This has been an unforgettable week for Guo Chunning.

On Sunday, the design "Chinese Seal, Dancing Beijing," was unveiled to the world.

Chosen from 1985 works during a painstaking process, it will now become the symbol of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

The emblem, in the style of a Chinese seal with the traditional Chinese character "Jing" rendered in a human form, offers a unique integration of Oriental spirit and history with the modern Olympic philosophy.

As the original designer of the logo, Guo is overwhelmed with happiness: "To me, it's the best news after SARS."

The 45-year-old was born in Liaoning province and grew up in Shenyang.

In the aftermath of his triumph - which is also worth a cool US$20,000 ---- he told Beijing Weekend of the agony and ecstasy of the arduous process.

"It was really an exhausting designing process, " he revealed. "For more than six months, my mind was filled with all kinds of logos and Chinese cultural images. To me, it was a great challenge to combine traditional Chinese culture with sports in a visual way. "

A Chinese character was his first inspiration for the creation of the logo.

Guo explained why he chose the character "Jing" : "As the most important carrier of China's thousands of years of culture, Chinese characters have the unique beauty of a pictograph, compact and abstract."

He added: "After a thorough comparison of different Chinese characters, I chose 'Jing' as the logo's principal part. It's not only because the character refers to Beijing where the Games will be held, but also because the seal script is quite similar to the dragon image, the totem of all Chinese. "

The use of a seal in the logo is another ingenious idea. With thousands of years of history, seal art is a crutial part of Chinese culture.

"I used the seal in the logo, for it's also the seal of the nation, the promise Beijing makes to the world to stage an Olympic Games unlike any the world has known, " Guo said.

The shape of the seal also has deep significance. The round upper part and the square lower part imply the traditional Chinese concept of "round sky and square earth". With Jing, the character stands as a human in the middle and also conveys the classic theme of man in harmony with nature in Chinese philosophy. That in turn nods to the "Green Olympics" dream.

The process had its challenges: "The most difficult part in designing was to render the Chinese character Jing into a moving human figure. In fact the original seal script of the character was far less like a running human figure. "

For a whole month, Guo studied the different ways of writing the character in inscriptions on bones or tortoise shells of the Shang Dynasty and the official script ofthe Han Dynasty. After drawing more than one hundred sketches, a satisfying new image of Jing appeared to him.

At that time there was only two days left to meet the deadline of the emblem designing competition. When he finished, it was with just four hours to spare before the deadline for submissions.

Guo thinks his success relies on an understanding of Chinese culture.

"Among the top ten design works, eight were made by Chinese and two by Japanese. No western designers managed to enter the final competition. This show that a deep understanding of Oriental culture was the key. "

Guo now works as a designer and vice-president of the Beijing Armstrong Visual Identity Corp. (AVIC). He says he also owes his success to seven years of hard study in Tianjin Industrial Arts Institute and Beijing Industrial Arts Institute as well as twelve years working experience in business.

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