strategy of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and Zhangjiakou's policy of vigorously developing the tourism industry helped Chongli get rid of the "poor county" hat.
In 2015, in the first snow season after the successful bid for the Winter Olympics, nearly 2.5 million people skied in Zhangjiakou, a year-on-year increase of 31%. The number of ski resorts around Beijing also increased from 22 to 32.
In order to adapt to the surge in the flow of people and the increasing level of snow friends, many ski resorts in Beijing have undergone software and hardware upgrades in 2021: Jiayuguan Snow Resort will widen the entire ski track, adjust the slope, and restore the advanced track with a length of 600 meters. ; Nanshan Ski Resort has increased its investment in night skiing, and the number of night skiing trails has increased from 10 to 17.
In 2016, Fulong Four Seasons Town Tourist Resort was completed in Chongli, connecting skiing with leisure and vacation.
Cui Yajie, Dean of Fulong Mountain Sports Academy, believes that "Fulong" is positioned as a destination-type ski resort, which is beautiful, fun, and cultural. The customer base is mainly parent-child families and young people. The purpose of training is to popularize and promote skiing.
Ski lovers enjoy ice and snow sports at Chongli Fulong Ski Resort.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Zhai Yujia
At present, China's ski resorts are still dominated by tourism experience-type ski resorts and suburban learning-type ski resorts. Wu Bin, vice chairman of Beijing Ski Association, defines the Chinese ski market as the world's largest primary ski market.
In 2000, there were only 50 ski resorts in the country. In 2019, there were 770 ski resorts, and the total number of skiers increased from 10.3 million in 2014 to 20.76 million in 2021.
The city level of skiers is distributed in a step-by-step manner, with nearly 60% gathered in first-tier and new first-tier cities, and 43.3% of skiers with a monthly income of over 10,000.
Hou Minghui, secretary general of the Beijing Skating Association, said with emotion that the rapid development of ice and snow sports is inseparable from the effect of the Winter Olympics and the promotion of policies. It is also the result of the expansion of the middle class after the income level of the Chinese people has increased.
"Ice and snow fever" spawns new industries
It is not unreasonable for ice and snow sports to be called "aristocratic sports". Figure skating, ice hockey, skiing, no matter which one requires a certain spending power.
A rough estimate is that the cost of a child learning figure skating for a year is 30,000 to 40,000 (RMB, the same below), and the annual cost of ice hockey protective gear is 50,000 to 60,000. If you want better equipment, it may exceed 100,000.
If you want to develop in a professional direction, the cost will be higher.
The consumption of skiing is also expensive. Even the entry-level ski boots, ski suits, and snowboards cost close to 3,000 yuan for a complete set.
The price of ski training, even if it is a group teaching, starts at 500 yuan for a full-day teaching.
China's ice and snow sports have gradually entered the homes of ordinary people, driving the development and upgrading of the entire ice and snow industry.
The "China Ice and Snow Tourism Development Report (2022)" released by the China Tourism Academy estimates that from 2021 to 2022, the number of ice and snow leisure tourists in China will reach 305 million, and the income of ice and snow leisure tourism is expected to reach 323.3 billion yuan.
On November 27, 2021, the 15th Xinjiang Winter Tourism Industry Trading Expo opened in Fuyun County, Altay, Xinjiang, and the new ski suits attracted visitors.
China News Agency reporter Liu Xinshe
According to the sales data of JD.com's "Double 11" in 2021, orders for ice and snow categories such as snow clothing, snowboards, ski goggles, and ice and snow tourism are all showing explosive growth.
The turnover of ski clothing, orders for snowboards and ski goggles increased by 270%, 590% and 300% year-on-year respectively, and the number of self-operated orders for skis increased by 23 times year-on-year.
The development of the domestic market has driven the branding of domestic ski products, and Chinese brands have begun to go overseas.
According to data from AliExpress, a cross-border e-commerce platform owned by Alibaba, in the fourth quarter of 2021, overseas sales of Chinese ski equipment increased by more than 60% year-on-year, and overseas sales of domestic ski helmets increased by 15 times.
In 2021, consumers in 100 countries and regions around the world will buy Chinese ski equipment on AliExpress, from Iceland in the north to Chile in the south.
The scientific and technological concepts brought by ice and snow sports are also constantly being upgraded, and technologically innovative products such as simulated ice, roller snow, and simulators are constantly appearing.
From 2014 to 2020, the number of ice and snow-related companies quadrupled.
Sarah Lewis, who served as the secretary general of the International Ski Federation for 20 years, said in an interview last year that the plan of "300 million people on ice and snow" will have a huge impact on the world's ice and snow market, not only means that there will be more changes in the future. Many snow and ice enthusiasts, the beneficiaries also include equipment manufacturers and practitioners in the snow and ice tourism industry.
Behind the increasing number of ice and snow enthusiasts and the ever-upgrading data, China's ice and snow industry is ushering in a golden opportunity period for development.
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