CBN Friday Special丨Can’t “Let it Go:” How Guangdong helps China’s goal to engage 300m people on ice

S: Hi everyone. Welcome to CBN Friday Special, I’m Stephanie LI.

R: And I’m ZHANG Ran. It has been a cold week in Guangdong, Stephanie, how are you doing?

S: Freezing, but also excited. Do you know it snowed in Guangdong last week? As a wave of cold air hit south China, Guangdong Nanling National Nature Reserves has seen the heaviest snow since 2008. The topic gained more than 20 million views on China’s social media platform Weibo, as Guangdong locals expressed their wishes to see the snow.

R: And I remember citizens in Guangzhou and Shenzhen were also longing for snow in the freezing cold weather, as if the snow would make all the shivering worth it. Living in Guangzhou, whose annual average temperature is higher than 20°C, all these images of winter, ice, and snow are just too precious to be missed.

S: That’s probably why ice and snow tourism has gained so much traction among people in Guangdong. According to a report published this year, Guangzhou and Shenzhen ranked third and fourth nationwide in the number of citizens who have traveled to experience ice and snow activities. And among the top ten cities of the ranking, eight of them are in south China.

R: And Guangdong is not only the main source of tourists but also a popular destination for ice and snow tourism. Guangzhou Sunac Land has welcomed more than 1.9 million tourists as of January 2022 and becomes the hottest spot of ice and snow tourism in south China, followed by the Sanya Qianguqing Scenic Spot and the Shenzhen Window of the World.

S: With a population of more than 100 million, Guangdong is regarded as a major contributor to China’s goal of “engaging 300 million people in winter sports.” Analysts said that Guangdong’s natural edge in promoting ice and snow leisure tourism primarily lies with its consumers who are more willing to spend money on it.

R: What I can see while living in Guangdong is that more and more children are encouraged to try out winter sports! For example, Guangdong was one of the earliest provinces in China to develop inline hockey, which is an official competitive event of the International Ice Hockey Federation. This is the beginning of many young people engaging in ice and snow sports in the province. Many teenagers practice inline hockey first, then switch from roller skating to ice skating, and become professional athletes.

S: In fact, Guangdong has cultivated many winter sports athletes, especially ice hockey athletes. For example, the Shenzhen KRS Vance Rays, a professional women’s ice hockey team, has made history in 2020 as the first Chinese club to win a professional title. And this year, among the 23 athletes in the national women’s ice hockey team, 16 are from Guangdong.

What’s more, in order to attract more young people to participate in winter sports, Guangdong holds the Guangdong Youth Inline Hockey Competition and the Guangzhou Inline Hockey Club League every year.

R: Guangdong’s power in science and technology is also contributing to China’s winter sports development. For example, the National Ski Jumping Center in Zhangjiakou, which is nicknamed “Snow Ruyi”, is the most advanced ski jumping site on earth. One of its features is that the track is covered with an exclusive artificial grass, which can accumulate snow during winter, and be used for grass skating and football games in summer. And guess what, the customised grass is made by the scientific research team of a company in Zhaoqing, Guangdong.

S: So the “Snow Ruyi” can be used in both winter and summer. What a creative and green idea! Venues for winter sports always have to deal with the problem of sustainability, especially in south China, since it’s quite energy-consuming to keep the temperature low. Guangdong is trying to improve the sustainability of indoor skiing venues by exploring and developing new technologies to solve the problem.

R: Right, on a different note, the Chinese stocks ended higher on Friday, lifted by the gains in the healthcare sector. The benchmark Shanghai Composite gained 0.63 percent and Shenzhen Component was up 1.21 percent. The Hang Seng Index lost 0.59 percent while TECH Index gained 0.84 percent.

受冷空气和降水影响，上周创下了广东今年以来最大范围的低温。而广东南岭也在2月19日迎来了2022年的第一场雪，这也是2008年以来，南岭国家级自然保护区下得最大的一场雪。“广东南岭迎来2022年第一场雪”登上微博热搜，当晚阅读量就突破2000万，引来广东居民热烈讨论，可见“入冬困难户”对冰雪的期待和向往。

对于年平均温度高于20度的南方城市来说，冰雪有着别样的魅力。这也让广东成为了冰雪产业的消费主力。据《中国冰雪旅游消费大数据报告(2022)》，2021―2022冰雪季，冰雪旅游客源城市的排名中，前十名有八个是南方城市，广州、深圳分列第三、第四。

而广东不仅是冰雪旅游的主要客源，更成为了热门目的地。据统计，华南地区2021-2022冰雪季热度前三的景区分别是广州融创雪世界、三亚千古情景区、深圳世界之窗，两个位于广东。截至2022年1月，广州融创雪世界累计客流量突破190万人次，成为全球最快突破百万客流的室内滑雪场之一。

广东拥有超过1亿人口，积极响应中国推进“带动三亿人参与冰雪运动”发展战略，冰雪运动实现多元化发展，成果显著。专家认为，经济水平提高、消费能力提高，以及广东居民更多地发现冰雪运动的魅力，使得近年来广东省冰雪消费热度持续上升。

在缺冰少雪的广东，冬季运动却吸引着越来越多孩子参与。例如，轮滑冰球是国际冰球联合会正式竞体项目，而广东作为轮滑运动大省，较早引入和开展轮滑冰球，助力“三亿人上冰雪”，为中国冰雪项目储备人才。通过每年举办广东省青少年轮滑冰球公开赛以及广州市轮滑冰球俱乐部联赛，吸引更多孩子参与这项运动。

广东也已培育了一批优秀冬季运动员。例如，在今年的中国女子冰球队国家队的23人中，有16人由广东省体育局选送。深圳昆仑鸿星冰球俱乐部更是在过去四个赛季里，三次闯入CWHL和WHL总决赛，并在2019-2020赛季成为了第一个夺取职业冰球联赛冠军的中国球队。

另一方面，广东“智”造也助力中国冰雪产业发展。例如，在国家跳台滑雪中心的建设中，结合张家口及周边地区群众冬季滑雪、春夏滑草的需求，建设方大胆设想用人造草“打底”。要求草坪在冬季能积聚冰雪，到了无雪季节可供滑草，还要保证耐用性。最终，来自广东的企业傲胜股份完成了这项挑战，提升了赛场的可持续性。

南方发展冰雪运动，还要面对能耗问题。专家指出，南方城市发展冰雪运动如果依靠传统热能，成本会很高，造成消费价格高，产业难以持续发展，建议南方城市探索发展超低温发电技术，实现城市经济发展与文体娱乐项目的相互协调发展。

最后来看一下今天股市收盘情况。周五A股回升，沪指涨0.63%，深成指涨1.21%。医药医疗股大幅走强。港股恒生指数跌0.59%，科技指数涨0.84。

Executive Editor: Sonia YU

Editor: LI Yanxia

Host: Stephanie LI, ZHANG Ran

Writer: Stephanie LI, ZHANG Ran

Sound Editor: ZHANG Ran, Andy YUAN

Graphic Designer: ZHENG Wenjing, LIAO Yuanni

Co-produced by 21st Century Business Herald Dept. of Overseas News & SFC Audio/Video Dept.

Presented by SFC

编委:  于晓娜

策划、编辑：李艳霞 

播音：李莹亮、张然

撰稿：李莹亮、张然 

音频制作：张然

设计：郑文静、廖苑妮

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