Chen's workshop is located in the Warm Home for the Disabled in Chongli district, which serves as a center that provides handicraft training sessions, rehabilitation programs and entertainment activities to local people with physical challenges.

So far, 32 demonstration activity centers under the name of Warm Home for the Disabled have been opened across Zhangjiakou for the well-being of the area's physically and mentally challenged people.

Huo Zhenling, 52, a retired Paralympian, started work in such an activity center in Zhangjiakou's Qiaoxi district in a bid to inspire disabled people's participation in sports in 2020.

She often gathers physically challenged residents of nearby communities to experience curling matches, and sometimes organizes games of darts for those with hearing impairment.

"I'm glad to see that many of the participants get to enjoy the attraction of sports," Huo says, adding that the group has more than 60 regular attendees.

Huo herself contracted poliomyelitis at a young age, which resulted in the loss of movement in her lower limbs. She is a former Paralympic weightlifter, and was a bronze medal winner at the Athens Games in 2004. She later turned her attention to curling and, in 2017, entered the Hebei provincial wheelchair curling team.

She says she's confident about the future development of wheelchair curling in China.