Beijing Sports & Outdoors Tips by mafi_moya

Ice skating with big feet

Living mostly in hot countries where ice is simply something to cool drinks down, I was eager to go ice skating in Beijing. There are a handful of indoor ice rinks around the city, and in the winter the lakes freeze over and many people take to the ice and go skating. You can hire skates or bring your own, and if you're not too confident then the outdoor lake rinks offer a sit-down sledge-like version with sticks to push yourself along.

So, anyway, off I went to the ice rink in the main shopping centre at Xidan (there's another in the World Trade Centre). They gave me the biggest pair of skates they had in the building (about UK size 9!) - I tried desperately to cram my feet into them but gave up and went to the pub instead. If you've got big feet, bring your own skates.

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Kick it or bounce it?

China has never had a big impact on international team sports. Most global sports in which it has excelled are individual efforts - table tennis, gymnastics etc. But now two major team sports are really taking off in China - football and basketball. At the moment football is by far the biggest, but with the enormous Yao Ming a rising star in the NBA, basketball (particularly his team the Houston Rockets) is becoming increasingly popular. Football attracts huge crowds and the women's national team is one of the best in the world. David Beckham is of course a huge star, but probably the biggest club team in China is Everton - millions of people watch their matches because of their Chinese player Li Tie.

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