A total of 463,000 people have applied to become Games volunteers for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games after global recruitment started only four days ago on the 34th International Volunteer Day.

"People are very enthusiastic about the global recruitment of Games volunteers for Beijing 2022," Yan Cheng, director of the human resources department of the organizing committee, told Xinhua on Monday. "Compared to Beijing 2008, the scale of Games volunteers is smaller and that to a certain extent increases the difficulty to be selected into Beijing 2022 Games volunteers."

Continuing the powerful legacy and spirit of volunteer project from the Olympic Games Beijing 2008, the organizing committee plans to recruit 27,000 volunteers for the Olympic Winter Games and 12,000 volunteers for the Paralympic Winter Games.

"The selection will be conducted in strict accordance with the recruitment requirement and procedures, giving volunteer applicants equal opportunities," explained Yan.

The volunteers selected will have the unique opportunity to work in one of the Beijing, Yanqing, and Zhangjiakou competition zones and play a valuable role in a variety of areas such as sport, media operations, language services and technology.