Chinese culture on display for ’08 Olympics

The 2008 Olympic games in Beijing are offering Pitt a new way to promote Chinese culture… The 2008 Olympic games in Beijing are offering Pitt a new way to promote Chinese culture through a month-long celebration.

Yesterday’s Olympic Exhibition, held in the Union ballroom, hosted the grand opening of the Chinese Exhibition Month, which was sponsored by Pitt’s Chinese Students and Scholars Association and Office of Cross-Cultural and Civic Leadership.

A slideshow, titled “This is Beijing, as metropolitan as New York, as ancient as Rome,” encompassed the main message of the Olympic Exhibition: that Beijing is a thriving city.

The exhibition housed several displays alluding to the importance of Chinese culture in the past Olympics globally but focused mainly on the 2008 games.

Several of the exhibits focused on the Beijing Olympics’ mascots, which represent the five ideals of China – prosperity, happiness, passion, health and good fortune.

According to Hui Ping, a CSSA volunteer, the mascots were created to invite the world by saying “Beijing welcomes you.”

The mascots portray Chinese culture, particularly because they all represent something special to the country, such as the black panda, an endangered species.

CSSA also set up traditional Chinese games for the public to enjoy.

One of the games resembled Pin the Tail on the Donkey, though it involved the pinning of a nose onto a Chinese mask.

“When we were kids we would play these games,” Yan Hung, a first-year student in the United States and a CSSA volunteer, explained.

Tables at the event boasted official promotional DVDs for the Beijing Olympics, pens and Chinese artifacts, intending to promote a means of understanding the Chinese culture.

Those of Chinese descent are one of the largest international student populations at Pitt, so this month offers diverse students a chance to learn more about a different culture, according to Janine Fisher, assistant director of the Office of International Services.

President of the CSSA, Wan Zhu, said the other major event of this celebration is the Spring Festival Stage Show, which will be held Feb. 3.

The festival’s major event will be a fashion show including six women, six men and eight children from local Chinese families who will model traditional Chinese clothing, Zhu said.

The stage show also offers many other forms of entertainment, including a Kung Fu team from China, local Chinese dancers, a free Chinese dinner and other activities similar to the Chinese exhibition.

The Spring Festival Stage show plans to focus mainly on the celebration of the Chinese New Year, along with the importance of the Olympic games.