Beijing's air pollution problem has been affecting the lives of its residents and it might pose a problem, too, when the city bids to host the 2022 Winter Olympic Games.  Officials of the city's bidding committee, however, are committed to doing something about the problem.

According to Yang Shu'an who is concurrently vice president of both the Chinese Olympic Committee and the Beijing bid committee for the 2022 Olympic Winter Games, "The air pollution really is a challenge for Beijing's bid, but it was also a question before the 2008 Olympics." 

Like Us on Facebook

Yang added that since the government now has a more serious resolve to address the city's air pollution problem than in 2008, the committee remains confident in making a bid.

The planned bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Zhangjiakou, a prefecture level city 200 kilometers from Beijing in China's northwestern province of Hebei, was announced in November last year.

Beijing's problem of having an increasing number of days without snow is not the biggest challenge the city is faced with as it bids for the games, but its smog problem which has persisted in the past years.

Yang Xiaochao, Beijing's deputy mayor who is also the vice-president of the Olympic bidding committee, said that in 2013, Beijing has set a target to reduce air pollution in the city by 25 percent by the year 2017.

Other bidders to the hosting of the 2022 winter games are Oslo, Norway, Lviv in Ukraine, Almaty, Kazakhstan, and Poland and Slovakia bidding together.

Beijing has a tough chance in winning the bid considering that the hosting rights are rotated among the continents. After this year's winter games in Russia, the 2018 Winter Olympics will be in Pyongyang, South Korea while the 2020 Summer Games host is Tokyo, Japan.

Chinese officials, however, said that even with the given circumstance, it is best the city prepares for its bid in the meantime.

"We believe the IOC will choose the most suitable city for the Games, and we will try to be the most suitable one," said Yang Shu'an.