Beijing Olympic Stories

Since July 13, 2001, when Beijing won the right at the 112th plenary meeting of the International Olympics Committee to host the 29th Olympic Games, Chinese people under the auspices of the Chinese government have been endeavoring to make the 29th the best games ever. In publicizing the background information, the construction of the venues and other aspects, there are many moving stories. Following are some of them.

To welcome the coming of the Beijing Olympic Games, a group of four Chinese senior citizens and a Korean cycled 180,000 kilometers around China to publicize the spirit. When arriving at a city, they enthusiastically brought the spirit to local citizens. They handed out leaflets to citizens in different cities in China inviting them to watch the sailing competition in Qingdao. They will cycle in other countries to publicize the games.

In the host city, an English Speaking Contest was held. Participants from 12 colleges of the city showed their enthusiasm through their brilliant speeches. Speech titles such as 'Olympic Games in My Heart' and 'One World One Dream' demonstrated participants' excitement.

As a sophomore and a member of the Chinese Young Volunteers Association, Jin Haixin is making her contributions as much as possible. Together with his friends, She shoots sceneries reflecting local customs and practices to show to children who haven't yet visited the city.

This year, after a busy semester, she returned to his hometown of Xiangfan in Hubei Province making his contribution in another way. In order to publicize the spirit, she formed a class to teach children in the nursery about the Olympics. She not only taught them how to log onto the official website of BOCOG, but also printed the Education Reader to hand out.

Jin Haixin's greatest wish is to be a volunteer whether serving in hotels or at bus stations.

Wang Meng is a common ticket seller in the city. He publicizes the Olympics in a unique way. On his bus, No. 74549 bus of Route 405, every passenger can see his creations on the windows and message boards. With the aim of letting more people learn about it, he makes many pictures with themes related, such as the mascots, emblems, etc. The pictures are vivid and well executed.

On his distinctive bus, every passenger thinks highly of his art and through his pictures can learn a great deal about the Olympics.

To express their support, many Chinese citizens use their own ways. Li Rongbin, a senior citizen living in Xi'an is no exception. He learned drawing and paper-cut after he retired in 1990. Learning that Beijing had won the right to hold the 2008 Olympic Games, he wanted to present his paper-cuts in support.

After discussion with family members, he decided to cut 108 figures based on the novel Water Margin, one of four classic Chinese novels. Through his cutting, he hopes that all the athletes can be as excellent as the figures in this novel. Overcoming many difficulties during two years, he has almost finished his cutting. Each paper-cut is one meter tall and 73 centimeters wide. After mounting them, he will present these 108 lifelike figures to the BOCOG.