The Winter Olympics have officially come to an end with the closing ceremony held on 20th February but winter sports remain a hot topic in China. Recent report released by Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book), a social e-commerce platform with 100 million monthly active users in China, revealed that “the season of snow and ice” made it to the top lifestyle trends on the platform, reflecting the consistent popularity of related posts around this topic throughout 2020 to 2021. And right ahead of the Winter Olympics in January, the excitement ramped up with more relevant posts being shared.
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According to Xiaohongshu, people were searching for information about winter sports, demonstrating the skyrocketing interest among young Chinese consumers trying these experiences out for themselves. Users were looking for tutorials to choosing skiing and snowboarding equipment, reviews of ski resorts, and how to take good pictures.
Among these, posts featuring interesting on-site videos of ski resorts, skiing and snowboarding tutorials including tips on gear, and showcasing tricks on the slopes, were the most popular ones.
To welcome the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, which started on 4th February 2022, Xiaohongshu launched an interactive page with competition schedules and results, ongoing updates of the medal count, must-see moments of the Games, and highlights of what athletes, journalists and volunteers on the ground are sharing from their experiences at the Olympics.
Olympic athletes including Eileen Gu, Liu Jiayu, Ren Ziwei and others have also joined Xiaohongshu, and fans have been flocking to their official accounts to express their support for the sports stars. Searches for “Eileen Gu” surged 27 times on the day she won Gold in the Women’s Freeski Big Air event, compared to the opening day of the Games.
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The platform collaborated with athletes, celebrities and artists to design 96 snowflake NFTs inspired by shadow play, pier embroidery and other Chinese traditional craftsmanship, which are available in limited quantity. Users could redeem a digital snowflake upon completing some tasks, after which it will be available in their profile for viewing online or projecting offline in augmented reality.