Perhaps no more city and an "animal" can be so closely connected.
Data map: The opening ceremony of the 11th Asian Games was held in Beijing on September 22, 1990. This is the first time that China has hosted a comprehensive international sports competition.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Shu Yuancheng
This is Beijing, and it is called "Panpan".
Today, 30 years ago, the 11th Asian Games opened in Beijing.
It was the first time that China hosted an international comprehensive sports meeting, which was of great significance.
As the mascot of the tournament, Panda Panpan and this city are no longer inseparable.
It's not just Beijing.
In an age when color TVs were not even popular, Panpan, who held a gold medal in a running shape, was a frequent visitor in newspapers across the country.
As a result, it has entered thousands of households and accompanies a generation through the glorious years.
The data picture shows Bath, Panpan prototype photo by Zhang Lijun
"Panpan" means looking forward to peace, friendship and looking forward to outstanding achievements.
In the name of a national treasure, it entrusts the people's desire to show the best to the world.
For Chinese sports, if the Los Angeles Olympics is to make friends with the world as a newcomer, then the Beijing Asian Games will be the first time to welcome guests from all over the world as a host.
And Panpan is the spokesperson of Chinese sports.
The naivety not only conquered the people of the country, but also passed the friendly and hospitable hospitality to the world, allowing more people to truly understand China.
Video screenshot
So far, the statue of Panpan still stands in the Beijing Olympic Sports Center.
From it, travelers can still take away that blazing memory of the Asian Games; just like thirty years ago, tourists flocked here from all directions just to compete for its beauty.
Looking forward to it. The Beijing Asian Games bears the most ardent expectations of the Chinese people.
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"Guests from all over the world, friends on five continents; Asian winds are everywhere, and Asian winds roar."
The enthusiasm of the people for the Asian Games was written in lyrics and music, and remembered with singing.
"Asian Heroes", which has swept the country, has become the voice of the times.
Although "Asian Heroes" is not the Beijing Asian Games anthem, its simple, atmospheric and catchy melody fits perfectly with sports, and was finally selected by history.
In that era when karaoke was just emerging, "Asian Heroes" rang all over the streets.
When thousands of people sang a song together, they also held their hearts firmly together.
Data map: Beijing children promote the Asian Games on the streets.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Ren Chenming
In the process of preparing for the Beijing Asian Games, the organizing committee has never stopped encountering various problems. The shortage of funds is one of the most difficult ones.
To this end, the organizing committee issued a proposal to propose donations.
The first reply came from Yancheng, Jiangsu. At that time, Yan Haixia, who was in the fifth grade of elementary school, donated all the 1.6 yuan money she just received.
Then, the majestic enthusiasm of that generation spewed out in the most direct way, and finally merged into a torrent.
From 1987 to 1990, in the simple bungalow built with wooden planks, the staff of the Fund Raising Department of the Beijing Asian Organizing Committee received a total of about 270 million yuan in national donations, which greatly filled the funding gap for the Asian Games.
Behind the heavy 1 yuan and 6 cents is a great generation.
Data map: Workers Stadium, the main stadium of the Beijing Asian Games.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Ren Chenming
Just like the passionate "Asian Heroes", people turned their hottest expectations into the best wishes and condensed them into the warmest memories of the Beijing Asian Games.
Everyone in the story was carefully interpreted by this song and collected in the era.
Time is like a song. The Beijing Asian Games recorded the burning hearts.
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Without enthusiasm, it is impossible to run a competition; but with enthusiasm, it will only get half the result with half the effort.
The Beijing Asian Games was the largest intercontinental comprehensive sports event hosted by China at that time.
Unlike Beijing, which is preparing for the Winter Olympics in an orderly manner, there was an extremely lack of experience in running games in China.
Everything is crossing the river by feeling the stones.
The data picture shows the National Olympic Center of China in Beijing. Track and field, swimming, diving, hockey and other events of the 11th Asian Games are held here.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Ren Chenming
There are many outsiders who are skeptical about Beijing's infrastructure construction; there are not few people who are worried about the success of the Asian Games.
The Beijing Asian Games needs to build and renovate 33 stadiums, as well as a series of supporting facilities including transportation.
These figures are still a huge project today.
Data map: Beijing Xiannongtan Stadium, where the Asian Games football match takes place.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Ren Chenming
Faced with a few unprecedented problems, all those who have experienced it work together to find the answer for the same goal.
The builders involved eventually made the Asian Games a driving force for urban construction to break through the bottleneck.
This is a full score report: the Beijing Asian Games project, from design to construction, was completed by Chinese companies; Datun Township, which was once adjacent to Garbage Mountain, was transformed into a landmark Asian Games Village; the originally underdeveloped north-south traffic Significantly improved, and the urban structure changed as a result...
As a thousand-year-old capital, Beijing has since rolled out a brand new picture.
Historical geographer Hou Renzhi once commented that Beijing’s urban planning has three milestones: the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, and Asian Games Village.
The Asian Games Village can be tied with the other two, which shows its importance.
On August 8, 2008, fireworks "History Footprints" were set off over Tiananmen Square for the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games. The "big footprints" composed of fireworks bloomed in the night sky, and under the gaze of the world, they walked towards the Bird's Nest step by step.
Image source: Visual China
Years later, in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, when the “footprints” of fireworks skyrocketed to the Bird’s Nest, the city became the focus of the world.
As everyone knows, it is the Beijing Asian Games that has reserved the stage for this magnificent moment written in history.
When planning that year, the organizing committee deliberately set aside enough land to the west of the Asian Games Village.
Later, iconic buildings of the Olympic Games such as the Bird's Nest were erected here.
The dream of hosting the Olympics has actually sprouted since then.
Great wisdom and bravery. The Beijing Asian Games condensed the efforts of countless people.
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There were also Chinese athletes who got full marks at that event.
In the cheers of the siblings, starting from the female weightlifter Xing Fen who won the first gold, the Chinese delegation won a total of 183 gold medals, accounting for about three-fifths of the total, far away from other opponents.
Data map: Women's 44kg weightlifter Xing Fen won the first gold medal for the Chinese delegation in the Beijing Asian Games.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Ren Chenming
But before that, China's competitive sports is at a low ebb.
In the 1982 New Delhi Games, the Chinese delegation took the top spot on the medal table for the first time; in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, the Chinese delegation that participated for the first time was also considered to have gained a lot.
Unexpectedly, in the 1986 Seoul Asian Games, the Chinese team competed fiercely with the host South Korea on the medal table, and it was not until the end that the winner was determined.
The Chinese team won the men's 4×100m relay final on the last day of the match, and beat the opponent with a slight advantage of a gold medal.
Data map: Medals of the 11th Beijing Asian Games.
Chase
It is difficult to win intercontinental games, and the Chinese team has to re-examine themselves.
I wanted to get my name right at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, but I encountered Waterloo. Only 5 gold medals were recorded, ranking 11th on the medal list.
At a time when Chinese sports was overwhelmed by a sense of loss, the Beijing Asian Games held at the doorstep became a battle that must not be lost.
This time, the Chinese team firmly grasped it.
Looking back a few years later, in the process of comprehensive promotion of Chinese sports, this is a sports meeting that has laid a solid foundation.
The fledgling teenagers such as Li Xiaoshuang and Deng Yaping took over the banner, and soon bloomed on the world stage.
Regroup. The Beijing Asian Games witnessed the sweeping of China's competitive sports.
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In addition to the competition, the Beijing Asian Games also left many precious memories. The torch relay known as the "Light of the Asian Games" is one of them.
The picture shows the 15-year-old Tibetan girl Dawa Yangzong who collected the flame of the 11th Asian Games.
The fire was collected at the foot of the Nyainqentanglha Mountain. The four main torches were passed from Haikou, Urumqi, Lhasa and Harbin, and finally gathered in Beijing.
In less than a month, this "light" has almost traversed China.
The term "light of the Asian Games" to describe Beijing in 1990 couldn't be more appropriate.
Within sports, the successful hosting of the Beijing Asian Games has added wings to the Chinese nation’s over a century of Olympic dreams; in addition to sports, this grand event has greatly stimulated the confidence and pride of the people, and its role in China’s development , Incalculable.
Over the past 30 years, from the city of Asian Games, to the city of Olympics, and to the city of Double Olympics, Beijing has made great strides forward in the name of sports; from Panda Panpan to Fuwa Jingjing to the "young" Bingdun Dun , Cultural heritage has never stopped.
Data map: On September 22, 1990, at the opening ceremony of the 11th Asian Games, Chinese shooting athlete Xu Haifeng entered the arena with the torch in hand with diving athlete Gao Min and female ranking player Zhang Rongfang to light the main torch of the Asian Games.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Ren Chenming
This is the 30 years when the voice of Chinese sports has become more and more powerful, and it is also the 30 years when the connotation and extension of Chinese sports have been continuously enriched.
Those memories that were once hot, not only did not fade away due to the passage of time, but became more intense and surging after being carved by time.
On this road, Chinese sports has gone far; but no matter how far it goes, it will not forget the initial starting point——
On September 22, 1990, in the expectation of the people of the whole country, the Beijing Asian Games opened.
(Reporter Yue Chuan)