Li Jiajun, a world short track speed gold medalist, attends the opening ceremony with "Flying", the 2022 Olympic torch. [Photo/suzhou-news.cn]
With just 30 days to go until the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, an exhibition displaying special moments of past Winter Games and the history of the Olympics kicked off in Suzhou, East China's Jiangsu province, on Jan 4.
The exhibition, which will run until Feb 28, has put on 117 exhibits, including posters, emblems, mascots, torches, and Olympic lanterns.
Li Jiajun, a world short track speed gold medalist and the first Chinese torch bearer of Beijing 2022, attended the opening ceremony with "Flying", the 2022 Olympic torch that carried the Olympic flame from Greece to China.
Unlike previous Olympic torches that mostly used metal, "Flying" is made of carbon-fiber materials and is light in weight and resistant to high temperatures. Inspired by the flying Apsaras in the frescoes of the Dunhuang Caves, the torch spirals upward. It is also reminiscent of the torch of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, with patterns of clouds and snowflakes painted from the bottom up to the flame.
Li visited Suzhou a few years ago to seek out children gifted in ice skating.
"I feel honored to return to Suzhou today and bring the torch to promote the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics," Li said.
