China's Olympic Winter Wonderland

Beijing's Bird's Nest Is Turned Into a Winter Wonderland to Make Money

By LILY LEE

BEIJING, Dec. 23, 2009

If Olympic sprinter Usain Bolt were to return to the Bird's Nest in Beijing today, he'd better bring a pair of skates. There's a mountain in the arena and the ground is covered with ice and snow.

Is China preparing for the 2010 Winter Olympics?

No. It's just trying to make some money by attracting visitors to the Beijing National Stadium.

The "Happy Snow and Ice Season" kicked off last weekend. The first thing you notice once inside the stadium is a 65-foot high snow mountain. It serves as the backdrop for a snow stage on which rock concerts will be held during the Christmas and the Chinese New Year periods.

Ten snow machines have been working 24 hours nonstop since Dec. 10, pumping out 25,000 tons of artificial snow and creating a 3-foot-thick layer of manmade snow to cover the 68,000 square yards of stadium floor, which offers ski and snow board slopes, skating rinks and plenty of snow sculptures.