The story of the Winter Olympic torch and a red thread

Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, October 20 Title: The Story of the Winter Olympic Torch and a Red Line

Xinhua News Agency reporter Ji Ye Zhang Xiao Wang Yong

On the 18th, the Fire Seeds of the Beijing Winter Olympics were successfully collected in ancient Olympia, Greece. At the ceremony site, when the first torchbearer, the Greek alpine skier Janis Antonio, who held the torch of the Beijing Winter Olympics "flying", received the torch from the hands of the well-known Greek actress George Wu, who played the highest priestess, the red line from the cuffs of his torchbearer's costume and the side of his body to the soles of his feet was docked with the "flying" torch to form a complete red line. This is not a coincidence, but a well-designed complete landscape system.

On the 20th, on the eve of the 100-day countdown to the opening of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games, the Winter Olympic flames arrived in Beijing smoothly. At the Tinder Welcome Ceremony, the Beijing Winter Olympic Torch Relay Logo, Tinder Stand, Ceremonial Tinder Stand and Torchbearer Costume were presented to the public for the first time. These important image elements are centered on a ribbon symbolizing Olympic spark and passion.

The overall appearance of the "flying" torch rotates and rises, like a ribbon fluttering, and finally appears as a flying flame. The torch relay logo is inspired by the "Golden Phoenix" and "Fire Pattern" in traditional Chinese culture, which means auspicious harmony and endless life, and the fluttering dynamic "silk" blends and echoes with the tinder, and the fluctuations are like the Great Wall of China.

The Winter Olympic fire collected from Greece was stored in the tinder lamp and came to Beijing. The creativity of tinder lamp originates from the "first lamp of China" - the Western Han Dynasty Changxin Palace lamp, borrowing the meaning of "Changxin", expressing people's pursuit and yearning for light and hope, and the red ribbon surrounds the top of the tinder lamp.

At the tinder welcome ceremony, Cai Qi, secretary of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee and chairman of the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee, lit the ceremony torch platform. The ritual tinder table, designed with the concept of "inheriting the heavens and carrying things", is inspired by the traditional Chinese bronze ceremonial vessel , zun. The ritual tinder table adopts the curved shape of the zun and the pedestal is calm, symbolizing "all things on the ground". The top stretches out, symbolizing the pure Olympic fire. The auspicious cloud pattern gradually turns into snowflakes from the bottom up, symbolizing the spiritual inheritance of the "City of Double Olympics". Fluttering red ribbons also circle upwards.

Lin Cunzhen, director of image landscape art in the Cultural Activities Department of the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee, said that the overall design of the torch relay is a complete system. Torches, torch relay symbols, and then torchbearer uniforms, tinder lights, and tinder pots, all designed under the guidance of a red line. As one of the second-level symbols of the Winter Olympic Games, the torch emblem is one of the core elements of the important Image Landscape of the Winter Olympic Games, which is in line with the graphics of the Winter Olympic Emblem, and one of the visual elements in the emblem is the streamer, and the red ribbon that "floats" out of the streamer is the design prototype of the torch relay landscape logo.

Lin Cunzhen said: "The red ribbon is the core of the entire torch relay vision, and when the Beijing Winter Olympic torch was released, the ribbon inside the torch that everyone saw was a red ribbon. This red ribbon is 'floating' from the emblem and torch relay logo, and continues to the design of the torchbearer uniform. A red line, from the arm of the high torch to the foot, this design connects the heavens, the earth and the people, forming a complete landscape system. Tinder lights and ritual tinder tables are also connected to this red line, so a red line is the core of all torch vision. ”

Li Jianye, the torch designer of the Beijing Winter Olympics, also believes that the torch, tinder lamp and ceremonial tinder platform are a complete design system, which is in line with the Beijing Winter Olympic torch. The appearance of the ribbon fluttering and rotating upwards is consistent with the overall feeling.

Source: Xinhua News Agency