Xi to attend Paralympic Winter Games opening

President Xi Jinping will attend the opening ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games on Friday evening.

He will declare the Games open in the ceremony at the National Stadium.

The 2022 Winter Paralympics will take place from March 4 to 13, with athletes competing in 78 medal events.

Meanwhile, according to the first white paper on parasports in China which was published on Thursday, the country has seen more people with disabilities taking part in winter sports after Beijing won the bid to host the Paralympics.

Officials said the number of Winter Paralympic athletes in China rose from fewer than 50 in 2015 to nearly 1,000 last year. (Additional reporting by Xinhua)