Jointly organized by Beijing Olympic City Development Center and the Municipal People’s Government of Zhangjiakou, the Beijing-Zhangjiakou themed communication and display event on the culture of Summer and Winter Olympics was held in the two cities on September 12 and 13. The attendees included Wang Kun, deputy-director-level official of Beijing Olympic City Development Center, Huang Jianjun, deputy director of Zhangjiakou Municipal Sports Bureau, Peng Lixing, deputy chief of Chongli District of Zhangjiakou, representatives of the authors of the proposals on post-Games legacy use and mainstream central media and municipal media of Beijing. 

The event included the opening ceremony of the Exhibition on the Spirit of the Beijing 2022 Games in Zhangjiakou and the field trip to the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Sports, Culture and Tourism Belt to survey tourist resources. The aim was to create a strong summer and winter Olympic culture in Beijing and Zhangjiakou, and jointly promote the integrated development of sports, culture and tourism industries in the two cities.

According to the organizers, the themed exhibition in Zhangjiakou featured more than 70 wonderful pictures capturing highlight moments of the bidding, preparing and holding of the Beijing 2022 Games, and showing the spirit of bearing in mind the big picture, being confident and open, rising to the challenges, pursuing excellence, and creating a better future together. The exhibition will permanently stage at the National Ski Jumping Center (also known as “Snow Ruyi”). 

Visitors at the exhibition

At the opening ceremony of the exhibition held at the Olympic Park in Chongli on September 13, Wang Kun, deputy director-general-level official of Beijing Olympic City Development Center, said in order to thoroughly implement the guiding principles laid down in the report to the 20^th National Congress of the CPC and the important instructions made by General Secretary Xi Jinping on the Olympic legacy , this exhibition was jointly launched by the Center and the Zhangjiakou Municipal Government to carry forward the spirit of the Games, in an endeavor to turn the valuable spiritual wealth created by the success of the Games into an inexhaustible driving force for the high-quality development of the two cities. Earlier, the Center, together with the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism and Bureau of Sports and the Zhangjiakou Municipal People’s Government, issued the Proposal on Advancing the Development of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Sports, Culture and Tourism Belt of 2023, agreeing to work together to establish a Beijing-Zhangjiakou Olympic legacy use coordination and support mechanism, strengthen international exchange and cooperation, carry out cultural cooperation among Olympic museums, promote fitness-for-all and the post-Games use of Olympic venues, and boost regional development. In the future, they will further the cooperation with Zhangjiakou in the fields of sports and culture and contribute more to the sustainable development of the Olympic Movement in China. 

The opening ceremony of the exhibition

Wang Kun speaking

In his speech, Huang Jianjun, deputy director of Zhangjiakou Municipal Sports Bureau, said that the two cities had forged closer ties and enhanced friendship through the Games preparation, laying a solid foundation for jointly building the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Sports, Culture and Tourism Belt and promoting the integrated development of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei. Making the most of the Games and under the leadership of the Zhangjiakou Municipal Party Committee and the Municipal Government, Zhangjiakou has witnessed vigorous development of competitive sports and mass sports alike. Major international events such as FIS Ski World Cup are held here regularly, the Hood to Coast China Relay has become well-known, and the city leagues of football, basketball and volleyball are in full swing. In the future, Zhangjiakou will cooperate with Beijing Olympic City Development Center to contribute to post-Games economic growth, the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Sports, Culture and Tourism Belt, and the sustainable use of Olympic legacy.

Huang Jianjun speaking

At the opening ceremony of the exhibition, Director Li Xiaoguang of Zhangjiakou Winter Sports Administration Center announced the arrangement of “Skiing in China” Alpine Skiing Points Competition for the upcoming 2023-2024 season. The event received guidance from the Winter Sports Administration Center of the General Administration of Sport of China, and was jointly organized by Hebei Provincial Bureau of Sports, Beijing Municipal Bureau of Sports, Jilin Provincial Bureau of Sports, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Bureau of Sports and Beijing Olympic City Development Center. On the basis of the success of last competition season, from November this year to March next year, six races and one final will be held in Chongli in Hebei, Yanqing in Beijing, and several ski resorts in Jilin and Xinjiang, and expected to attract top alpine skiers and skiing enthusiasts from China and the rest of the world. In the upcoming competition season, precious Olympic souvenirs will be presented to the award-winning skiers, and financial awards to the teenager group winners to encourage more youngsters to participate in the competition and enjoy the fun of winter sports. In addition to the competition, the organizers will hold “Snow Night” featuring cultural, music and food elements, and open skiing courses at multiple legs of the competition. It is worth mentioning that the event will make full use of the Olympic venues, talent and equipment. The judge team is composed of technical officials of the 2022 Olympic Winter Games who were independently trained by Zhangjiakou. It will continue to comply with the international standards for snow events in Olympic cities and upgrade the points system to make it more suitable for the Chinese amateur skiers. The organizers will stay skier-centered, and strive to bring the best game experiences of the highest level to the amateur skiers. The organizers welcome more cities and institutions to join them in promoting the post-Games economic growth. 

At the same time, the field trip to tourist attractions along the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Sports, Culture and Tourism Belt invited the authors of proposals for post-Games legacy use, and representatives of domestic and foreign communication media outlets under the central government and Beijing municipal government to form the inspection team. The two-day inspection trip focused on the post-Games utilization of the National Speed Skating Oval (Ice Ribbon) in Chaoyang District of Beijing, Yanqing Olympic Park, Chongli Olympic Park in Zhangjiakou and other venues specially built for the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games. The inspection team held discussions with venue owners on how to diversify the business forms and improve the utilization efficiency of the venues so that they could better serve the public in the post-Games period. They also shared insights into how to develop the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Sports, Culture and Tourism Belt and the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

The inspection team at the National Speed Skating Oval

The inspection team at the National Ski Jumping Center to survey its post-Games use

The inspection team at the National Biathlon Center, inquiring about venue use in the non-snow season

The members of the inspection team observed the on-site practice and technical examination activities conducted by the international technical officials of Beijing Olympic Winter Games at the National Ski Jumping Center for the ski jumping competition professionals of Zhangjiakou. At the National Biathlon Center, they observed the cross-country skiing (pulley) training provided by the international technical officials as part of the campaign to popularize winter sports on campus, in enterprises and government organs and public institutions. They then held a seminar with Zhangjiakou Municipal Sports Bureau, Chongli District Government and venue owners on the post-Games utilization of the Olympic venues. Shao Li, deputy director of Zhangjiakou Municipal Sports Bureau, introduced the progress on developing four zones, five platforms and six cooperation mechanisms to bolster the development of Beijing-Zhangjiakou Sports, Culture and Tourism Belt. Members of the inspection team, authors of proposals on post-Games legacy utilization, and media representatives from People’s Daily and Xinhua News Agency put forward constructive suggestions based on their two-day visit to the Olympic venues. It was hoped that the local governments and venue operators would seize the opportunity of the rapid recovery of tourism, improve venue functions, facilities and services, and introduce more services, to attract more local residents and tourists, and increase the utilization rate of venues. The participants unanimously agreed that it was necessary to strengthen the leading role of industries, empowering role of culture, make good use of tourism resources, accelerate the industrial transformation and upgrading of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Sports, Culture and Tourism Belt, and promote the sustainable development of the regional economy, society and environment, thus sharing China’s proposals on using the Olympic legacy to promote long-term development of the Olympic cities.

The seminar on post-Games use of Olympic venues