English

Chinese Culture booth popular in YOV

Located only a few steps from the athletes’ dormitories, the Chinese Culture booth in the Youth Olympic Village (YOV) is a special project mainly to demonstrate traditional Chinese culture and the intangible cultural heritage of Nanjing during the Youth Olympic Games (YOG). Open from 11:00 to 20:00 every day, the Chinese Culture booth is very popular among the athletes from across the world.

Deirdre Lenzsch, a weight lifter from the U.S., said “I’m 17 years old, and my Chinese name is Dierya.” She happily lifted up a piece of paper written with calligraphy and pointed at the three Chinese characters. Although she didn’t hold the brush pen quite correctly, Dierya still successfully wrote her name, which was actually pretty good compared with the copy written by the teacher. In fact, this isn’t the first time that Dierya came into contact with Chinese culture. She heard about it from her friends in the U.S. “I come to the booth today because I hope to experience it myself,” she told the reporter, “China has 5,000 years of history and culture. I’m sure there are a lot of things worth exploring.” Then Dierya picked up the brush pen to start painting, and a lotus appeared on the paper after a few minutes.

Rohaan Simons, an official of the Bermuda team, was appreciating the framed papercut of Peking Opera mask. “This is Monk Sha (a character from the Pilgrimage to the West) and this is Cao Cao (a figure from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms),” a volunteer in the booth introduced to him the Peking Opera characters. “How long does it take to finish a papercut, a month?” asked Rohaan Simons curiously, and the volunteer answered with a smile: “One day is enough. First we cut a piece of white paper, and then it takes a few hours to dye the papercut.” Rohaan Simons looked incredulous.

Lara Puglia Texeira is a young ambassador from Brazil and this is her first time in China. After having lunch at YOV, she came to the Chinese Culture booth and was immediately captivated by volunteers making the Chinese knot. When a volunteer teacher in the booth offered to teach her to make a simple knot, she happily picked a green string and started learning under the teacher’s guidance. It took her quite a while to learn to make a few knots, and she took her “semi-finished product” away with her with great satisfaction and pleasure.