Enthusiasts skating in the ice field.

Honored with the title of "City of Olympic Champions" by the Chinese Olympic Committee in June 2022, Qitaihe, a small border town in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, has cultivated 12 world champions, including Yang Yang, Wang Meng, Zhang Jie, Sun Linlin, Fan Kexin and Liu Qiuhong, over the past five decades. All these successes are the result of the unwavering efforts from the Qitaihe city government and several generations of coaches and athletes.

Meng Qingyu led way in skating expedition

In the 1970s, Qitaihe's short-track speed skating journey unfolded in a simple and crude sports arena. Coach Meng Qingyu (1951–2006) led successive generations of miners' children, paving the way for cultivating future talents in the realm of short-track speed skating.