China's Changchun, a booming city in the fast-developing
country, will feature a stunning ice gala in hosting the sixth
Winter Asian Games with a total investment of US$2.8 billion.
The people from Asia and the world will turn eye on the northern
big city of China from Qatar's Doha which has just hosted the 15th
Asian Games in a huge success and showed the world with an
incredible cultural carnival.
According to Yin Weiping, vice secretary of the media department
of? the Changchun Winter Asiad Organizing Committee, a 94-day
snow and ice tour festival will be held soon, which will cover the
Chrismas, the New Year's Day, the Spring Festival and the
Valentine's Day.
"The festival will feature 32 celebrating activities, including
snow and ice carnival, evening parties with fireworks, and a 'snow
and ice beauty contest'," She added.
"As the famous motor-city, culture-city and the birthplace of
the People's Republic of China's movies, Changchun will showcase
its special culture during the Winter Games. Players and tourists
will have a great entertainment of it," She said.
"The Changchun Winter Asian Games will be a grand gathering of
all the 45 members of the Olympic Committee of Asia. Some members
will send delegations to Changchun but will not compete in the
Games," She noted.
In Han Dynasty two thousand years ago, the Chinese special envoy
Zhang Qian was sent on a diplomatic mission to West Asia and
enjoyed the first contact of the Chinese and Arab cultures.
Nowadays, combining huge fortune with high technology, the Doha
Asian Games drew world's attention on the Arab culture again.
Although the host only collected nine gold medals, it won the
recognition of the world on the fabulous cultural carnival.
Song Jixin, a Chinese sports development expert, has ever
pointed out that the success of hosting a multi-sport games depends
mainly on the wide recognition of the culture featured by the host
city.
"As long as the concept of culture is recognized as wide as
possible, the host will have a stage to show its economic and
scientific strength," Song added.
On this point, the Doha Asiad won a huge success, which not only
greatly improved Qatar's international image, but also exerted
pressure on following hosts.
In four years, China will host three multi-sport international
games: The 2007 Winter Asiad in Changchun, the 2008 Olympic Games
in Beijing, and the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou.
Although the Olympic Games is no doubt at the core, the
Changchun Winter Asiad to be open on January 28 is the closest one
to the Doha Asiad.
As Changchun is not Qatar which boasts of 28.4-billion-dollar
GDP, the city will eye mainly on its own features and present a
well-prepared snow and ice gala to Asia and the world.
?In recent years, Changchun successfully held series of
high-level international sports games, such as the freestyle skiing
world cup, the short course speed skating world cup.
?
(Xinhua News Agency December 19, 2006)