Image by Rossana Henriques

The main arena is in Beijing, with six satellite cities hosting a few games: sailing games in Qingdao, equestrian in Hong Kong, and soccer in Tianjin, Shanghai, Shenyang, and Qinhuangdao. Although the games are held in very few places, many people see the event as a national banquet. In Beijing alone, more than 750,000 applications for volunteers were received after the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) asked for 100,000 a couple of years ago. This enthusiasm may only rise as the opening night comes closer.

It is hoped by many people in China that the Olympic Games will present elements from Chinese culture to the world. The international audience might encounter the first Chinese factor on the opening ceremony. It is Olympic tradition that athletes from all participating countries walk into the stadium in a pre-determined order, usually alphabetically according to each country’s name. However, Chinese is not an alphabetic script. The BOCOG has proposed to the International Olympic Committee to make the appearance of each country according to how many strokes there are to write the first character of a country’s name. The more strokes, the later the appearance. No official news has been released on whether the proposal has been approved or not. If it is, it will certainly be something different and even a bit of a fun experience for the international audience to watch the unpredictable order.

Elsewhere around the Olympics, there are many Chinese factors in the designs. The logos for all the sports, for example, have incorporated Chinese script, the traditional folklore art of paper cutting, and the art of Chinese seals into the design, creating dynamic yet elegant images. Another typical example is the Olympic Park in Beijing. Unlike the National Stadium (nicknamed “Bird Nest”) and other major Olympic constructions that have received massive media coverage, pictures of the new Olympic Park have only been circulating quietly online, but they have met with almost unanimous praise. The sculptures in the park are quite unique. Everything is covered in grass, presenting images from Chinese history, legends, objects, etc. The origin of the Olympic Games is honored with a miniature Athena Parthenon, also dressed in grass.

All things aside, the Olympics are all about sports. Four years is a long time, and for many athletes, competing on the Olympics is once-in-a-lifetime experience. There will be laughs and tears, thrills and sadness, and all will happen within a very short period of two and a half weeks.

How to watch it? NBC will have full coverage of the Beijing Olympic Games.