70 years on

In February, 1980, China made its debut with 28 athletes competing in 18 events at the Winter Olympic Games at Lake Placid, in the United States.

But the country won no medals at the Winter Olympics until short track speedskater Ye Qiaobo won silver in 1992 at the Winter Olympics at Albertsville, France. She also claimed silver in the 1,000 meters.

An item on Feb 13, 1992, from China Daily showed Ye competing during the women’s 500m speedskating race.

In 2002, short track speedskater Yang Yang, became the country’s first Winter Olympic gold medalist, at the Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, US.

At the 2006 Turin Games, Han Xiaopeng won gold in the men’s freestyle skiing aerials, which was the first gold for China in a snow event.

At the 2010 Games in Vancouver, Canada, Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo won gold in the figure skating pairs event, the first gold for China in the discipline.

At last year’s Pyeongchang Games, Team China competed in 55 of the 102 events but only pocketed one gold medal — Wu Dajing’s victory in men’s 500m short track speedskating.

China has won 13 golds at the Winter Olympics since 1980.

In 2015, Beijing, with co-host city Zhangjiakou in Hebei province, won the bid to hold the 2022 Winter Olympic Games.

The capital plans to have 30 ski resorts by 2025, contributing to the national plan of involving 300 million people in ice and snow sports leading up to the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.