With the countdown to the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games entering the final 30 days, a special exhibition kicked off at Suzhou Canal Sports Park yesterday. Li Jiajun, a world short track speed skating champion and the first Chinese torch bearer of 2022 Games, attended the opening ceremony with "Flying", the 2022 Olympic torch that carried the Olympic flame from Greece to China.
The torch boasts an array of special features. Different from previous Olympic torches, which mostly used metal materials, "Flying" is made of carbon-fiber materials, and is light in weight and resistant to high temperatures. Based on the flying Apsaras in the frescoes of the Dunhuang Caves, the torch spirals upward, echoing its name. It is also reminiscent of the 2008 Summer Games cauldron, with patterns of clouds and snowflakes painted from the bottom up to the flame.
▲Beijing Organising Committee for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games revealed the 2022 Olympic torch "Flying" on February 4, 2021.
Li Jiajun used to be the leading figure among China's short track speed skating team. A few years ago, he came to Suzhou to select talent as part of efforts to promote ice skating. "I feel very happy and honored to return to Suzhou today and bring the torch to promote Beijing Olympic Winter Games," Li said.
It is known that the exhibition is organized chronologically to showcase the wonderful moments in the past Winter Games, the history of the Olympics, and a total of 117 objects, including posters, emblems, mascots, torches, Olympic lanterns, etc.
Aside from the exhibition, Li Jiajun also took the torch to Xincheng Garden Primary School, SIP, where a torch relay activity was held to enable teachers and students to feel the torch as well as the atmosphere of torch relay.The exhibition will last through February 28.
