Video of foreign athletes learning "Five Animals" at the Beijing Winter Olympics is widely circulated online
"After the Winter Olympics, I want to go scraping"
Our reporter Qu Xinyue
"Worker's Daily" (February 26, 2022 Edition 03)
"A team doctor of the Swiss team sent me a message after returning to China, inviting me to have the opportunity to go to Switzerland to continue to exchange knowledge of traditional Chinese medicine with him." Wang Yizhen, a volunteer from the Beijing Winter Olympics Village Traditional Chinese Medicine Experience Center, told reporters that she had already worked with him. Many foreign friends exchanged contact information, "They all hope to continue to understand Chinese medicine culture."
Wang Yizhen is a graduate student from Beijing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine. She serves a special position in the Winter Olympics - a lecturer in the Traditional Chinese Medicine Experience Hall.
The Traditional Chinese Medicine Experience Center is located in the Winter Olympic Village where the athletes live and live. This is the first time in the Olympic Games to set up a place to focus on the display of traditional Chinese medicine culture. "Let the beauty of traditional Chinese medicine be seen by the world" is the goal of this group of volunteers.
"I didn't expect it to be so popular"
During the Winter Olympics, a short video of a foreign athlete learning the "Five Animals Xi" was widely circulated on social media.
The person in charge of the International Olympic Committee also visited the Chinese Medicine Experience Hall in Yanqing Winter Olympic Village.
Volunteers of Beijing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, their daily work is to take athletes to observe and experience the traditional Chinese medicine exhibition area, and to explain the knowledge of traditional Chinese medicine to the athletes.
Since the opening of the village, many foreign friends have also left a deep impression on the volunteers.
"Three athletes from Slovakia were very interested in the ancient book "Compendium of Materia Medica" displayed on the electronic screen. They even left their email addresses and asked if I could give them a link to the electronic version or purchase channels." Wang Yizhen told reporters.
What impressed another volunteer, Wang Yichao, was an official from Armenia who accompanied the team. She went to the experience hall 3 times to learn about all the contents of the exhibition area in detail.
"The last time she came, she specifically asked us where to experience scraping and Chinese medicine massage after the Winter Olympics."
"Many foreign friends will praise our experience hall with words like Amazing (magic) and Fabulous (excellent) after visiting." Wang Yichao said.
In the Winter Olympic Village, many foreign friends were "drained" to the Chinese Medicine Department of the Winter Olympic Village Clinic after visiting the Chinese Medicine Experience Center.
"We didn't expect it to be so popular at first. The doctor of the Winter Olympics Village Clinic said that many athletes came here to register after listening to the introduction of the experience center, and some physiotherapy programs even needed to make an appointment in advance." Pei, project director of the Chinese Medicine Experience Center Wenxuan told reporters.
What the volunteers did not expect was that many foreign friends actually had a certain understanding and practice of traditional Chinese medicine culture, and wanted to have more in-depth exchanges with the volunteers.
An American team doctor told the volunteers that they also brought a set of vacuum tanks this time for the athletes to recover.
"Little Thoughts" in Short Videos
Although the exhibition area of Beijing Winter Olympic Village Traditional Chinese Medicine Experience Center is only 120 square meters, with the blessing of high-tech technologies such as 8K, 5G, AI, and laser, visitors can follow the life path of spring birth, summer long, autumn harvest, and winter storage in an immersive way. Feel the wonder of Chinese medicine and appreciate the beauty of Chinese medicine.
"From their surprised expressions and their dilated eyes, I can definitely feel that they are very interested in this place, willing to experience it, and very eager to obtain more information." Wang Yichao said.
In order to let foreign friends intuitively feel the beauty of traditional Chinese medicine, volunteers also incorporated their own "small thoughts" in the content setting.
The full name of the experience hall is "10 seconds" Chinese medicine experience hall, why is it called "10 seconds"?
Volunteers said that they took into account that most of the athletes participating in the competition were young people in their 20s, so they used the form of short videos that young people are willing to accept, and made more than 200 short videos with rich and colorful knowledge of traditional Chinese medicine, and then cooperated with the voice. The high-tech effect of optoelectronics and the exquisite 3D stereoscopic images of Chinese herbal medicines allow visitors to not only understand the knowledge of traditional Chinese medicine, but also have a cool experience.
After the visit, the volunteers also prepared a small blind box for each visitor. Gifts such as meridian acupoint socks and scraping board are very popular.
In traditional Chinese medicine, many nouns and expressions come from ancient Chinese. How to make foreign friends understand the introduction, volunteers also put a lot of effort into translation.
"For example, the concept of 'meridian' is not understood by many foreigners, and it is not easy to translate it in English. We will use some metaphors to explain it, and describe it as a highway, or a waterway and a river, and it will be easier for them to understand. Some." Wang Yizhen said.
For youth, for the world
Pei Wenxuan told reporters that the preparations for the Chinese Medicine Experience Center have been started since April last year.
"Hundreds of experts have participated in the design and demonstration of the venue, and we have also listened to suggestions from people inside and outside the industry. All translations are also checked by professional teams word by word. We also want to use this pavilion to find a It is a new form of communication of traditional Chinese medicine culture for young people and for the world."
As the Winter Olympics come to an end, the Winter Olympic Village has also entered a transition period before the Winter Paralympics.
After bidding farewell to the athletes, the Traditional Chinese Medicine Experience Center welcomed a group of new guests—volunteers and staff from other positions in the Winter Olympic Village.
"More than 30 volunteers from our same session came today." On February 22, the Winter Olympics had closed for two days, but Wang Yichao still spent a busy day in the experience hall.
These volunteers from China were also deeply shocked after the visit and wanted to experience scraping and traditional Chinese medicine massage.
"Although everyone grew up in China, not all young people in China have an in-depth understanding of Chinese medicine culture. We are glad that while doing international dissemination, domestic young people can also feel the beauty of Chinese medicine." Wang Yichao said.
It is reported that after the Winter Paralympic Games, the Traditional Chinese Medicine Experience Center will also be evacuated.
However, the teachers and students of Beijing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine still have the next step. They plan to copy the traditional Chinese medicine experience display method of the experience hall to the big screen in the community, school and shopping mall, so that more people can feel the charm of traditional Chinese medicine culture.