HOHHOT, Feb. 27-- With the chirping of birds flowing in music, Macao figure skater Ho Chi Hin shrank his shoulders and waved his arms on the ice as if he were an eagle flying high in the sky.

Later, he took off and tried to land jumps, but he slipped, again and again. The red-coded boxes that indicated negative grades of execution lined up on the screen. Finally, as the music faded out, Ho skated to the center of the rink with quivering legs and bowed to the audience with a smile.

It was a shocking moment during the free skating competition at China's ongoing 14th National Winter Games. Although it was far from a competitive performance, the 24-year-old cancer survivor deemed the experience cherished.

"I was out of energy, my feet also became weak at the end, but I felt great to have persevered through my program," said Ho.

LOVE WILL CONQUER ALL

Ho was the only male figure skater from Macao to attend China's National Winter Games in the past eight years. In 2016, he took part in the 13th edition of the Games and ranked seventh in the teenagers' group.

That same year, when Ho was ready to advance in his figure skating career, his world was turned upside down when he was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

"Several months after the National Winter Games, I vaguely felt that there was something wrong with my body. I started to have high fevers for no reason, and after each recovery, I would soon have another one, until my blood test showed that my haemogram was abnormal," Ho noted.

He then spent more than two years in hospital in Hong Kong and Macao, battling the cancer. Recalling the hard old days, Ho said figure skating was the pillar that helped him stay upbeat.

"I couldn't get on the rink for over two years, but in my dreams, I often saw myself on ice, landing the jumps that had been easy for me when I was healthy," Ho noted.

As soon as Ho's condition stabilized after the transplantation of umbilical cord blood, the skater persuaded his doctor to approve him to return to the rink.

"And the doctor told me that I could skate, but that strenuous movements were forbidden. So after my chemotherapy every week, I could visit the rink for a while," Ho said.

To Ho, the rink is like his second home. During 30-minute training breaks, he preferred to rest at the rink, instead of going home nearby. "This period brought me closer to figure skating," he added.

RESTART THE CAREER

For a while, Ho would sprain his feet when jogging and was unable to jump or rotate on ice as he once could. Therefore, he chose to restart his figure skating career by teaching beginners how to skate.

"For teaching children, I only needed to prop them to slowly slide on ice, and I could also strengthen my muscles. And gradually, I was able to learn single jumps from the beginning," Ho said.

There used to be a rink in Macao that was only one-third of the size of a standard Olympic rink, but it has been under construction since last year. So, to better prepare for the National Winter Games, Ho has been traveling to Zhuhai, in south China's Guangdong Province, three times a week.

"Luckily, I have two teammates now. Eight years ago, when I was preparing for the 13th National Winter Games, I dared not take a break during training, because I had paid to book out the entire rink and hoped to make full use of it," Ho said, adding that now he could rest while his teammates train. "And we can help each other to relieve stress. We feel much happier together."

Although Ho was covered with sweat and his lips turned pale after his free skate, he felt gratified. "I've achieved my goal of skating through my program."

"It's been five years since my postoperative observation, and I have been in a relatively stable physical condition. Although I don't know what awaits me in the future, I don't think I would leave figure skating," said the Macao skater, who plans to compete for a maximum of two years and then switch to coaching.

"My major at university is tourism management, and I would like to combine tourism with sports to show the features of Macao, and I would like to start with figure skating," he said.