Although the bid leader is yet to be announced Shu'an, also vice-president of the Chinese Olympic Committee, is leading Beijing's delegation here at the International Olympic Committee (IOC) orientation seminar.

He will be aiming to draw upon all of his experience garnered through the Beijing 2008 bidding and organising process, and to incorporate it into the new field of a Winter Games.

"Winter Sports are popular in the north and the north-west of China but not so much in the central parts, especially in sports taking place on snow," he told insidethegames.

"So if Beijing is successful in its bid to host the Games we will have more chance to promote Winter Sports in these central parts, and we will have more and more people, and especially young people, performing.

"Actually the bidding the process itself is also a good chance to enhance the level of these Winter sports."

China boasts Winter stars, including Vancouver 2010 golden couple Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhou, but an Olympics there in 2022 could help development further ©Getty Images


China has had success in Winter Sports, winning four titles in short track speed skating as well as the pairs figure skating gold at Vancouver 2010, but this still pales in comparison with their performances in recent Summer Games.

Shu'an claimed the promotion of Olympic values and drawing on the experience of past and future events held in China as inspiration for the 2022 bid being launched.

"The Chinese Olympic Committee always wish to promote the Olympic Movement and to contribute more to the Olympic community," he said.

"We have already hosted the Summer Games in Beijing and are hosting the [Summer] Youth Olympics in Nanjing next year and every year we contact the International Federations about holding events in each sport..

"So we contribute to the Movement and promote it in China as much as possible.

"Because Beijing has already hosted an Olympic Games, there is also very high enthusiasm there, and that will help to promote its popularity in Zhangjiakou."

Beijing 2022 would aim to repeat and build on the success of Beijing 2008 ©Getty Images

In the bid plan, Beijing will host the ice sports while snow events will be held in Zhangjiakou 200 kilometres away.

While several of the other 2022 applicants are showcasing a "compact" bid based around a single city, this distance between Beijing and Zhangjiakou, historically the chief northern gate in the Great Wall to China for Europeans travelling along the Tea Road, could represent a problem.

This, though, was played down by bid representatives, with a new inter-city express railway linking the two cities a way to offset this problem.

Another potential issue relates to timing due to the fact that Beijing hosted the Summer Games so recently in 2008.

With the two Games immediately prior to 2022 - Pyeongchang 2018 and Tokyo 2020 - both being held nearby, this may also dissuade IOC members from selecting another Asian venue.

However these factors were dismissed by Shu'an who emphasised how "it will not be a problem because we are just focusing on ourselves and our bid."

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