The new lunar year began on Friday (February 12), before which workers at one of the basketball stadiums were offered rice balls and received what Chengdu 2021 described as "festival goods" to mark the occasion. 

Fenghuangshan Sports Park Gymnasium is one of 15 new venues being built for the Games.

It will be able to seat 18,000 people and as well as being a National Basketball Association-standard arena, it can be turned into an ice hockey venue, organisers say.

Fenghuangshan Sports Park Gymnasium is due to stage basketball matches at Chengdu 2021.

Construction workers were not the only ones to receive gifts to mark the start of the Year of the Ox - Executive Committee staff were given couplets to mark the occasion by calligraphy masters.

Calligraphy couplets are traditionally used to mark the Spring Festival in China, and express blessings.

The World University Games are due to begin on August 18, and organisers recently celebrated the 200-days-to-go milestone. 

There are 15 sports listed on the Chengdu 2021 programme, although the coronavirus pandemic means there is uncertainty over the event, especially as China's borders remain largely closed and numerous international sporting contests due to be held in China have been cancelled as a result.

The International University Sports Federation already had to postpone this year's Winter Universiade in Lucerne because of the pandemic, with the event now scheduled for December rather than January.