Great place

Deng Xuanhui, 25, who works for an internet company in Beijing, visited the Shichahai rinks on Jan 9 with three friends. "It is a great place to have fun and spend some time," he said.

"Although I've lived in the capital for three years, it was the first time I had skated in Shichahai," said Deng, who was born and raised in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu province, and graduated from Beijing Institute of Technology.

"I'd heard a lot about ice skating in the city, as some of my friends are Beijing natives. It's a trademark outdoor winter activity, which I don't want to miss."

When the city saw its first snow this winter in November, Deng started to look forward to going ice skating with friends on the Shichahai rinks.

"It's fun to watch happy skaters of all ages on the ice, some pulling each other across the lake on wooden chairs and others just gliding gently along, some of them arm in arm. The atmosphere is great," Deng said.

He added that he takes many photos and videos of ice skating, which he edits and shares on social media platforms.

After he finished ice skating for the day, Deng and friends had dinner at a restaurant near the rinks.

The first ice rink to open to the public in Beijing this year was at Bayihu Lake in Yuyuantan Park in the west of the city.

The lake covers more than 80,000 square meters, and in addition to ice skating hosts other seasonal sports, including hockey and winter swimming.

Zhao Xiang, an official with the Beijing Municipal Water Affairs Bureau, which manages the rinks on Bayihu Lake, said: "To create a safe and healthy area for ice skaters during the pandemic, we separated the rinks into two zones. One has a daily capacity of 1,000 people and the other, which is free of charge, is limited to 200 people per day."

Ten rinks will be open to the public in Beijing this winter, said Zhao, who is deputy director of operations and management in the bureau's water projects department.

Wang Xueli, director of Tsinghua University's Center for Development of Sports Industry, said ice sport was traditionally known as bingxi in Chinese, which translates as "playing on ice".

With Beijing preparing to host the Winter Olympics next year, the center, which was founded in 2016, has been promoting winter sports, especially among young people.

These sports were regularly performed for imperial families, especially during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). When people from ethnic groups moved to Beijing from northern areas of China, they brought their traditional seasonal sports, including ice skating, with them.

In addition to outdoor rinks, ice skaters practice at indoor venues, which are often packed, have glitzy lighting and pulsating music.

Last summer, Ji Kaifeng, a 75-year-old Beijing native, become an internet celebrity.

The former photographer, who took up ice skating when he was 8, has visited the China World Shopping Center's indoor rink since it opened in 1999. He drives to the venue every day from the nearby neighborhood of Shuangjing.

Wearing headphones while he skates, Ji listens to Russian songs, including Moscow Nights and Katyusha. Sometimes, he carries a pair of silk fans while he skates to various dance moves.

His video, in which he skates to Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto's work Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, has attracted more than 3 million views on Sina Weibo, earning Ji the nickname "Mr. Lawrence on Ice".

"I went ice skating a lot in Beijing when I was young. It was fun, but I didn't expect it to become my daily routine," Ji in an earlier interview.

He added that Beijing has many outdoor rinks for the public, including those at Taoranting Park, the Old Summer Palace and Beihai Park. "However, the indoor rinks obviously allow me to skate throughout the year," he said.

Ji, whose 15-year-old son died in 1990 from a heart attack, added: "I enjoy the speed when I move on the ice. Skating brings me relief."