Chinese Ski Hub Stuck in Debt Amid Olympics

One of the three Chinese hubs for the Beijing Winter Olympics is facing severe financial problems. Chongli county massively invested in Olympics-related projects, after Beijing won the bid for the Winter Olympics about ten years ago. In 2019, the city's annual expenses increased by more than three times to six times more than its revenue, according to British newspaper The Financial Times. The county’s Finance Bureau head said last November that the county was suffering enormous financial problems and they required "an immediate solution." The pandemic and Beijing's stringent virus prevention measures added a blow to the situation. The regime’s tough pandemic restrictions take tolls on jobs and the economy in the region. Several ski resort executives said their revenue fell by more than half in 2020, and now it's shrinking again.