In my life, I have never participated in any athletic activities, and have never been interested enough in any sporting event. But ever since one young pastor shared about Beijing's "Bird's Nest Stadium",
I somehow found myself drawn to the 2008 Beijing Olympics frenzy. Perhaps it is an innate Chinese pride, or maybe because I've incidentally watched some China-related features on the Discovery Channel, or it might just simply be my knack for delving into random interesting topics, but I've decided to pool some Olympics-related photos and infos into this blog entry.
So for this grand and global event, China has built four great buildings which revolutionized architectural history forever. I won't elaborate more on the details of the designs since I'm no architectural buff either, but you really don't need any degree to appreciate these man-made wonders.
This iconic arena will be the venue for most of the events. Its design is innovative, at the same time functional.
[read more]
.jpg)
Beijing National Swimming Center (aka Water Cube)
Inspired by the structure of water bubbles, this futuristic LED-lit structure boasts of its stunning display of color patterns.
It also has the ability to trap the solar energy, utilizing it to heat the interiors. [read more about it here and here]
Beijing National Grand Theatre (aka Egg Shell)
This titanium metal and glass infrastracture will serve as China's top arts performance center and a first class art palace.
[read more]
China Central Television (CCTV) Headquarters (aka The Pants)
These two L-shaped high-rise towers linked at the top and the bottom, often been described as a 'Z' criss-cross,
will allow China State Television to broadcast the Olympics to the world.
[read more]
I was also able to surf a bit about the medals. And oh boy, what delightful bling-blings they will surely make!
One side of the medal, which cannot be changed, adopts the winged Victory Nike and the Panathinaikos Arena, the standard design prescribed by the International Olympic Committee. But on the reverse side, you get to bring home an unmistakable touch of China -- jade of exceptional quality inlayed and the Beijing Olympic emblem engraved in the center gold. There is also a very intricate medal hook. Noble and elegant, yet simple and symbolic, it is said that the medal is an embodiment of both Chinese culture and the Olympic spirit. And yes, I have a gut feeling that it can be pawned for quite a hefty sum. LOL [read more here]
Fuwa, the Official Mascots of Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, are the embodiments of the five elements of nature and of China’s most popular animals -- Fish (sea), Panda (forest), Tibetan Antelope (earth), Swallow (sky) -- and the center Fuwa is the Olympic Flame (fire). They obviously draw their colors from the five Olympic Rings and carry a message of friendship, peace and good wishes from China to children all over the world. They have rhyming two-syllable names, which, when put together — Bei Jing Huan Ying Ni — means "Welcome to Beijing", offering a warm invitation from these young and playful ambassadors.
Next, we have here a large scale oil painting titled "Ode to the Olympics", done by artist Liu Ningyi and his daughter, Liu Haomei. This masterpiece took them seven years to complete and measures 112 meters in width (for the number of years in the modern history of the Olympics) and five meters in height (for the number of Olympic rings).
This beautiful artwork showcases the long and magnificent history of the Olympics, the peaceful interaction among peoples of different cultures and nationalities, and reflects the Olympic mottos of "Swifter, Higher, Stronger" and "Peace, Friendship, Progress".
Well, there's definitely so much more to rant about this phenomenal event (I haven't even started talking about the athletes yet!), but I need to stop for now. Indeed, the lengths at which China prepared for this is unbelievable, and how the whole world has joined hands together to bring forth all these amazing things only shows how far mankind has exceeded his potentials.
No comments:
Post a Comment