"Olympic Glory 2022 China Celebrity Tour" campagin launches with an opening ceremony in Wuxi, Esat China's Jiangsu Province on Monday afternoon. The campaign will travel to school campuses across the country in the hopes of getting more young people into winter sports. Photo: Courtesy of The 17th China (Wuxi) International Design Expo

The launch ceremony for a 2022 Winter Olympics campaign was held in Wuxi, East China's Jiangsu Province on Monday afternoon. The campaign will travel to school campuses across the country in the hopes of getting more young people into winter sports.

Carrying out a series of artistic activities such as art exhibitions on winter sports in over 100 Chinese cities, the campaign "Olympic Glory 2022 China Celebrity Tour" will run through to 2023. 

The 17th China International Design Expo opened in Wuxi, East China's Jiangsu on Monday. In addition to high-tech products, it also focuses on creative products that take "low carbon, environmental protection, and recycling" as their theme to demonstrate China's futuristic eco-friendly lifestyle. Photo: Courtesy of The 17th China (Wuxi) International Design Expo

The campaign came after a commitment that China made to the world to get "300 million people to participate in winter sports" after Beijing and Zhangjiakou in North China's Hebei Province won their bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympic Games.

At the launch in Wuxi, a host of paintings and sculptures taking the Olympic Games as their theme were unveiled. Other Olympic exhibits such as those displaying Olympic torches, official Winter Olympic posters, Olympic commemorative medals and stamps were also on display.

"Similar paintings and design exhibitions will also be held at school campuses in cities throughout the country so that people, especially those from the young demographic, can appreciate the beauty of the Olympic design," Zhou Jianhui, director of the Wuxi Market Supervision Bureau, said in a speech on Monday.

While promoting the campaign, London Olympic Taekwondo champion Wu Jingyu also expressed concern about the physical fitness of children today. 

"I used to teach at Renmin University of China for a while. To be honest, I think the physical fitness of the young generations has not reached a good level and they need more exercises and improvement," Wu told the Global Times.

"I feel very happy that we are now advocating the importance of developing sports on campus. This will be a good opportunity to raise this awareness," said Wu.

"We hope to improve the physical fitness of students. Through some artistic works, they will be able to learn more, such as where the Olympics originated from, to raise their interest," Yang Xiaoyang, vice chairman of the Chinese Artists Association, told the Global Times.

The campaign is part of a scheme by the Olympic Expo, sponsored by the International Olympic Committee and the Samaranch Sports Development Foundation and supported by a string of organizations.

With the slogan "The world is great because of dreams," the Olympic Expo aims to promote the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and strengthen sports affairs in China.