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Olympic Tripod' unveiled in Beijing
(BEIJING, October 13) -- A 5.6-ton "Olympic
Tripod" symbolizing the integrity of the Chinese culture and the
Olympic spirit was unveiled in Beijing's Chaoyang Park on
Saturday, 300 days to the opening of the 2008 Olympic Games.
The typical Chinese cultural product is a gift to the Beijing
Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG)
by the provincial government of Gansu in northeast China. The
province's Vice-Governor Feng Jianshen and BOCOG Executive
Vice-President Jiang Xiaoyu jointly unveiled the tripod in an
official ceremony.
The presentation is part of his province's campaign to
welcome the Beijing Olympics, said Feng. Appreciating the
province's initiative, Jiang said the tripod symbolized a
prosperous China and the peaceful life of its people in the
years of opening-up, and expressed the Chinese people's support
for the Olympics to be held in the country for the first time.
The tripod is 2.9-meter high, in reference to the 29th
Olympiad, and 5.6 tons in weight, representing the 56 ethnic
groups of China, the designers said. The exterior of the tripod
bears many Chinese and Olympic elements, including the five
stars, Tian'anmen Square, the Great Wall, the Beijing Olympics
emblem and pictograms, the Olympic rings and so on. They are
arranged in an integral way.
The tripod will stay temporarily in the park, a popular
recreation facility in east Beijing and one of the 31
Beijing-based Olympic venues, for the beach volleyball
competitions. Before the Olympics are opened on August 8, 2008,
the tripod will be moved to the central Olympic area to become a
unique curiosity there, the organizers said.
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