The announcement was made by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) during the 2022 Olympic Winter Games here on China's most popular social media channels, including  Weibo, Wechat, Douyin and Kuaishou. 

"He is a great figure in China’s film industry and has made a tremendously positive impact with his work both on and off-screen," IIHF President Luc Tardif said.

"He is a strong role model for China’s youth and we are grateful that he has decided to lend his positive influence to aid our efforts to grow the game at all levels within Asia.

Wu was given with a Chinese national team jersey by a virtual a video link.

In a movie career spanning a quarter of a century, Wu has starred in martial arts action movies and also enjoyed a renowned career as a director.

He carried the Olympic Flame at the Winter Olympic Park 12 days ago and has been watching the progress of the tournaments on television.

This is the third time a Chinese team have been represented in Olympic ice hockey since the women made their debut at Nagano 1968. 

Here at Beijing 2022,China’s women beat Denmark and Japan.

The men lost all three of their matches, being beaten 8-0 by the United States and 5-0 by Canada, but pushing Pyeongchang 2018 silver medallist Germany surprisingly hard before going down to a 3-2 defeat. 

"We were very moved by their outstanding performance in fighting hard for the country," Wu said.

 "Ice hockey is very worth watching and winter sports are growing in popularity in China.

"I would like to help promote ice hockey in China. 

"I hope that more and more children and families can participate in  this great team sport,"

China joined the IIHF in 1963 and now have 13,000 players registered players.