Now, unlike in years past, kids from all over China might have a chance to pursue winter sports, thanks to indoor ski slopes, skating rinks, snow simulators, and other attractions that are popping up, even in some of the country's warmest climates.
Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Beijing and Shenyang -- China's biggest cities -- are now home to places where adults and kids alike can play in the snow, even when it's 80 degrees Fahrenheit (26.6 degrees Celsius) outside.
Becoming an Olympian isn't the only allure. China's borders have been essentially closed since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020, meaning that tourists who might have once gone abroad to ski are turning to domestic travel to scratch their itch.
Zhang is one of them. In the past, he visited Sapporo, Japan and Lake Tahoe in the United States to ski on his holidays. Last year, though, he went to Songhua Lake, a resort in far north Jilin province, near the border with North Korea.
Chinese social media is also a source of inspiration, with Weibo and WeChat users sharing photos of their latest skiing and snowboarding trips. In recent years, the national government has taken steps to promote winter sports in China as part of its Olympics campaign.
In 2016, the China General Administration of Sports revealed an ambitious plan to build 650 skating rinks and 800 ski resorts by the end of 2022. The government reports that more than 300 million Chinese people have taken part in winter sports since Beijing won its Olympics bid seven years ago.
However, the rapid growth of the indoor winter sports industry has come at a price.
Many of the domestic ski resorts and skating rinks in China are not as up-to-date as those in more established areas in Europe or North America.
The quality of facilities can be uneven, and building too many too quickly can also be bad for the environment -- making large quantities of artificial snow requires an immense amount of water.
" That's the young people, that's their destination," says Zhang. "That's where they want to spend money, and they are the biggest spenders."
Other industries, namely cold-weather clothing and athletic gear, have also cashed in on the craze. Like most Chinese parents, Arona Huang had football and tennis lessons on the weekend schedule for her child.
But the destination of choice now for her son Aaron, who is six, is the ski slopes in Beijing’s suburbs, one of the dozens that have sprouted in the past five years as China prepared for the Winter Olympic Games, which began on Friday.
When Beijing won the bid in 2015, the Chinese government saw both a pride project – securing the distinction of becoming the first city to host both the summer and winter games – and a massive sporting and commercial opportunity.
China has never been a winter sports nation. In the past six years, however, there has been a more than 300% increase in the number of skating rinks. The country has in this time also added more than 250 new ski resorts, with the total number now crossing 800.
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