Inspired by traditional Chinese festivals and the dynamism of winter sports, posters for the 2022 Winter Olympics have been released, which organizers hope will capture the world's attention and serve as iconic mementos of the event.

With just over four months to go before the Beijing Winter Olympics open on Feb 4, the organizers unveiled a series of posters for the event at the opening ceremony of Beijing Design Week on Sept 22.

The posters symbolize the unique characteristics of the Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, and will hopefully be a lasting visual reminder for years to come, according to the Beijing Organising Committee for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

"The posters stand out due to their compelling combination of winter sports action, Chinese cultural elements, landmarks of the host city and contemporary design, which make them a strong package presenting the image of the Games to the world while building on anticipation of the Olympics," said Chen Ning, director of the committee's culture and ceremony department.

Designed by artists selected by the committee, the set of six posters primarily features the Games mascots－Bing Dwen Dwen and Shuey Rhon Rhon－on red papercut works, reminders of the traditional window decorations seen during Chinese holidays.

The posters will be used at international events and displayed at Games venues and on official licensed products to promote Beijing 2022.

A gallery of 26 promotional posters, which were recently selected from among 1,565 design submissions, was also unveiled by the committee. The posters are meant to promote Olympic values, express the passion of Chinese people for winter sports and highlight Beijing's major attractions

Some of the city's ancient architecture, such as the Temple of Heaven, is depicted on the posters along with bustling scenes of Beijing residents skating on frozen lakes, Olympic and Paralympic winter sports events and host venues.

The promotional posters will be mainly used to generate excitement and warm the public up for the Games, said Jiang Xiaoyu, head of the judging panel for the posters.

"The quality of their proposals, the aesthetic touches to their works and the visual impact of the designs are so strong," said Jiang, who is also vice-president of the Beijing Olympic City Development Association.

"The idea of conveying the atmosphere of Chinese festivals in the form of paper-cut works was particularly impressive."

Scheduled from Feb 4 to 20, the Winter Olympics will take place in three zones－Beijing's downtown, its northwest Yanqing district and Zhangjiakou, Hebei province－with China's Lunar New Year celebrations overlapping with the Games. The 10-day Paralympics will run from March 4 to 13.