by Nancy Gong

In the early years after the founding of the Peoples Republic of China in 1949， winter sports were mainly played in northern Chinas cold winters and gained popularity slowly. After the launch of Chinas reform and opening up in 1978， the introduction of snow and ice-making machinery provided greater flexibility and helped popularize winter sports across the country. Also since then， Chinese ice and snow athletes began to step onto international stages successively. Chinese teams first participated in the Winter Olympic Games in 1980， and Chinese athletes won the countrys first silver and gold medals at the Winter Olympics in 1992 and 2002， respectively. In less than two months， China will host the 2022 Winter Olympic Games with an eye on “getting 300 million people involved in winter sports.”

Looking back， ice and snow sports have already facilitated some Chinese peoples sweetest memories.