Volunteer reflects on Olympic experience

What is the most important role of a volunteer at big events like the Olympics?

For Liu Dibo, the answer is not only being nice to attendees and indulging in small talk, but acting as a cultural communicator.

The 23-year-old PhD candidate at Tsinghua University's School of Environment spoke about forming a warm friendship with a senior Olympic official amid the frosty environment of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games.

As an Olympic Family Assistant, Liu's task was to help senior Olympic Games figures while they were in Beijing, accompanying them to venues and places of interest, arranging meetings for them and acting as an interpreter.

Francesco Ricci Bitti, the president of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations, was one of those senior figures Liu helped.

Ricci Bitti had visited Beijing during the Summer Olympics in 2008, so Liu made it his mission to tell him about how much China had changed since then.

As they passed the China Ethnic Museum one day, Liu spoke to Ricci Bitti about national unity; near Tian'anmen Square, he discussed the waves of construction in the city over the centuries; and when they visited the Yanqing Olympic Village in the mountains outside Beijing, Liu talked about national efforts to promote sustainable development.

"At such moments, we young people have the chance to tell people from other countries how we understand our culture, our belief in our culture, and our confidence in our culture," Liu said.

Ricci Bitti was impressed by Liu's warm and effective assistance.

They became friends even though Liu was a young Chinese man in his early 20s and Ricci Bitti was an Italian who a few weeks earlier had celebrated his 80th birthday.

After the Beijing Games were over and they drove to the airport together, Ricci Bitti turned to Liu and said: "I hope to see you in Milan for the Winter Olympics in 2026."

It occurred to Liu that when Ricci Bitti returned to Italy, he may have spoken positively about China to his relatives and acquaintances in much the same way as Marco Polo did a little more than 700 years ago, which helped promote ties between the East and the West.

As pointed out in the report to the 20th CPC National Congress last month, China will accelerate the development of its discourse and narrative systems, better tell its stories, make its voice heard and present a China that is credible, appealing and respectable.

It will also deepen exchange and mutual learning with other civilizations and better present Chinese culture to the world.

"This is not only the task of Chinese youth today, but also the task of the Chinese youth of the future," Liu said.

"Undertaking that task is all the more important at a time when it seems that the connection between people worldwide is becoming fragmented. But China insists on doing its best to show the world that human beings are still united."