The speed skating hall at the Inner Mongolia Ice Sports Training Center in Hulunbuir Photo：Li Yuche/ GT

Long-awaited for four years, the 14th National Winter Games of China, the first major national winter sport event to be held after the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, will debut in February 2024 in Hulunbuir, North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. 

As a prelude event, an ice hockey game will be held on Thursday.

Situated in a grand plaza with unfettered white roofs forming the autonomous region's iconic Mongolian yurt, the gala's ice hockey and curling hall is located with two other venues for speed skating and short track speed skating at the city's Inner Mongolia Ice Sports Training Center. 

Originally scheduled to open in 2020, the event was halted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Ta Na, the lead of the ice hockey hall's preparation team, told the Global Times that the delay allowed them to make the event more "updated and smarter."

The original tempered glass panel wall surrounding the rink has been replaced with acrylic board material that can be replaced in 5 minutes if it is broken during a game. Scoring and video recording playback systems and an uninterruptible power supply were also installed based on feedback from test games. 

Ta Na said that the venue has already hosted several games after it was put into operation in 2019. For instance, on July 6, a full-process drill was held as part of final preparations for the upcoming competition. 

The competition venue for ice hockey and curling games at the Inner Mongolia Ice Sports Training Center in Hulunbuir Photo：Li Yuche/ GT

 
Aside from safeguarding the competition, the hall's future use has already been considered as part of a Post-14th Games Sustainability Project.

According to plans, the venue will serve as a youth ice and snow sports training base, Kuang Zhuo, director of the Hulunbuir Sports Bureau, told the Global Times. 

"In the future, we'll also launch ice-themed cultural performances here," Ta Na said, adding that this is aimed at supporting the country's efforts to get 300 million people engaged in winter sports. 

Li Yongzhi, deputy director of the Office of the People's Government of Hulunbuir City, told the Global Times that besides the maintenance and renovation of the sports training center, activities such as the opening ceremony and torch relays have also been "formulated and submitted for approval."

"We aim to organize excellent yet simple Winter Games. Before they start, we want to do more to gain the attention of the public," Li noted. 

Yuheng, a student at Hulunbuir University, told the Global Times that she is one of the 241 volunteers that will be working at the event. The student, who works for the "publicity section" said that she has been paired with peer volunteers to work on short videos promoting the event among young people.

"As a student from a secondary-tier university, it is such an honor for me to contribute to a big event that my hometown has been preparing for a decade," Yuheng noted, adding that they started training for their positions several months ago. 

The 14th National Winter Games of China will be held February 17-27, 2024.