Short comment: "Without a word", why did the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics "do your best"?
China News Service, Beijing, 5 Feb (China News Service) -- Title: "Without a Word," Why Did the Opening Ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics "Do Your Best"
China News Service reporter Wen Longjie
On February 4, the opening of the XXIV Winter Olympics coincided with the spring of the first of China's 24 solar terms.
24 became a "code" that appeared repeatedly in the opening ceremony: countdown to twenty-four solar terms, 24 warm-up songs, 24 laser beams carving ice cubes... The twenty-four solar terms, known as cultural time, have attracted widespread attention, what is its connotation?
On the evening of February 4, 2022, the opening ceremony of the XXIV Winter Olympic Games was held at the Beijing National Stadium. Photo by Cui Nan, a reporter from China News Service
First of all, it contains the idea of the unity of heaven and man.
The Twenty-Four Solar Terms refer to the 24 specific festivals in the Chinese lunar calendar that indicate seasonal changes, originating from the Shang Zhou Dynasty, established in the Qin and Han Dynasties, and are complementary calendars used to guide agricultural production and daily life.
"Zhuangzi" says: "The one who is heaven and earth, the parent of all things." The twenty-four solar terms meticulously and accurately reflect the climatic characteristics of the alternating seasons in China, for example, stings, valley rain, mango seeds, cold dew, frost falls, etc. are named through the symbolic changes of phenology, embodying the idea of the unity of heaven and man of "human law and earth, earth law and heaven, heaven and law, and taoist nature".
At the same time, under the influence of the concept of the unity of heaven and man, solar terms not only legislate for agricultural production, but also become a guide to regulate daily actions. As the ancient Chinese texts say, the four hours, eight, twelve degrees, and twenty-four verses of the Fu Yin and Yang have their own teachings, and those who go along with it prosper, and those who oppose it do not die or die. He also stressed that the husband is born in spring and long in summer, and the autumn harvest is hidden in winter, and this great sutra of the Heavenly Dao, "the great smoothness of the four hours, must not be lost."
March 6, 2019 is the "sting" of the 24 solar terms, a bee flying down to collect honey among fragrant flowers. When the time comes, the yang rises, the temperature warms up, the spring thunder moves, the rain increases, and everything is full of life. Photo by Wang Jianzhong, China News Service
Second, it contains harmonious and different ideas.
The Chinese lunar calendar is a yin-yang calendar that combines the summer calendar and the twenty-four solar terms to form a yin-yang calendar.
The summer calendar, also known as the lunar calendar, is formulated according to the law of the moon rotating around the earth, with the moon circling the earth for one month. The lunar calendar is based on the change of moon phase, which can reflect the tides and guide maritime activities, but does not consider the earth's movement around the sun, cannot reflect the seasonal changes, and is difficult to accurately guide agricultural affairs.
The twenty-four solar terms divide a solar return year into 24 segments, which is a "solar calendar" that reflects the annual visual movement of the sun.
The Chinese lunar calendar combines the summer calendar with the twenty-four solar terms, and coordinates the number of days between the year of regression and the month of synodic through leap methods, so that the average number of days in a year matches the number of days in the year of return. Thanks to the cultural soil and wisdom of China, the summer calendar and the twenty-four solar terms do not have "yin and yang imbalance", but "harmony and difference" are integrated to form a Chinese lunar calendar that is both consistent with the moon phase and the earth's circular movement around the sun.
On December 26, 2021, at the Summer Palace in Beijing, the sunset shone on the side walls of all the bridge holes of the Seventeen-Hole Bridge, forming a beautiful scenery of "golden light piercing". The "golden light piercing" scene appears around the winter solstice every year, and the "winter solstice day" sun almost directly hits the Tropic of Cancer, and the light and shadow are the oblique length of the year, and the light and shadow can illuminate the area that cannot be usually illuminated. Photo by Sun Zifa, a reporter from China News Service
Again, it contains endless thoughts.
The twenty-four solar terms were originally formulated according to the shift of the bucket to the stars, the seven stars of the Big Dipper rotated in a circle, and the handle of the bucket rotated around the east, south, west and north, which was a cycle, which was called one "year". Each rotation cycle begins with spring and ends with a cold.
"The winter solstice is full of yang and spring again", the twenty-four solar terms embody the concept of endless cycle time. As stated in the Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic, "Five days is called waiting, three days are called qi, six days are called time, and four hours are called years", "The day of the end, the cycle begins again and again, and the time is immediately clothed, like a ring without a reason".
"In heaven and earth, gasification is popular and endless." As a kind of cultural time, the twenty-four solar terms affect all aspects of Chinese production and life activities, and are a unique knowledge and practice system in China. On 30 November 2016, the 24 solar terms were officially inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. This time, China's twenty-four solar terms and the world's twenty-fourth Winter Olympics met, the two kinds of time and harmony, there is no doubt, creating a model of exchange and mutual learning, which is not only the meaning of the Olympic Games, but also provides a useful perspective for examining and thinking about the development of human civilization.
On February 4, 2022, the "Lichun" festival, the early plum blossoms on the plum blossom mountain in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, released the breath of spring. Photo by Su Yang, China News Service
Unity is restored, and everything in Vientiane is renewed. The "Spring and Autumn Ram Biography" explains, "The Yuan Is He, the Beginning of the King's Year is also; the Spring Man Is He, the Beginning of the Year." At the opening ceremony, there was not a single person in ancient costume, but the clever use of the cultural symbol of the twenty-four solar terms can probably be described as "not a word, do your best." (End)