Li Xiuyuan (right) works with her colleague at the Main Media Center for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. Photo: courtesy of Li

As the Beijing Winter Olympics is just six days away, Games personnel and 19,000 volunteers have started their work at venues and airports to contribute to a safe and splendid Games, with majority being the country's youth.

Growing up along with the historical development China has achieved from 2008 to 2022, Summer Olympics to Winter Olympics, Chinese young people working at Beijing 2022 tend to have a broader international view and are more confident and proactive than other generations in introducing the world their motherland, Chinese observers said.

Li Xiuyuan, who refers to herself as an "Olympic fan" had half of her 35 years' life connected with Olympics. In order to get close to Olympics, she applied for Beijing Sport University at 18, became a Beijing Summer Olympics volunteer and was admitted as an Olympic Studies major graduate student. Then she applied her volunteer spirit to her work, and now she is back to serve Beijing Winter Olympics.   

Li believed her experience of serving two Olympics in Beijing filled her with more pride and sense of responsibility. She told the Global Times that she deeply felt and was proud of China's history-making development over the years.

"I hope the world can see these changes and can understand what the real China looks like," she said.

By winning the host bid for the 2022 Winter Games in 2015, Beijing will become the first city in the world to host both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games.

Li has be assigned to the Main Media Center for Beijing 2022, which is the official information publication center for the Winter Olympics and Paralympics and will receive 5,000 to 6,000 registered journalists and broadcasters every day. Her task includes screening commercial publications at venues to ensure that sport takes precedence over any commercial activities in the Games and to protect the purity and integrity of the Games.

According to Olympic Charter, commercial installations and advertising signs shall not be allowed within stadia, venues or other sports grounds, and no kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas.

The Beijing 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games decided to suspend open ticket sales due to the pandemic, which highlighted the importance of media, Li said. The Main Media Center with its advanced technologies guaranteeing technical support to international media and broadcasters, allows a global audiences to enjoy an immersive perspective of the Games without being physically present.

She was proud to introduce international journalists China's advanced 5G technology and 8K equipment, and they were quite satisfied over the stable and fast internet speed, Li said.

Organizers of the Games and venue operators also tested new broadcasting technologies, such as 8K UHD livestreaming and cloud-based broadcasting, to give viewers a more immersive experience.

International representatives were particularly amazed by smart canteen at the media center, Li said, which deploys more than 10 independently developed intelligent catering equipment to minimize human contact in the context of epidemic prevention and control. Dinners do not need to pick up their food, as automated servers dish out the meals they ordered.

 "With our country becoming stronger, the flame of patriotism is burning more brightly and steadily in my heart," Li said.

Youth is one of the key themes for the Beijing 2022. Among the 19,000 volunteers, 94 percent are young people aged below 35 years old. 

Chinese youth's vitality and spirit will also be presented to the world through the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics on February 4, as 95 percent of the 3,000 performers for the ceremony are young people, for the first time young people of such a large scale were invited to an Olympic Games.

It is not surprising to see young people involved in the Beijing Winter Olympics be so confident about the country's development as the young generations in China have grown up alongside the rise of China and the confidence in the motherland is in their blood, Ren Yi, a graduate from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, who is an influential Chinese blogger with over 2 million followers on Weibo, told the Global Times.

It is rare to see a country to hold Summer Olympics, the 2022 Asian Games and the Winter Olympics but China made it possible. For these young people, serving the Winter Olympics is to be closely involved in international events and it is an opportunity to showcase the international community China's development, Ren said, noting that with patriotism and confidence for the country in blood, young people serving the Beijing 2022 will not be disturbed at all by the noises but will welcome international guests with international views.

Young people have a better understanding toward the world pattern and more faith in China's development path and system comparing with Western style, Chinese observers said.

For Li, working at the Olympics has not only enhanced her national identity but is also beneficial for her job after graduation.

She kept in mind the slogan of volunteers at 2008 -"Smile, Best Name Card for Beijing,"- and has applied it to her job. She said her work of receiving residents with complaints and proposals at a public complaints and proposals department shared a key similarity with her experience of an Olympics volunteer, which was smile, understanding and care.

"Smile, understanding and care helped me make many friends, from both home and abroad during 2008 Summer Olympics and resolve many differences at work," Li said.