Opened in 1997, the Saibei Resort in Chongli county introduced China’s first generation of ski enthusiasts to the sport
Over the past two weeks, China has hosted a flurry of events in Beijing and Zhangjiakou for its first Winter Olympics.
Since Beijing made its successful bid to host the Winter Olympic in 2015, the number of nationwide winter sports participants has reached 300 million.
In particular, skiing—already widespread in Europe and North America—is gradually becoming popular among young people in China. But in Chongli, Zhangjiakou, which hosts this year’s ski events, the sport was still totally unknown to the locals 26 years ago. There were no resorts or skiers to be seen anywhere in Chongli county.
Today’s story is about what has happened during those intervening years.
Founded in 2017 by Kou Aizhe, Story FM is one of the most renowned podcast in China. Each episode focuses on ordinary people’s lives and viewpoints, including the difficulties of marginalized people. Through intimate and private interviews, Story FM digs out first-person experiences and lets listeners immerse themselves in another person’s voice and feelings. You can listen to their podcast in Chinese on Ximalaya, Qingting FM, Apple Podcasts, and the 故事FM mini-app on WeChat.
