To welcome the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics and provide an opportunity for citizens to experience skating, a 600-square-meter outdoor ice rink in the Oriental Pearl Tower City Square opened with an ice carnival on December 8, with the rink staying open until February 29, 2020.

A hockey team from Finland plays ice hockey at the Oriental Pearl Tower City Square. [Photo/newsxmwb.xinmin.cn]

Visitors can not only watch Olympic athletes competing on the ice, but also have the opportunity to be guided by professional coaches when participating in person.

Teenagers perform figure skating. [Photo/newsxmwb.xinmin.cn]

"I’ve grown up on ice since I was a child, and gained a lot of inspiration, friendship and fun from ice sports," introduced Yang Yang, the initiator of the event and also the first Chinese gold winner of the Winter Olympics. Yang explained that the reason for choosing Shanghai as the place to host the carnival is to attract more citizens to understand ice sports. It also allows them to have fun on the ice after their high-pressure work and is part of the national goal of "driving 300 million people to participate in ice and snow sports".

Currently, the Oriental Pearl Tower is transforming from a single tourist attraction to a complex integrating cultural, entertainment and tourism functions. Focusing on the two themes of "love & joy" and "sports & health", it is providing citizens and tourists with more outdoor leisure and interactive experience activities.