Snow joke

China gets the 2022 winter Olympics

Beijing will stage the winter games in the desert
Jul 31st 2015 | BEIJING | China

来源：Economist
翻译：Z.K.


IN 2022 the Winter Olympics will be held in a place with no snow. On July 31st the International Olympic Committee awarded the games to Beijing, to be held in the city of Zhangjiakou, 250km (150 miles) north of the capital. The resort beat Almaty in Kazakhstan, the only other remaining city left in the bid. China has many tasks to complete in the next
seven years to ready itself. Among them is to make some snow.

2022年的冬奥会将会在一个没有雪的地方举行。7月31日，国际奥林匹克委员会将2022年冬奥会的举办权授予给北京，具体赛事将在北京北250km的张家口市进行。这个旅游胜地击败了唯一与其竞争的城市，哈萨克斯坦的阿拉木图市。在未来的七年，中国有很多准备工作要做，其中之一就是造雪。

When any city is awarded the Olympics, questions quickly follow about the country’s ability to build the appropriate infrastructure in time—and how much it will cost. These cause less anxiety in China. In its bid the country highlighted its prowess at building fancy stadia, zippy high-speed rail and other transport links on time. Beijing has already hosted a successful summer Olympics—making it the first city ever to host both. In terms of the cost, the government deems no price tag too high for the prestige of staging the Olympics, yet another symbol of China’s growing pre-eminence in the world.In terms of the cost, the government deems no price tag too high for the prestige of staging the Olympics, yet another symbol of China’s growing pre-eminence in the world.

当任何一个城市被授予奥运会的举办权时，接踵而来的问题就是这个国家是否有能力及时建造出适当的基础设施和它的开销是多少。不过这些问题并没有给中国带来多大的焦虑。在竞选过程中，中国强调了其快速建设花哨的体育馆，便捷的高铁和其他交通网络的能力。北京已经成功举办过一场成功的夏季奥运会，在加上2022年的冬奥会，将使北京成为有史以来第一个举办过夏季奥运会和冬季奥运会的城市。至于成本，政府认为举行奥运会的威望是无法用金钱来衡量的，因为这又是一个北京在世界影响力增强的标志。

More worrying is China’s ambition to stage the winter Olympics—and launch a winter sports industry—in an arid desert (Zhangjiakou is near the Gobi). Almost every winter Olympics venue uses artificial snow to supplement their own supply, and to ensure a plentiful supply of the best kind. But most have far more of their own to start with. China does have areas which are covered in the real stuff through the winter, but these lay farther away from the capital, to the far north and north-east.

更让人担心的是中国，在干旱的沙漠举办冬奥会，建立起冬季运动产业的野心(张家口靠近戈壁滩)。几乎每一届冬奥会，举办方都会用人工降雪来补充天然降雪的不足，并确保供应充足。但是大部分都有充足的降雪量。中国确实有一些地区在冬天被冰雪覆盖，但是这些地区离首都太远，在遥远的北方和东北。

The government has already quashed the growth of golf, another sport whose high water demands were deeded excessive. But it now plans to spend nearly $90m on water-diversion schemes to satisfy Olympic demand. The country has already invested in giant diversion schemes to channel water hundreds of miles from the south to quench the thirst of the capital; groundwater supplies are being used up too.

政府已经采取措施限制了高尔夫运动的发展，这是另一项高耗水的运动。但是现在，政府计划花费近9000万美元的引水计划，以满足奥运会的需求。政府已经投资了巨大的引水工程，从几百公里以外的南方引水到北京，以解决首都的引水问题。同时，地下水供应也正在耗尽。

Of greater concern to environmentalists than a two-week party in 2022 is the broader attempt to launch China’s own domestic ski industry. The sport is still very much in its infancy: on an average winter weekend most of the skiiers sliding down the fake snow at Zhangjiakou are beginners. It is also too expensive for most Chinese. Yet for months airports around the country, including in the balmy south, have been attempting to flog winter sports to Chinese consumers. It may also now persuade a few of them to practice rather hard. China not only needs to make some snow, it needs to make some gold-medal winners too.

对环保主义者来说，除了2022年两周的狂欢之外，更让他们关注的是这次更广泛的尝试以建立中国自己的国内的滑雪产业。这项运动仍然处于起步阶段，在张家口平常的冬季周末，绝大多数在人工雪上滑行的人仍然是初学者。而且这项运动对于中国人来说也太贵了。然而，全国的机场,包括天气温和的南方机场都在试图将这项运动推销给消费者。这也许会说服一部分消费者努力练习这项运动，中国不仅需要人工造雪，而且需要一些可以拿金牌的运动员。