For 2022, Beijing beat Almaty, Kazakhstan — the only other candidate — for hosting rights after several other bids were scrapped by public referendums.

Source: https://theprovince.com/sports/olympics-pmn/lack-of-winter-olympic-bids-may-lead-to-rotating-fixed-hosts

Wisps of fog hung over central Almaty, Kazakhstan, last month as President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev somberly unveiled a monument to those killed a year ago in the worst unrest in the Central Asian nation's three decades of independence.

Source: https://www.gjsentinel.com/news/us/a-year-after-kazakhstans-deadly-riots-questions-persist/article_0764a81f-597f-5b3a-a559-ff2a195fb657.html