People appearing to be on either side of a big screen talk, laugh and take photos together as if meeting face-to-face.

It's a scene at the 2022 Beijing Media Center, which opened on Feb 1 to serve domestic and foreign journalists not accredited to cover the Winter Olympic Games.

The holographic screen helps journalists at the center interact in real time with athletes who have entered the Games' closed-loop management system.

"We've set up similar holographic installations in sports venues and hotels inside the closed-loop," said Zhao Yue, the holographic project's director.

"Reporters in the BMC can interview athletes in front of the screen and film videos in which the athletes appear in anatomically correct dimensions."

A total of 1,770 journalists, including 453 from 130 international media organizations, have registered at the center, set up at the Beijing International Hotel convention center and running through Feb 20, according to its director, Xu Hejian.

The holographic installations, 8K ultra-high-definition screens that provide crystal clear views of Olympic events, and other facilities using the latest technology allow journalists to seamlessly experience the Games and Chinese culture.

"News, technology and service are the three keywords conveyed by our media services," Xu said.

Apart from providing services such as media consultation, transportation, catering and medical care, the center has also organized a variety of activities including news conferences, concerts, performances of Peking Opera, acrobatics and folk music, cultural exhibitions and city tours to give non-accredited journalists from home and abroad a deeper insight into China and its capital, Beijing, Xu added.

During the city tours, journalists can check out the surging enthusiasm of local people for ice sports and games on frozen Shichahai Lake and an indoor ice rink in Beijing, grasp the sense of modernity in one of the city's most fashionable shopping and lifestyle destinations, the Sanlitun area, and explore how China has made strides in science and technology at some tech-based enterprises.

Decorations at the center, which opened during the Lunar New Year holiday, include Spring Festival couplets, red lanterns, paper-cuts and the handwritten character fu, meaning blessing and good luck.

It also incorporated some traditional Chinese cultural elements－such as making dumplings and appreciating the traditional paintings Chinese people use to decorate their homes during Spring Festival to bring happiness and joy to their families－into the activities organized for journalists so they could immerse themselves in the warm, festive atmosphere, Xu said.

On the center's second floor, workshops where local craftspeople demonstrate knot-making skills, filigree inlay art and other folk arts that are part of the country's intangible cultural heritage give visitors the chance to make such traditional handicrafts.

The most popular workshop is one where people can decorate small clay sculptures in the shape of the 12 Chinese zodiac animal signs with colorful pigments. That enables participants to explore their own artistic creativity and get a glimpse of Chinese aesthetics.

"The activities organized by the center help me learn more about the city I'm living in," said Zhao Siyuan, a reporter who works for a Beijing newspaper and mainly covers stories in the capital's Tongzhou district.

He said he has been impressed by a livestreaming chat show, Beijing Highlights, put on by the BMC that invites experts to tell stories of Beijing's development from different perspectives.

"For instance, on Feb 2, the show talked about how the city has carried out efforts in river management and wetland protection, which has inspired me to dig out more detailed stories about these people who have contributed to the city's green development," Zhao said.