When Chinese New Year meets Olympic Winter Games

Special: 2022 Winter Olympics

(ECNS)--The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics is just around the corner as people are celebrating the Chinese New Year.

On February 2, mixed doubles curlers got the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games underway. The opening ceremony will be held at the Beijing National Stadium (aka the “Bird’s Nest”) on February 4, and the Games will last till February 20.

While the participants from all over the world enjoythe unique celebration, the Chinese winter sports athletes will compete at home in this holiday season.

Togetherness

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) amended its “Faster, Higher, Stronger” motto to include the word “Together” last July, calling for solidarity and cooperation against global challenges.

The Chinese New Year has long been an occasion for family get-togethers. Today, even if some people can’t be physically together with their family, they still feel together.

The word “together” carries special significance as the Winter Olympics is to be held during the Chinese New Year in 2022.

We are all in this together. With mutual trust and solidarity, we will overcome whatever challenge that comes our way, including the pandemic.

Traditional Chinese Culture

“We took the Chinese New Year into account back when we were bidding for the Winter Olympics, hoping to introduce the traditional Chinese culture to the rest of the world through the Winter Games,”said Yu Zaiqing, IOC vice president and vice president of the Beijing Organising Committee for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

Just as the Summer Olympics in 2008 demonstratedthe traditional Chinese culture by the ancient musical instrument performance at the opening ceremony, the “auspicious cloud” design on the Olympic torch, the floor music of Peking Opera, etc., the Winter Olympics will present another great opportunity to display the traditional Chinese culture — the Chinese New Year in particular.

For instance, many Winter Olympics collections and merchandise featuring Chinese culture are sold well, such as Chinese New Year badges.

The Winter Olympics and the Chinese New Year elements are used in street decorations in places such as Chang’an Avenue, “Sanlitun”, and China World Trade Center.

Moreover, Chinese cultural activities at the Beijing Olympic Village, such as Chinese calligraphy and paper-cutting, are enabling more people to learn about Chinese culture. Likewise, a bowl of jiaozi could serve as atoken of the Chinese New Year.

Olympics in China

China greeted the world with a cheery “Welcome to Beijing”during the Summer Olympic Games in 2008. Fourteen years later, with its motto of “Together for a shared future”, Beijing will be the first-ever city to host both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games.

“The 2008 motto showed the world China’s openness and the motto of this Winter Games — ‘Together for a shared future’ —demonstrates China’s vision,” explained Jiang Xiaoyu, vice president of the Beijing Olympic City Development Association.

With more than a decade of rapid growth, China is standing ready to welcome participants from around the world to be hand in hand,“Together for a shared future”.