The 23-year-old will be charged with promoting the event in China's capital in under four years' time.

In particular, he will aim to promote winter sports which do not yet boast massive popularity in China.

Xu, who is also known as Tommy Xu and is best known for appearing in the Chinese show Addicted, welcomed his appointment on his Weibo page.

"I am honoured to be the national ice and snow sports promotion ambassador," he said.

"I hope that more people can participate in snow and ice sports in China to help the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics."

Other ambassadors for Beijing 2022 include Chinese basketball star Yao Ming, figure skating world champions Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo and Olympic freestyle skiing silver medallist Li Nina.

Beijing, host of the Summer Games in 2008, will become the first city to also stage the Winter Olympics.

The Games are scheduled to run between February 4 and 20.

The Winter Paralympics will follow between March 4 and 13.