The Beijing Organizing Committee unveiled the emblems meaning "Winter Dreams” and “Flying High” for the Beijing 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games ( Beijing 2022) on Friday.

The emblem launching ceremony was held at the National Aquatic Center, dubbed the "Water Cube," which staged the swimming events during the Beijing 2008 Games. In 2022, this venue will be transformed into an ice rink for curling events.

The design for Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games, named Dong Meng or Winter Dreams, is inspired by Chinese character “winter” and showed by the art form of Chinese calligraphy, which perfectly integrates oriental culture in international style.

The upper part of the emblem shows the shape of an ice skater and the lower part shows the performance of an athletic skier. The flowing and rhythmic lines in the middle represent the undulating hills, tracks, snow slides and festive ribbons, creating a visual impression of a festive atmosphere and symbolizing that the Beijing Olympic Winter Games will be held during Chinese New Year.

Based on shades of blue, the emblem means dreams and the future, as well as the bright and clean snow and ice. The shades red and yellow originated from the Chinese national flag, representing the passion, youth and vitality of the movement.

The design for Beijing 2022 Paralympic Games reflects the dynamism and strength of the Chinese character “Fei,” or "Fly," and turns it into an athlete image who glides forward and wins. At the same time, it vividly expresses the special forms of sports equipment such as wheelchairs for the Paralympic Games. The emblem presents an image of athletes who continue to leap, work hard and better themselves to inspire the world’s Paralympic spirit.

"The emblems of Beijing 2022 combine Chinese culture, an international, modern style and winter sports together. They vividly manifest China's national spirit, contemporary image and cultural charm, display the passion, youth and vitality of winter sports, convey the athletes' spirit of going beyond themselves and express the glorious anticipation of the 1.3 billion Chinese people toward Beijing 2022," said Cai Qi, the new president of Beijing 2022 at the launch ceremony.

Beijing started to collect designs worldwide for the emblems at an event held to celebrate the first anniversary of the successful bid for the 2022 Olympic Games in late July 2016.

At the deadline in late November last year, 4,506 design proposals had been received, 2.2 times the number submitted for the Beijing 2008 Olympics.

A total of 31 regions in the country and 13 countries abroad participated in the contest.

The 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games will take place from February 4 to 20 in 2022.