The opening ceremony for the first winter games for Heilongjiang students was held on Feb 6, in Harbin, the provincial capital.

Top officials attending the ceremony included Wang Xiankui, party secretary of Heilongjiang province; Lu Hao, provincial governor of Heilongjiang province; and Du Yuxin, chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Heilongjiang Committee.

Sun Dongsheng, vice-governor of Heilongjiang province, made the opening speech at the ceremony.

The winter games for school students is held to promote the development of ice and snow sports and raise students’ interest in ice and snow activities.

The winter games are divided into four competition groups, namely primary school, junior middle school, senior middle school and college.

Around 900 students will attend the games, which consists of five events, including speed skating, short-track speed skating, figure skating, ice hockey, and curling.

The sports venue will open to public when the event is held from Feb 7 to Feb 12.

The Heilongjiang Education Department (HED) has continuously promoted ice and snow activities over the past few years. Almost all schools in the province carried out extracurricular activities during the winter holidays.

Nearly 3 million school students have taken part in ice and snow sports during this winter holiday, accounting for 80 percent of the total.

By 2020, all schools in Heilongjiang will have ice and snow classes, 500 of which will specialize in ice and snow sports teaching, according to the HED.

Students perform at the opening ceremony of the first students’ winter games in Heilongjiang province held on Feb 6. [Photo/my399.com]