China will welcome a mix of world-class athletes and relative novices from desert and tropical nations when the Asian Winter Games open in the city of Harbin on Friday.
It is the ninth edition of the event, which stretches back to 1986, but the first since 2017 and crucially comes just a year ahead of the Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina.
Harbin is in China's northeast, towards the borders with Russia and North Korea, and temperatures were minus 24 degrees Celsius during the day Wednesday.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.