China, Greece promote Olympic spirit through symposium

An academic symposium was held on Saturday in Beijing in a bid to promote the Olympic spirit of friendship, solidarity and mutual understanding through discussions of Chinese and ancient Greek civilizations.

The symposium was organized by the Department of Literature and History of the Chinese Academy of Governance, Center for Classical Civilization of the Renmin University of China, Beijing Sport University and Civilization Magazine and focused on the theme "Civilization, Peace and Friendship - Dialogue between Chinese and Ancient Greek Civilizations".

Euthymios Athanasiadis, press counselor of embassy of Greece in China, said via a video link that both Greece and China are ancient civilizations and have bonded a long history of friendship in culture, science, education, sports and people-to-people exchanges.

The symposium was held ahead of the Winter Olympic Games, which will kick off on Feb 4, and this spring will also be the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, he said.

He said the Beijing Winter Olympics will once again remind people of the meaning of the Olympic spirit, which sums up in ancient Greek as "a healthy mind in a healthy body". For Greeks, the Olympic Games are not about being superior by winning, but about improvement and surpassing limits through achievement, peace and fair play.

Cao Weidong, Party secretary of Beijing Sport University, said the symposium aimed to take the upcoming Games as an opportunity to connect ancient civilizations and advocate the common values of peace, development, justice, democracy and freedom for all mankind.

He said both civilizations are great, diverse and integrated and have put much importance on sports.

"As the instability and uncertainty in the world have become more prominent, the aspirations of all peoples for peaceful development and the need for solidarity and cooperation have become more urgent, requiring the concerted efforts of all countries in the world to address them together.

"We hope by organizing the symposium, we can take inspiration from ancient civilizations, give a richer connotation to the Olympic spirit and raise a voice of reason and peace for dialogue, understanding and solidarity between countries," he added.

In November, Beijing Sport University and Civilization Magazine issued "The Olympic Manifesto - The Beautiful Olympic Cultural Scroll III". Katerina Sakellaropoulou, president of Greece, wrote a letter to Civilization Magazine in which she said as the world is experiencing unprecedented challenges, "it is extremely important to draw inspiration from the Olympic Spirit, which could show us the way to work out, together, solutions for existing problems."