The 12th National Mass Ice and Snow Season officially got underway on Tuesday with a colorful opening ceremony in Changchun of northeast China's Jilin Province, offering up an array of winter sports activities to visitors of all ages.
The event's opening ceremony featured a host of special performances and even had a truly global reach with International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry delivering her congratulations via a video message played on a giant screen.
The enthusiasm for winter sports is likely to be boosted this year with the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics set to get underway next month, and Tuesday's event in Changchun also drew on the star power of past Chinese champions.
Gold medal-winning speed skaters Zhou Yang and Wu Dajing were on hand in Changchun to jointly read out the "Initiative for Winter Sports," calling on the public to actively participate in ice and snow sports.
"We call on and encourage everyone to actively participate in winter sports. I believe that instead of staying at home in winter, we should head to ski resorts and ice rinks to feel the warmth brought by the sports amidst the cold," said Wu, who won a gold medal at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang.
"The event is getting better and better with more and more people participating, coming from all over the country. We can see people's enthusiasm for the ice and snow," said Zhou, who's also a Winter Olympics gold medal winner.
This year's mass winter sports drive is set to see over 2,000 mass ice and snow activities being held nationwide over the coming weeks, including a series of competitive events such as a national skiing skills qualifier and an urban cross-country skiing challenge.
Localities up and down the country will also create a series of branded ice and snow activities that draw on distinctive local features and are designed to be easy and accessible for greater public participation, enabling more people to delve into the fun of popular winter sports.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism has also released a complete directory for ice and snow events taking place across China during the current winter season, aiming to boost travel and effectively transform these events into key consumption growth points.
China has in recent years positioned its ice-and-snow economy as a new engine of high-quality growth, especially since the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics stirred national enthusiasm for winter sports. The government has set a target for the ice-and-snow economy to reach 1.5 trillion yuan (over 210 billion U.S. dollars) by 2030.
China's mass winter sports season officially opens amid strong enthusiasm for ice, snow sports
Taoiseach of Ireland Micheal Martin, who wrapped up his five-day official visit to China, has praised China's progress in areas such as digital economy and green energy, saying Ireland is willing to deepen economic and trade cooperation with China in emerging sectors while enhancing cooperation on multilateral affairs.
It is Martin's first visit to China since taking office and the first by an Irish prime minister in 14 years.
Speaking during a joint interview with Chinese media outlets in Beijing, Martin spoke positively of the steady development of bilateral relations in recent years, highlighting closer people-to-people exchanges and growing ties in higher education.
"We now have a direct flight between Dublin and China and that's very important in terms of people to people. Our education links are very strong and we have many partnerships between Irish higher education institutions and Chinese higher education institutions and that's important," he said.
Martin said economic and trade ties remain a key pillar underpinning the sound development of bilateral relations.
He recalled that bilateral trade has seen exponential growth since his first visit to China 20 years ago, when he served as minister for enterprise, trade and employment.
Looking ahead, he expressed expectations for expanded cooperation with China in such emerging fields as digital economy and green transition.
"We will be embarking on a major investment in offshore renewables over the next decade. We already are in the planning process. It's a windy island, so we have a lot of wind to harness for energy. So we do see opportunities in AI as well. Ireland is a very strong location for investment, as a member of the European Union, the only English-speaking country now in the Eurozone and in the European Union. And it's a good access point to the European consumer market. We believe there's a greater opportunity for Chinese companies to locate in Ireland," he said.
As Ireland is set to assume the rotating presidency of the European Union (EU) in the second half of 2026, Martin said Ireland adopts a pragmatic policy towards China within the EU and stays committed to promoting a EU-China relationship framework that effectively manages differences while expanding mutually beneficial cooperation.
"What is important is that we continue to dialogue and see can we develop frameworks of agreement on the big picture. The WTO is also very important forum for resolving trade issues. Both Europe and China would acknowledge that industrial resilience, economic security issues are important issues, but that has to be balanced with an open free trade environment. So we are against tariffs. We think tariffs are ultimately damaging to the world economy," he said.
At the invitation of Chinese Premier Li Qiang, Martin paid an official visit to China from Jan 4 to 8. In addition to Beijing, he also visited Shanghai.
Irish Taoiseach sees broader cooperation with China in emerging sectors
