Chinese calligraphy once again became part of the Beijing Olympics when the organizers released pictograms evolving from Chinese seal characters Monday.

The set of 35 icons, representing all the Beijing Olympics official events, use the structure of the Chinese seal script as the basic form while incorporating the pictographic charm of the oracle bone writing and the bronze ware script with the simplification of modern graphics.

"Designers referred to experience of past Olympic Games and were inspired by Chinese traditional culture to work out the pictograms," said Beijing Olympic organizing committee official Zhang Ming, referring to the pictograms entitled "Beauty of Seal Characters".

"These pictograms are very clear in terms of the sports they represent, simple and of Chinese characteristic," she said at the release, which doubled as one of the activities to mark the two-year counting down of the Beijing Olympic Games.

These little icons were co-designed by professors and students from the Chinese Central Academy of Fine Arts and Fine Arts School of Qinghua University.

Associate professor from the Academy said the pictograms came from the same art form as the Beijing Olympic emblem.

"The pictograms and the logo are of the same art form. The two are closely related," Hang Hai said. He was one of the designers.

The emblem, entitled "Chinese Seal -- Dancing Beijing", features a single Chinese character on a traditional red Chinese seal with the words "Beijing 2008" written in an eastern-style brush stroke.  

(Xinhua News Agency August 7, 2006)