Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, January 2
——Revelation of the Beijing Winter Olympics and Paralympic Winter Games award bouquets
Xinhua News Agency reporter Lu Xingji
The awarding elements of the Beijing Winter Olympics and Paralympics will be officially released on the New Year’s Eve from 2021 to 2022. Among them, the prize-awarding bouquets will use woolen thread bouquets-velvet flowers, instead of traditional fresh cut flowers.
On the one hand, velvet bouquets are not like fresh-cut bouquets that require flowers to be transported from the southern planting base, which greatly reduces transportation and management costs. On the other hand, it is also convenient for athletes to carry and return for long-term storage.
Except for “never withering”, each award bouquet is “unique”. The Beijing Winter Olympics and Paralympics will use 1,251 bouquets for the awards, totaling 16,731 flowers. Each flower material has leaves and flowers, and the “Shanghai style knitting technique” that combines Chinese and foreign knitting techniques is purely handmade.
Behind the uniqueness is a lot of manpower and time. Taking a rose as an example, it takes 20 minutes to knit a petal, while a pruning rose consists of ten petals, plus three leaves and stems, and it takes at least five hours for a knitting division.
It is estimated that it will take nearly 50,000 hours to make all the prize bouquets for the Beijing Winter Olympics and Paralympics. This glorious and arduous task is undertaken by Hengyuanxiang Group, the official sponsor of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, and the inheritance unit of “Shanghai Style Wool Knitting Technique”.
With the support of the All-China Women’s Federation and other organizations, Hengyuanxiang Group has mobilized the braiding societies in Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang to participate. Among them, the bouquets for the Beijing Winter Paralympics are mainly completed by the China Welfare Foundation for the Disabled.
In order to ensure the overall consistency of the bouquets and to improve the production efficiency, each knitting club is responsible for producing one or two kinds of flower materials, which will be assembled to the Hengyuanxiang Group in Shanghai for final assembly.
“Shanghai style knitting skills” Shanghai-level inheritor, Hengyuanxiang knitting master Li Meili, is one of the people in charge of this bouquet knitting project. She said that this method of breaking into parts is very scientific, but it is more laborious than making it yourself.
Li Meili must first design patterns and knitting drawings for various weaving companies, and then teach and unify the crafts and techniques. Because of the impact of the epidemic, she often cannot go to the site for training, and can only do it through video recording and online lectures. There will be some problems in the actual production of the knitting clubs in various places, and she will also need “remote support”.
After the flowers and materials were gathered in Shanghai, Li Meili checked the quality one by one, and then tied the bouquets according to the samples to ensure that although they were handmade products, the appearance was as consistent as possible.
Finally, although the silk bouquets are not as delicate as flowers, in order to avoid collisions and deformation of the bouquets during transportation, Hengyuanxiang repeatedly discussed the transportation plan with the courier company to ensure that the bouquets appeared on the podium in the best posture.
The Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee stated that during the Games, a special area will be opened to display the knitting bouquets, knitting skills and the stories behind them by means of physical objects and videos, allowing guests from all over the world to watch and understand them up close.
Chen Zhongwei, Chairman and General Manager of Hengyuanxiang Group, said: “Chinese people often say that’love is in the line’. We hope that this root of truth, goodness and beauty will enable people on the five continents who have been affected by the new crown epidemic and have become alienated to unite more. , Weave the world’s ever-good future with infinite threads.”
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责编：刘希尧 ]
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