China's experience of hosting world sporting events did not end with the Summer Olympics in Beijing. This year's Winter Universiade will take place in the city of Harbin from February 18 to 28.

GRAND HOCKEY GROUND: The 155,000-square-meter Harbin Ice Hockey Gym will serve as one of the ice hockey competition venues during the 24th Winter Universiade, which lasts from February 18 to 28 (GUO YONG)

The Universiade is a biennial international sporting and cultural festival organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). Harbin, capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, won the bid for the 24th Winter Universiade on January 10, 2005.

Of the past 23 Winter Universiades, 20 were held in European countries, one in the United States, one in Japan and one in South Korea.

During the 11-day competition in Harbin, a record high of more than 4,000 participants from over 50 countries and regions will compete in 12 sports and 82 events. Athletes 18 to 28 years old will compete in five ice and seven snow sports. All ice events will take place at gyms in Harbin, while the snow events will be split between two venues. Alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, freestyle skiing, ski jumping and Nordic combined will be held at Yabuli Ski Resort; Maoershan Ski Resort will host snowboarding and the biathlon.

Figure skating pair Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao, double Universiade champions and silver medalists at the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics, spearhead China's 347-member delegation. A total of 198 Chinese athletes will compete in 76 individual and team events in all 12 sports, with high expectations for strong results in snowboarding, freestyle skiing and short track speed skating.

In freestyle skiing, Olympic champion Han Xiaopeng and world champion Li Nina will try to repeat their success at the Universiade.

"Our team members are very excited to compete in the student games, since this is the first time freestyle skiing events have been included in the Winter Universiade," said Yan Xiaojuan, an official from the Winter Sports Administrative Center in the General Administration of Sport.

China is aiming to win for six to eight gold medals and a top-three finish in the overall medal tally, according to Yang Liguo, Secretary General of the Federation of University Sport of China.

At the 23rd Winter Universiade in Turin, China finished eighth with three golds, six silvers and six bronzes. South Korea, Russia and Italy occupied the top three spots.

Statistics from the Winter Universiade Harbin Organizing Committee show over 2.5 billion yuan ($368 million) has been injected into the construction of venues and facilities for the sports gala and all 51 newly constructed, renovated and refurbished projects had been completed as of last November.

The main Athletes' Village, located on the campus of Heilongjiang University in Harbin, is equipped with such facilities as an indoor swimming pool, gymnasium, post office and supermarket. It takes five to 20 minutes to travel by bus from the village to ice competition venues. The village will open on February 13 with the Japanese delegation being the first group to check in.

Yabuli, China's biggest ski resort that is 200 km from Harbin, was assigned to host the skiing events. To meet the needs of the Universiade, the resort has launched many reconstruction projects and upgrades, and it has successfully hosted three National Winter Games and one Winter Asiad. The Yabuli Athletes' Village is 23 km southwest of Yabuli Town. To make transportation easier, a special railway connecting Yabuli Ski Resort to Harbin was completed in 2007, reducing the traveling time from about five hours to just two hours.

The Maoershan Athletes' Village lies in the Ski Resort of the Second Campus of the Harbin Institute of Physical Education in Maoershan Town, 85 km southeast of Harbin.