By REY C. LACHICA
HANGZHOU, China – China has one again flaunted its immense wealth and power with its state-of-the-art venues for the 19th Asian Games here.
During the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the world’s second-most populous country with a population of more than 1.4 billion unwrapped several great architectural design for a number of playing venues.
One of them is the eye-catching Bird’s Nest Stadium.
For this year’s edition of the biggest regional sportsfest, China produced several stunningly beautiful venues, including the Yangshan Sport Climbing Centre in Shaoxing, Zhenjiang province.
It’s a big wow for everybody as it is a marvel of a design.
Why? It is built meticulously in a shape of a silk-worm cocoon plus a breathtaking background.
So intricate its design that it has already collected a number of international awards.
A local reporter here said it is a perfect blend of the local landscape and culture.
GREEN GAMES
With the nation’s vast energy sources and smart technology – not to mention thousands of volunteers from playing venues to the dining halls and main media center – this year’s edition is also being called Green Games.
That’s because some of the renewable electricity used at playing venues is photovoltaic energy.
Photovoltaic is the process of conversion of light into electricity – normally on generation and photosensors.
SPACIOUS MEDIA CENTER
The main media center is more than twice as big as the basketball court as thousands of reporters from print, TV, radio and international wire agencies from various countries are here to cover the exploits of Asian and Middle East athletes.
As expected, the MMC is equipped with ultra modern technology and manned by very friendly personnel although it is sometimes difficult to communicate with them.
MEDALS AND MASCOTS
Named Shan Shui, Asian Games medals depict the beautiful landscape of the city with the ancient bridge the most prominent.
On Friday, the Games’ mascots – three sports-playing robots – visited the Media Center to everybody’s that some gamely took selfies with them. They are Congcong (yellow color), Lianlian (green) and Chenchen (blue) – all of them are linked to a UNESCO Heritage Site in the city.
While Congcong represents the archaeological ruins of Liangzhu City, Lianlian is for the city’s West Lake and Chenchen is for the Grand Canal, science and technology.
