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The Olympic Games are coming and really coming! We have been looking forward to this day for 100 years. At last, the Beijing Olympic Games will begin tomorrow with the attention of the whole world. To celebrate the one-day countdown to the Beijing Olympic Games, on the morning of August 7, the CPAFFC invited a number of important foreign guests to have a get-together with its staff and organized celebration activities, adding jubilance to the festive Beijing.

Ringing Bell for Olympic Games, Expressing Best Wishes

At ten oclock in the morning, some foreign guests and their entourages invited by the CPAFFC to attend the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games arrived one after another at our association and gathered at the Peace Bell Pavilion to attend the bell-ringing ceremony in celebration of the one-day countdown to the Games. At the ceremony presided over by CPAFFC Vice President Li Jianping, CPAFFC President Chen Haosu gave an enthusiastic speech.

Chen said, we are now waiting for a great historic event: the curtain of the Beijing Olympic Games is about to rise and on the elaborate internationalized stage a splendid opera of unity, friendship and progress of humanity will be put on show. The Chinese people warm welcome to friends from all over the world and their persistent pursuit of “One World, One Dream” will be recorded in the unforgettable history that we are all experiencing. Chen particularly pointed out, in the world peoples cause of unity and progress, the foreign guests the CPAFFC has invited to the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games and the organizations they represent are all our best friends and partners. He wished that this friendly and cooperative relationship would display its values in the grand Olympic Games and shine more brightly in future years.

In his speech on behalf of the foreign guests, Korn Dabbaransi, president of the Thai-Chinese Friendship Association and former Thai deputy prime minister, said, the convening of the 29th Olympic Games in Beijing fully confirms Chinas economic and social development. He was sure that with the concerted efforts of the Chinese people, the Olympic Games would definitely achieve an unprecedented success. He hoped that through the Olympic Games, the growth of the force for peace in the world and the creation of a better future for humanity would be promoted.

After that, the leaders of the CPAFFC and foreign guests struck the bell together 29 times to express our best wishes for the success of the Olympic Games through the chime of the bell to the National Stadium and spread the Games concept of “One World, One Dream” to all parts of the world.

Participating in Delight Matches to Experience the

Atmosphere of Olympic Games

After the bell-ringing ceremony, the foreign guests and CPAFFC staffers went to the auditorium to take part in the two delight sports matches organized by the associations Trade Union: the mimic bowling match and the set-shot match. The foreign guests joined different teams organized by the various departments of the CPAFFC and took part in the matches together with the staffers.

All the foreign guests were very interested in the delight matches meticulously designed and arranged. They carefully studied the rules of the games and discussed warmly about the ways of competition and from time to time exchanged experiences. The auditorium resonated with applause, laughter, chanting of “go” and cheers. Moved by the scene, 93-year-old Francis Cowan, mother of the late American table tennis player Glenn Cowan, took part in the set-shot match. Shesuccessfully shot the ball in and won cheers from the spectators.