China skis: Olympics brings on boom in winter sports

BEIJING (AP) — The Beijing Winter Olympics is tapping into and encouraging growing interest among Chinese in skiing, skating, hockey and other previously unfamiliar winter sports. It’s also creating new business opportunities. Schools are adding winter sports to their curriculums. Parents are opening their wallets to support hockey teams and pay for skating lessons. Shopping malls are adding skating rinks, while farm villages near ski runs are building inns and restaurants to serve well-heeled city folk. A farmer-turned-skiing coach who works at a resort on Beijing’s outskirts says the sport “boosted my income to another level.” But despite enthusiasm for winter sports, Beijing’s Olympics will have no foreign tourists or ordinary spectators under a “zero tolerance” strategy for COVID-19.