Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, January 5th, title: Demonstrating the cultural heritage of the “Double Olympic City”-Interview with Chen Ning, Director of the Cultural Activities Department of the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee
Xinhua News Agency reporters Wu Bowen, Liu Ning, Dong Yixing
The Olympic Games is a grand meeting of sports and culture. Chen Ning, director of the Cultural Activities Department of the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee, said in an exclusive interview with a reporter from Xinhua News Agency that traditional Chinese culture has played a very important role in the cultural presentation of the Beijing Winter Olympics.
The business areas of the Cultural Activities Department of the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee include six sections: image landscape, sports display, ceremony awards, torch relay, urban cultural activities and winter Olympic cultural activities. Traditional Chinese culture and the “Double Olympic City” are important elements that run through it.
Chen Ning said that almost every design has a heavy shadow and imprint of Chinese traditional culture.
“The sports icons for the Winter Olympics are inspired by Chinese characters, and the art of seal cutting is the main presentation form, combining winter sports elements with traditional Chinese culture.” Chen Ning said, and the “Little Red Man” icon is already a moving image. , It is more suitable for new media communication and more suitable for contemporary application scenarios.
Following the successful hosting of an “unparalleled” Summer Olympics in Beijing in 2008, the Beijing Winter Olympics will make Beijing the world‘s first “Double Olympics City” that has hosted both the Summer Olympics and the Winter Olympics.
The “concentric” image of the Beijing Winter Olympics medals originated from the ancient Chinese concentric circle jade bib, echoing the Beijing 2008 Olympics medal “gold inlaid with jade”, reflecting the cultural heritage of the “Double Olympic City”.
Regarding the cultural heritage of the “Double Olympic City”, Chen Ning said that the overall appearance of the Beijing Winter Olympics torch echoes the shape of the Beijing 2008 Olympic torch. The bottom-up gradual pattern of the torch body is in 2008. The transition from the auspicious cloud pattern to the snowflake pattern of the Winter Olympics, this transition reflects the inheritance and development of the “Double Olympic City”.
“Our choice of the torch relay route also reflects the heritage of the’Double Olympic City’. The first stop of the torch relay is Aosen Park, which is the legacy of the 2008 Olympic Games, and the next stop is the Winter Olympic Park in Beijing. The legacy of the meeting. Aosen Park is the first’National Fitness Demonstration Base’, and for the Winter Olympics Park we want to build it into a full-marathon (full marathon) base.” Chen Ning said.
Affected by the new crown pneumonia epidemic, some cultural exhibition activities of the Beijing Winter Olympics have been adjusted. Among them, the torch relay activity also innovated the form, combining the traditional torch relay with the fire display activity, and innovating to create the torch relay activity.
“For example, the torch relay has been relatively concentrated from a long time and many places planned in the past. The real torch relay is only three days. By streamlining the scale and innovating the form, we have combined the traditional torch relay activities with the fire display activities. “Combine together.” Chen Ning said that after the fire arrived in Beijing on October 20, 2021, a series of fire display activities were carried out. In this process, the Olympic spirit and the concept of the Beijing Winter Olympics were actually being transmitted and promoted; although traditional The torch relay only lasts for three days, but rich content is incorporated into the design of the relay route and the choice of torchbearers.
As the countdown to the opening of the Beijing Winter Olympics is one month away, looking back at the preparation process in the past, Chen Ning feels unforgettable in many details.
Chen Ning said that the Winter Olympics song collection has been held for three sessions and has now all been completed; but so far, they often receive submissions from all over the world, including the disabled, the elderly, and people from remote areas. Their lyrics are very immature, and their composition is not professional, but their strong Olympic sentiment touched us very much.”
According to the arrangement, most of the award ceremonies of the Beijing Winter Olympics will be concentrated at the end of the day or the next day in the awards plaza.
Chen Ning said that the award ceremony held in the award plaza will provide athletes with a very good experience, interspersed with some theatrical performances and audience interaction. At the same time, due to the weather, there will be a little more “hot” stuff, which will start the stage and the next.
The Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee has arranged a wealth of cultural activities at various times. The “Postcards of Love” activity previously launched invites “fans” to write postcards to their favorite athletes. These postcards will be delivered to the participating athletes during the Winter Olympics. .
Chen Ning revealed that the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee has received a large number of postcards. Previously, Chinese netizens promised Japanese audiences that even if Japanese audiences could not come to watch the games, Chinese audiences would cheer for Yuzuru Hanyu; now postcards for Yuzuru Hanyu It is already very thick, “We will design a link to deliver the postcard to him.”
Now that the preparations for the Beijing Winter Olympics have entered an intense sprint stage, Chen Ning said that he sincerely hopes that every job can be better-there is no best, only better.
.