On 4 February, the Beijing 2022 Olympic torch was passed across the Summer Palace by about 97 torchbearers over a total distance of 6.182 kilometres. The torchbearers in uniforms featuring red and yellow patterns carried the torch amid the lakes and historical buildings and sites in the Summer Palace, which is a masterpiece of Chinese garden design, bringing the Olympic spirit to life at a world cultural heritage site.
Ding Ning, a 31-year-old table tennis player and world champion, participated in this leg of the Olympic torch relay. She has participated in two Olympic Games and holds high expectations for the upcoming Olympic Winter Games. She said excitedly, “The Olympic Games is an international platform that promotes communication and friendship. I hope athletes will perform at their best and enjoy the competition, and more people will feel the charm of sports and the splendour of the Games.”
The Summer Palace, formerly known as Qingyi Garden, is an imperial garden built during the Qing Dynasty. It is located near the Old Summer Palace. The Kunming Lake and the Wanshou Mountain are the two most important features of the Summer Palace a large landscape garden modelled on the famous West Lake of Hangzhou and built with the design techniques of gardens in the south of the Yangtze River. Known as the “Royal Garden Museum”, the Summer Palace is also the best-preserved royal palace in China.
The torchbearers who participated in this leg of the torch relay included Chi Xiaoqiu, lead actor at the Jingju Theatre Company of Beijing; Pu Cunxin, a national first-class actor and president of the China Theatre Association; Liu Qingquan, Deputy Party Secretary and president of Beijing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine affiliated to the Capital Medical University, and a TCM-based disease prevention and control expert in Beijing; and Fan Di’an, an expert on culture and art of the Olympic Winter Games, president of the China Artist Association and president of Central Academy of Fine Arts.
The Summer Palace leg of the torch relay is themed on “Chinese Garden”, underlining the charm of the ancient capital and the world cultural heritage site. It showcases the profound cultural heritage of Beijing. The Summer Palace is a witness to the history of the city and a “pearl” on the Xishan Yongding River Cultural Belt.
The total distance of torch relay at the Summer Palace is 6.182 kilometres. The route starts from the Zhichun Pavilion Bridge, passing through the Wenchang Pavilion, the Bafang Pavilion, the Xiuyi Bridge, the Yudai Bridge, and the Geng Zhi Tu (literally, Drawing of Tilling and Weaving) Scenic Area before ending at the Dongbanbi Bridge.
During the torch relay, local people put on Taijiquan, Tai Chi Fan and diabolo performances to demonstrate the inheritance of traditional Chinese culture. Among them, some members of the Haidian Tai Chi Association who participated in the Tai Chi Fan performance had also participated in the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympic and Paralympic Games Beijing 2008. In the Zhichun Pavilion, Qiu Huifang, who has won the gold medal in Taijiquan at the World Wushu Championships, put on an artful Taijiquan performance. In the Wenchang Pavilion, diabolo enthusiasts, including Wang Hechun and Chen Qiyuan from the Haidian District Diabolo Association, played the diabolo, a national intangible cultural heritage dating back more than a thousand years. The intangible cultural heritage and the representative Chinese imperial garden shine even more brilliantly at each other’s company.
According to the previously released torch relay plan, the torch relay of the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 will be held in Beijing, Yanqing and Zhangjiakou 2 through 4 February, involving about 1,200 torchbearers from all walks of life. Most of them are frontline workers and ordinary people who have made extraordinary contributions. Among them, the oldest is 86 years old and the youngest 14, and 57% are frontline workers. International friends from more than 20 countries and regions will also serve as torchbearer in the relay.
Each leg of the Olympic torch relay has a distinctive theme and characteristics. For example, the theme of the Beijing Olympic Forest Park is “The Charm of the Central Axis”, implying the convergence of the history and culture of Beijing, an ancient capital, with the Olympic spirit at the Central Axis of Beijing. For the Badaling section of the Great Wall, the theme is “the Ridge of the Nation,” delivering China’s open and peaceful attitude, and a bold, courageous, unyielding national spirit. The theme of the Nihewan Ruins Park in Yangyuan County of Zhangjiakou is “Ancient Footprints”, showing how the Chinese nation’s ancestors lived, thrived, developed culture, and ultimately ignited the spark of human civilizations here.