BEIJING — More than 610,000 people have applied to become volunteers for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games since global recruitment began on December 5, organizers told Xinhua.

"As of December 29, 616,000 people have successfully registered," said Beijing 2022 human resources director Yan Cheng.

"The applicants are mainly young students, including overseas students, accounting for 81 percent. Other applicants include people from all walks of life, with overseas Chinese and international friends also contributing a large proportion."

Yan added that the highly international nature of applicants demonstrates that people from all over the world have paid much attention to preparations for the 2022 Beijing Winter Games, and have shown a strong willingness to join in.

For the Beijing Winter Games, the organizing committee will select outstanding talents to participate in preparation work and form the basis of a professional and internationally-minded team.

Entitled "Experience Beijing", the first test event for the 2022 Winter Games will be held in Yanqing District in February 2020. The organizing committee will start to recruit 230 test event volunteers in universities, added Yan.