The global online course A Celebration on Ice and Snow for Millions of People, one of the Chinese Bridge delegation projects co-produced by the Center for Language Education and Cooperation of the Chinese Ministry of Education and Beijing Sport University (BSU) started on January 15, 2022 and successfully concluded on January 26, 2022. The course lasted for 12 days streaming for nearly 1,000 minutes. It aims to carry forward the Olympic spirit, strengthen sports exchanges between China and foreign countries, promote the integration of Chinese and Western civilizations, and demonstrate China's great achievements in bringing 300 million people into ice and snow sports. More than 140 students from 40 countries and regions in Asia, Europe, Africa, and America participated in this online course.
A Celebration on Ice and Snow for Millions of People focuses on the Beijing Winter Games, including the Winter Games Venues, Winter Games and National Fitness Campaign, Winter Games and City Development, Greetings from World Athletes as well as Winter Games and Chinese Language Learning. After half-a-year preparation, the course was finally presented with first-hand experience in the venues, onsite introduction and online interaction. It was taught in both Chinese and English.
In the Winter Games Venues section, 8 teachers from the School of Management of BSU went to the 13 Olympic venues in Beijing, Yanqing and Zhangjiakou competition zones and explored the past, present and future sustainable development of the venues. In the National Fitness Campaign section, students can learn about the results achieved in the program of 300 million people participating in ice and snow sports in four aspects: participants, organizations, venues and activities. In the City Development section, students will learn how the Beijing Winter Olympics impacts the urban economy, society, culture, environment and sustainability.
In the Greetings from World Athletes section, the Swiss Alpine skier and Olympic gold medalist in the Women’s Alpine Combined Michelle Gisin, Russian cross-country skiing Olympic champion and Vice-rector for Sports of Lesgaft University Egorova Lyubov Ivanovna as well as athletes and Olympic champions from Croatia and China have sent their greetings to the Beijing Winter Games. Specifically, Kate Caithness, President of the World Curling Federation and Ivo Ferriani, President of the International Bobsleigh and Tobogganing Federation have both send their best wishes to the Beijing Winter Games.
Kate Caithness, President of the World Curling Federation
Ivo Ferriani, President of the International Bobsleigh and Tobogganing Federation
Michelle Gisin, Swiss Alpine skier and Olympic gold medalist in the Women's Alpine Combined
As for the Winter Games and Chinese Language Learning, 5 teachers from the School of Humanities of BSU designed this section on 10 topics, namely, the Winter Games theme song, competition zones, mascots, venues, competition fields, events, schedule, events spectating, souvenirs, culture and the National Fitness Campaign. This section streamed for 450 minutes. The teachers gave the lecture with teaching assistants doing the demonstration. Students participated in activities like Learning the Winter Games Terms, Winter Sports Introduction, Typical Sentence Learning, Situational Conversation Practice and Winter Games Culture Interaction. This section provides the students an opportunity to appreciate the charm of the Chinese language, understand the Olympic spirit and witness the popular ice and snow sports campaign.
The Chinese Bridge delegation project received strong support from the Center for Language Education and Cooperation of the Chinese Ministry of Education and the Beijing 2022 Organizing Committee. The recording and production of the course were supported by the operation teams of all the Winter Games venues in the three competition zones. Guangming Daily, China Sports Daily and other media outlets reported on the launch of the online course.
Before the conclusion of the course, the students expressed their feelings about the course and their wishes for the Beijing Winter Games by singing the Winter Games theme song Together for A Shared Future. They also demonstrated their learning results with creative Chinese characters and pictures about the Winter Games.
Singing the Beijing Winter Games Theme Song
Ivana Koharovic from Bulgaria said, “I wish all the athletes good luck and great performance in the Beijing Winter Games. I hope to see more young Chinese people love and participate in sports, especially winter sports, like skiing and skating. I wish all the participants and athletes great fun.”
Hand-sketched Winter Games Mascot by Augusto from Angola
Augusto from Angola said, “I learned a lot through the course. For example, I’ve watched Curling before, but I didn’t know much about the sport. I didn’t understand why the players sweep the ice while playing because I didn’t have the chance to really learn about the game. It is through the live course Winter Games and Chinese Language Learning that I learned the rules of Curling. The closer the stone is to the center of the house, the higher the score. I understand now why the curlers sweep the ice and I have become interested in this sport.”
Iris Jovic from Croatia said, “I am looking forward to the Beijing Winter Games and proud of Beijing for becoming the Dual Olympic City. I sincerely wish the Beijing Winter Games a full success.”
Diana Roca, also from Croatia, sent her best wishes at the end of the course. “I wish you all good luck and the Beijing Winter Games a great success! I wish you good health! Together! Together for a shared future! Let’s set off to embrace the light! I hope to see you all on TV! (laugh) Let’s go for it, Beijing Winter Games!” Zhang Wanting from Vietnam sent her best wishes in Chinese, “I wish the Beijing Winter Games a happy opening and a complete success!”
After the course, the students also expressed their expectations and feelings for the Beijing Winter Games through writing, drawing and creating.
Creative Chinese Characters “Curling” (made of pencils, erasers and USB cables) by Bibiziz from Pakistan
Snowflakes (Rice), Ski Poles (Chopsticks) and Mountain Courses (Chinese Characters “Ice and Snow Olympics”) by Ivana Koharovic from Bulgaria
The Beijing Winter Games in the Cookies by Magdalena Zachwieja from Poland
Having Fun on Ice by Arina Malysheva from Russia
Bing Dwen Dwen and Shuey Rhon Rhon Surrounded by Kisses and Giant Panda!
by Diana Roca from Croatia
Cute Bing Dwen Dwen and Shuey Rhon Rhon by Nilushi from Sri Lanka
Rooting for the Beijing Winter Games by Feilipe from Columbia
On January 27, the recorded course A Celebration on Ice and Snow for Millions of People became available on the Chinese Bridge Delegation Online platform as a Winter Games-themed online delegation project open continuingly for people from all over the world who love Chinese culture. During the Beijing Winter Games, the course helps the world to better understand the Games and the development of ice and snow sports in China. Beijing Sport University will continue to strive forward for the great mission, shoulder the responsibilities of telling China’s story well and making China’s voice heard, and contribute to building a community with a shared future for mankind.