- Title: CHINA: SNOWBOARDING TAKES COUNTRY'S SLOPES BY STORM
- Date: 20th December 2002
- Summary: BEIJING, CHINA (RECENT - DECEMBER 20-21, 2002) (REUTERS) WIDE OF BUSY SKI FIELD AT NANSHAN SKI VILLAGE ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF BEIJING CROWDS OF SKIERS AND SNOWBOARDERS WAITING FOR SKI LIFT SKIERS IN LIFT CHILD ON SKIS GOING ON SKI LIFT SNOWBOARDERS WAITING IN LINE FOR LIFT SNOWBOARDER FIXING FEET ONTO BOARD VARIOUS OF SNOWBOARDERS GOING DOWN MOUNTAIN (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) WANG PENG, 33, SNOWBOARDER, SAYING: "I think snowboarding is really fashionable at the moment and it's more free, you can do more moves and make more demands on yourself." VARIOUS OF SNOWBOARDERS ON SLOPES (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) MA XIAO, 26, COMPUTER ENGINEER AND BEGINNER SNOWBOARDER, SAYING: "I think nowadays in foreign countries, more people are snowboarding, especially young people. I think in the future more old and young Chinese people will slowly start snowboarding and it will get bigger and bigger." TWO SNOWBOARDERS DOWN SLOPE VARIOUS OF SHOP SELLING SNOWBOARDS AT SKIFIELD SKIERS ON SKILIFT ON QUIET DAY AT SKIFIELD VARIOUS OF AUSTRIAN SNOWBOARDER STEPHAN ZDARSKY TEACHING CHINESE SNOWBOARDING TEACHERS SNOWBOARDING COACHES ON THE HALF PIKE (SOUNDBITE) (English) ZDARSKY, SAYING: "The prices of the lift tickets, the prices of the boards,the prices of the bindings, boots, clothes are too expensive. It has to become cheaper otherwise there will never be snowboarding culture like there is in Europe or America." VARIOUS OF CHINESE SNOWBOARDING COACHES TRAINING, JUMPING SNOWBOARDER FALLING OFF HALF PIKE Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 4th January 2003 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: BEIJING, CHINA
- Country: China
- Topics: Sports
- Reuters ID: LVAB6LVH1ROQMYXQJOG4AA0W8VVO
- Story Text: As winter sports boom in China, snowboarding is taking the country's slopes by storm.
The ski slopes of China may not quite have the mystique and allure of France and Austria.
But entrepreneurs in China are determined to make the cold north of the country a popular winter sports destination and this year, snowboarding appears to be fast developing into the main attraction.
In the past two or three years, more than 150 ski resorts have opened in China - and now snowboarding is drawing in a younger and more daring crowd.
On the slopes of Nanshan, just one hour from Beijing, snowboarding is this year's big thing.
Thirty-three-year old Wang Peng (pron: Wang Pung) said skiing was already passe - snowboarding was now the sport to follow.
"I think snowboarding is really fashionable at the moment and it's more free, you can do more moves and make more demands on yourself," said Wang.
While winter sports remain in their infancy in China, officials say that last year as many as one million Chinese flocked to slopes around the nation and with newer sports like snowboarding now coming into their own, that number looks set to increase.
"I think nowadays in foreign countries, more people are snowboarding, especially young people. I think in the future more old and young Chinese people will slowly start snowboarding and it will get bigger and bigger," said Ma Xiao (pron: Ma Hsiao), a computer engineer and novice snowboarder.
Austrian Stephen Zdarsky has become China's first - and only - full time snowboard instructor.
He is offering free training to snowboarders working at Nanshan - producing China's first generation of internationally qualified instructors.
Zdarsky says that for winter sports to truly prosper in China, it needs to become more accessible to ordinary people.
"The prices of the lift tickets, the prices of the boards, the prices of the bindings, boots, clothes are too expensive.
It has to become cheaper otherwise there will never be snowboarding culture like there is in Europe or America,"
said Zdarsky.
Whatever the future, it seems that snowboarders are gearing up to muscle out the two plankers - snowboarding slang for skiiers - to become China's premier winter sport on the slopes. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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