The Winter Olympics, due to begin in one year, offer China a chance to show off its epidemic controls, dazzle with spectacle and seize a publicity win on the world stage — but human rights concerns and Covid-19 uncertainty cast a cloud over the games, Reuters reported.

Organisers promise a “joyful rendezvous upon pure ice and snow” that will kick off on February 4, 2022.

Artificial powder will likely be needed to help cover the slopes carved out on the brown, arid mountains to Beijing's northwest.

“China will want the Olympics to set a new narrative that is about the country opening up to the world again,” said Rana Mitter, who teaches Chinese history and politics at Oxford University.