VANCOUVER: China and South Korea headline Asian hopes at the Winter Olympics starting on Friday, with once-supreme Japan desperate for a return to its winning ways.

The bouyant Chinese plan "historic breakthroughs", but will struggle to match their Summer Games dominance, when they crushed all-comers to top the medal table in Beijing in 2008.

China has a bigger team here than ever before with 91 athletes and expectations are running high.

But Zhao Yinggang, head of Chinese winter sports, also knows there are many disciplines China has yet to conquer.

"In sports where we hold future promise, we must overcome difficulties, turn the impossible into the possible and realize historic breakthroughs," Zhao said.

"But there are still many (winter) events where we are not competitive.

"Our winter sports development has grown and standards have risen but there remain many events in which we have not reached world standards."

China dominated the Summer Games in Beijing with 51 gold medals, compared with 36 for the second-place United States, but has not fared nearly as well in winter contests.

At the last Winter Games in Turin, China managed just two gold medals, four silver and five bronze.

But it has a decent chance of improving on that with top-ranked competitors in short-track speed skating, figure skating and aerial skiing.