Watch the Official Beijing 2022 Olympic Bid While You Enjoy APEC-driven Clear Skies and Roadways

With traffic restrictions in place today in Beijing, an awesome AQI and a distinct chill in the air, its time to ponder the "What Might Be" of 2022, when Beijing has a 50-50 chance of hosting the 2022 Winter Olympics.

We famously prognosticated that Beijing has this Olympic bid wrapped up back in February when there were still six horses in the race ... since then, all but Beijing and Almaty (that's in Kazakhstan for you non-Geography majors) have dropped out, citing the cost and the lack of citizen support.

Beijing's got the cash and for the most part the citizen support – and the general lack of natural snowfall is an easy problem that the ski resorts on the outskirts of the city have long ago overcome.

Conveniently, half the planet's leaders are having a shindig this week in Yanqing and at the Olympic Village, which are two-thirds of the locations Beijing plans to use to host the games (where's the mountains, you may say? They're in Zhangjiakou, home to several successful ski resorts such as Secret Garden).

But don't hold your breath for the final call: the IOC doesn't announce the winner until July 31, 2015.

Until that time you can get into the Olympic Spirit by submitting an idea for a slogan for the bid: the committee is seeking "a simple and catchy" slogan that connects with the vision of the application. Slogans can be submitted through the beijing-2022.cn website, by email to kh@beijing-2022.cn, or by post to an address given on the website. The closing date for submissions is November 21.

Meanwhile, learn all you need to know at the official Beijing Olympic Bid website here, or follow their recently opened official accounts on Twitter (@Beijing_2022) and Facebook at www.facebook.com/Beijing2022.

Or better yet, get inspired by the official promotional video below: