The World Winter Sports (Beijing) Expo 2024 (hereinafter referred to as "WWSE") was held from November 11th to 13th at Shougang Park in Shijingshan, Beijing.The forum discussions with rich themes, as well as the equipment such as skis, cable cars and snow-making machines in the exhibition area, have attracted the attention of numerous enterprises and winter games enthusiasts.

In the past month, from the China International Fair for Trade in Services Sports Services, the World Table Tennis(WTT) China Smash, to the WWSE, Shougang Park has become more frequently and closely associated with sports.

Shougang, once an industrial base, carries the city's "Double Olympics" dream. After Beijing's successful bid for the 2008 Olympic Games, to fulfill the solemn commitment to a green Beijing and a green Olympics, Shougang implemented an unprecedented relocation. The once bustling factories fell silent, leaving behind industrial relics such as blast furnaces and cooling towers. The 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games allowed the park to make a stunning transformation. The Big Air Shougang, as the only Winter Olympic snow event venue located in the central urban area of Beijing, has been hailed as the "Industrial Disney" and has become a popular check-in spot.

On October 1st, people visited the Qunming Lake in Shougang Park, with the Beijing Winter Olympic Games Big Air in the distance. Photo by Xiao Yijiu, reporter of Xinhua News Agency.

In recent years, Shougang's No.3 Blast Furnace has become the permanent venue for the China International Fair for Trade in Services Sports Services Forum. The "industrial style" venue is uniquely charming. Yang Haibin, Deputy Director of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Sports, stated that the CIFTIS and its predecessor, the Beijing International Fair for Trade in Services, have witnessed the extraordinary development process of the capital's sports service industry. It is also an important channel for the release of Beijing's sports development strategy and will continue to release a series of strategic plans, policies and systems, and annual event plans for the capital's sports industry.

At this year's CIFTIS Sports Services Main Forum, Beijing announced the "Double Olympics 100" boutique event system, focusing on introducing 20 top international events, 30 high-commercial-value events, and 50 local influential events to accelerate the construction of an international event city. The WTT China Smash, China Open, and Beijing Marathon and other popular event share included among them, continuously promoting the comprehensive development of mass sports and competitive sports.

In the outdoor exhibition area, with the factory as the background to build the venue, Table Tennis Elite Competitions and Beijing Street Dance Youth Elite have become a highlight of this year's CIFTIS, driving the public's enthusiasm for sports. After the CIFTIS ended, the venue transformed into the "Smash Park" for the WTT China Smash. The audience leaned on inflatable sofas, watching the game through the big screen on site. There are also interactive entertainment areas, brand display areas, and catering market areas around the lawn, enriching people's viewing and leisure vacation experiences. On October 3rd, people strolled through Shougang Park, where the event promotion for the China Smash was ubiquitous.

On October 3rd, people strolled through Shougang Park, where the event promotion for the China Smash was ubiquitous. From 2024 to 2028, the WTT China Smash will be held in Beijing. This year's event coincided with the National Day holiday, during which Shougang Park received about 70,000 visitors per day, setting off a "national ball" craze. Shougang Ice Hockey Arena, Short Track Speed Skating Hall, and Figure Skating Hall, as event venues, have achieved the "ice-ping pong conversion," deepening the sustainable use of Winter Olympic heritage.

International Table Tennis Federation President Petra Sollheim said, "I was here during the Beijing Winter Olympic Games, and it's hard to imagine this is the same venue, let alone that it was once an industrial park. The greening and parks around the venue are very good, a model of sustainable use."

Less than a week after the WTT China Smash ended, the WWSE kicked off at Shougang's Four Blast Furnaces, preheating for this year's ice and snow season. Chang Wei, Party Secretary of the Shijingshan District's Committee of Beijing, said that the "industrial rust belt" of the past has transformed into a dynamic showplace for the city. Shijingshan leverages the brand advantage of the "Double Olympics District", supports the organization of various high-level exhibitions including the WWSE, undertakes sports events, vigorously introduces domestic and foreign sports organizations and leading enterprises in the industry, and strives to create a new highland of urban fashion sports.

This snow season, the 2024-2025 Season FIS Snowboard and Freeski Big Air World Cup will be held in Big Air Shougang(Snow Flying Ribbon) from November 29 to December 1, and this event is also the qualifying points competition for the 2026 Milano-Cortina D'Ampezzo Winter Olympic Games. In the 2023-2024 Season, Beijing Winter Olympic Games champion Su Yiming of China lived up to expectations and won the gold medal in the Men's Snowboard Big Air. He said after the match: "When I stood on the starting line with my last jump, it was like going back to the Beijing Winter Olympic Games. It's nice to see more people get to know and play the sport through me."

As the ice and snow season approaches, more and more ice and snow events and activities will be launched one after another. Shougang Park is not only an outdoor sports venue for hiking, road running, and cycling but also a popular ice and snow paradise that integratesnational fitness, ice and snow entertainment, and science andtechnology experience, adding vitality to ice and snow tourism consumption and continuing to expand the four seasons operation.

The "China Ice and Snow Industry Development Research Report (2024)" released at this WWSE shows that in the 2023-2024 ice and snow season, the number of ice and snow leisure tourists in China exceeded 385 million person-times, and it is expected that this data will break through 500 million person-times in the 2024-2025 ice and snow season. The scale of China's ice and snow industry is expected to exceed one trillion yuan by 2025.

Chang Wei said, "Shijingshan District will accelerate the construction of ice and snow facilities, improve ice and snow service levels, and improve the ice and snow industry chain, striving to build an ice and snow industry ecosystem that integrates ice and snow sports, ice and snow tourism, ice and snow culture, and ice and snow technology, contributing more to the development of global ice and snow sports."