英语论文网

The first quote is a greeting from Confucius to his students. With the second quote, by saying ‘within the four seas’, Confucius means north, south, east, and west, which means all men in the world are brothers. The two quotes were read to welcome the foreign visitors and to send out the message that, no matter what your race, class, or religion are, we are all one family – which directly links to the slogan, ‘One World One Dream’. Confucius’ teachings are highly valued in Chinese culture, and today, ‘it is even discussed in Western circles because of its global impact on the diversity of cultures and their worldviews.’ (Samovar, Porter, & McDaniel, 2010:146) From reading the two quotes, it presented a friendly and harmonious China.

The ‘Disciples of Confucius’ were then split into four groups and sat in the corners of the stadium giving space for the 897 movable type blocks to perform, presenting the second greatest invention, printing. ‘The invention of paper and the improvement of ink led to the advance of block printing.’ (Deng, 2010:23) Like paper, printing helps to spread knowledge, and more importantly, it helps to preserve art works as George Rowley, a contemporary American scholar state, ‘The Chinese way of looking at life was not primarily through religion, or philosophy, or science but through art.’ (Wu, 2011:64)

Beijing Olympics

The blocks formed the Chinese character, 和, in three different Chinese scripts; Bronze inscription, Seal script, and Kai Script . The word, 和, means harmony which connotes in the concept of ‘People’s Olympics’. In addition, the movable type blocks formed a model of the Great Wall, an ancient Chinese architecture, with growing plum blossoms, exhibiting the real picture of Beijing in February. Being one of the ‘New Seven Wonders of the World’ [9], the illustration of the Great Wall, served as a national icon of the Chinese nation and its culture. Although there are real plum blossoms growing around the Great Wall, it has a unique cultural connotation. In Chinese culture, the plum blossom, the orchid, bamboo, and chrysanthemum, are named ‘the Four Noble Plants’ because the Chinese believe that the characteristic of these plants have something in common with human virtues, for instance, ‘purity (orchid), uprightness (bamboo), and humility (chrysanthemum).’ (The Epoch Times, 2011) Plum blossoms symbolise strength and display the quality of ‘never give up’ as it is a flower that opens in the cold winter, and with its five petals, each petal is a symbol of ‘longevity, prosperity, health, virtue, and good living.’ (The Epoch Times, 2011) At the ceremony, the combination of the Great Wall and plum blossoms clearly presented the spirit of the Chinese nation. At the end of the performance, the performers came out of the blocks to r本论文由英语论文网提供整理，提供论文代写，英语论文代写，代写论文，代写英语论文，代写留学生论文，代写英文论文，留学生论文代写相关核心关键词搜索。