Olympics Sports on Ancient Chinese Cave Walls 9 July 2008
Huanhuan (欢欢) is considered to be the big brother among five Blessing Kids (福娃), the Mascots of the Beijing Olympic 2008.
This little big brother represents one of the five fundamental agents for the force in universe, Fire - in traditional Chinese regards - and this fire came from a remote cave along the ancient silk road (丝绸之路). The World Heritage site Mogao Grotto (莫高窟) in Dunhuang (敦煌) is one of the best preserved grottoes in the world. In the grotto number 85, there is a mural titled the Transformation of the Maitreya Sutra in which an ancient Chinese man is seen to hold high a lighting facility that becomes the headwear of Huanhuan more than a thoughsand years later and the centre theme of the Beijing Olympic torch run.
The process of the mural creation in Dunhuang lasted for a thousand years from the 4th century to the 14th, promised a total of nearly 50,000 sqms of paintings, making it the largest visual display of Chinese life and culture throughout history, which includes the aspects of sports.
In the days leading up to Beijing Olympic Torch run in Dunhuang, a special show was carried out on the ninth floor of the Mogao Grotto Musueme, exhibiting 22 photo images of the murals that depict the ancient Chinese sports games which bear resemblance to those going to be competed next month during the Beijing Olympics, including wresting, gymnasium, swimming, diving, weight lifting, polo, swordsplay, high jump, long jump, and the more sophisticated sports games that are yet to be part of the Olympics, such as chess matching, riddle-cracking, acrobatics, qigong and kungfu.
One of the sports theme repeatedly appear in murals is toxophily. During Han Dynasty yearly toxophily competition was held in the kingdom's northwest regions as part of military training program. The winners of the championship were rewarded with money, silk, holiday or promotion. The blow is the list of the major sports related murals in Mogao Grotto:
(Source of info and photos: 连振祥, 新华网甘肃频道) Pre: A Giant Face
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