Source: CCTV.com

02-13-2008 15:29

Music by Liu Qi  Guo Dingli
Performed by Liu Chengyu

In 1932, at the 10th Olympic Games held in Los Angeles, Liu Changchun, a college student, was the only Chinese athlete participating. / I board the ship and my long journey begins. 21 days later, I enter the Olympic stadium for the opening ceremony. I am exhausted and seriously dehydrated. I am the only Chinese athlete participating. I receive many astonished and curious looks from the spectators when I march in. Eventually I fail to win. An American newspaper commented that the failure of one Chinese athlete marked the failure of China. The scene is the Olympic Games held in Berlin in 1936. Lacking money, the Chinese delegation set out by boat 2 months early and paid their way by putting on performances as they passed through East Asia. After a long and uncomfortable voyage during which they hardly rested, the Chinese athletes arrived at the Games. The team’s best performance was by pole-vaulter Fu Baolu, who reached the semi-final of his event. But Fu didn’t even have his own pole and had to borrow one. Eventually, he was eliminated from the competition. At the time a European newspaper published a cartoon, under the title: “The Sick Man of East Asia”. It depicted a group of Chinese with long braids and long gowns, looking haggard. They were standing under an Olympic flag with big ducks’ eggs on their shoulders. My heart was broken. It dawned on me that our athletes, without the support of a prosperous and thriving nation, would never achieve the goal of being higher, faster and stronger. Without the recognition of the world, without the participation of all the people, the few medals we’d won would fall short of realizing our Olympic dream. I was longing, hoping and believing that one day, the Chinese people could hold their heads high under the Olympic flag. One day we would. Now that day has come, and a hundred years of expectation is being fulfilled. Finally the day is coming – in the year 2008 at the Beijing Olympics. Our Olympic Village will echo to a wonderful symphony of “One World”; from our national stadium, the Bird’s Nest, the wings of “One Dream” will reach out to embrace all humanity. We are carrying on the past and ushering in the future. We are on course to complete our mission. Let’s participate, dedicate ourselves and be happy. We are the new Beijing, Great Olympics and the world of the Five Rings, Beijing welcomes you!

 

Editor:Liu Fang