Olympics Coming, Flowers Blooming

#08005     130 X 194 cm    畫布丙烯     2008

Quite simply, this Chinese title means: “as the Olympic Games approach, all the flowers in all corners of China bloom gloriously.” China is actually a newcomer in participating in the Olympic Games. In 1896, when the first invitation to participate was sent by the French Consulate to the Emperor Xuantong of the Qing Dynasty, even the most intellectual mandarin Li Hongchang didn’t know the significance of the Olympics, and ignored the message. At that time, China had just finished warring with Japan, and then later, the allied army of eight countries brought great disasters to the country. The Qing dynasty was also challenged by numerous revolutions and poverty. It was not until 1932 at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Los Angeles, that a Chinese athlete appeared with a Chinese flag. The next morning, an American newspaper described him: “Mr. Li Changsun-the only one athlete representing 450,000,000 Chinese;” however, he was excluded after the first run. Then China sent 69 athletes to the Olympics in 1936 and 20 in 1948, but none of them won any points. So the term “Far-East Sick Men” became attributed to Chinese people. However this trend broke in 1960 with Yang Chuangkuan, who won a silver medal in the decathlon, and in 1984 with Xu Haifeng who won a gold medal in shooting. Since then Chinese athletes have achieved many brilliant wins in the Olympic Games. On July 13th, 2001, China earned the right to host the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. This was a major turning point in Chinese history, an opportunity for China to restore her prestige in the world stage after the hard era of turmoil, lost power and national humiliation that followed the Opium War. Like other host countries before her, China now had the honor and opportunity to share her culture and hospitality to the world. Thus, the Chinese people “bloom like flowers everywhere” as they all join in excitedly to ensure an Olympics of superior standing. In this painting, Dr. Chen incorporates the Chinese traditional “mountains and water” genre to represent 5,000 years of magnificent Chinese history, culture and environs. The Temple of Heaven appears amid grand mountains; above it, fire rings in the five Olympic colors weave in and out of each other. Under the clouds, gorgeous flowers in all colors bloom, as if in competing in beauty.