YOUNG CITY,BIG PARTY

By YU LINTAO

YOUNG CITY,BIG PARTY

By YU LINTAO

Shenzhen Universiade unites the world’s young people through sports

GONG LEI

With none of the usual hoop-la, no fireworks, no grand performances by celebrities and superstars, the Shenzhen Summer Universiade lowered the curtain on a big party for youth and college students on August 23.

The 26th World University Games held from August 12-23 was meant to be different. Shenzhen, the host city in south China’s Guangdong Province situated immediately north of Hong Kong, is known for leading China’s reform and opening-up efforts with a number of social and economic experiments in the past 30 years. During the Shenzhen Universiade, it applied its pioneering spirit to present a worldwide audience with a sporting event different from previous ones in China. It succeeded and was applauded for its handling of the 12-day international event.

“Shenzhen often explore new ways of doing things and solving problems. In holding such an international event, we are also trying a new approach,” said Wang Rong, Secretary of the Shenzhen Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China and Vice President of the Shenzhen Universiade Organizing Committee (SUOC) at a press conference in Shenzhen on July 15.

From the outset, the Shenzhen Universiade showed its intention to be distinctive. The city vowed to make a difference and be economical in every detail of the preparation, organization and volunteer work. It built eco-friendly sports stadiums, staged low-key ceremonies, rented office desks and chairs for the running of venues, and replaced a costly real torch relay with a virtual one on the Internet.

And Shenzhen, a young city known for its vitality, creativity and emphasis on public services, also found a way to mesh its dashing spirit of innovation with that of the Universiade, a sports event for university student athletes from across the world to compete and communicate with each other. It held conferences and forums, gave concerts and all kinds of performances, and promoted knowledge among visitors and athletes about each other everywhere from the Universiade Village to the city’s streets.

Thrifty and green

While the ceremonies set the tone for Shenzhen to hold a low-carbon, passionate and responsible event, the virtual torch relay echoed its pledge not to compete with other events in extravagance.

The budget for a torch relay was cut from 80 million yuan ($12.3 million) to 15 million yuan ($2.3 million), thanks to the decision to slash the number of changeovers at 50 universities to three and stage the rest online.

“We saved money and had a creative online torch relay. Through the online relay, the torch reached more than 1,000 universities throughout China, and nearly 9 million people participated in the relay,” said Zhao Guanghua, the SUOC officer who was in charge of the relay activity.

Eco-friendly design is visible everywhere in the Universiade Village.

“It is really interesting, and quite environmentally friendly,”said Spanish athlete Lidia Morant Varo, after learning about the automatic garbage recycling management system in the village, which disposes of 6.3 tons of waste automatically every day. The process is free of any pollution as it is completely sealed. The system not only saves manpower, space and resources, but also prevents any associated odor from dispersing, secondary pollution and pest reproduction.

Finnish weightlifter Petteri Heinonen was interested in the design of the balcony shower rooms in the dorms. “At the beginning, I felt it was so strange. Now I think this design is really great, makes full use of the balcony space and keeps water vapor out of the rooms,” said Heinonen about having these facilities in a city like Shenzhen that has hot and humid summer conditions.

Lebanese athletes Ramsey Nasser and Rachid Idriss were surprised when they learnt the 24-hour hot water in their dorms was supplied by the ubiquitous solar energyfacilities of the village. The entire eastern area of the Universiade Village was equipped with a 7,318-square-meter solar thermal collector, which provided 1,075 tons of hot water on average daily.“It is really worth studying,”they said. It rained frequently in Shenzhen over the frst few days after foreign athletes checked in at the Universiade Village. But the large quantities of rainwater was quickly drained to replenish underground water sources through permeable bricks used to pave the village’s grounds. The Shenzhen Bay Sports Center, which served as the main venue for the event, was equipped with water saving facilities, too. The center is capable of saving 1.07 million cubic meters of water through reclamation annually. More than 2,000 clean energy vehicles, including hybrid double-decker buses, pure electric buses and taxis were deployed during the event, which provided athletes and visitors with convenient and pollution-free services.

Universiade Medal Tally

MA JUN

The Universiade also promoted urban infrastructure construction in Shenzhen. Before the Universiade, 355 green renovation projects were carried out. After the project, Shenzhen had more parks than any other Chinese city, 824 in total. The length of its subways was extended to 178 km, and as a result, Shenzhen has one of China’s four largest subway networks.

“We advocated an economical Universiade. That is, using money rationally on the basis of meeting the basic requirements of the activities,” said Wang.

The principle was interpreted into several guidelines for construction, preparation and organization: renovating existing venues and limiting the number of new venues, giving full consideration to after-event use of venues, and borrowing or renting equipment, instead of buying great quantities of gear where possible.

As a result, more than 40 venues were renovated, expanded or installed for temporary use and 22 new ones were built that cut construction budgets by half, Wang said.

The Universiade Village, for example, will become a new campus for Shenzhen Institute of Information Technology after the village is closed on August 26.

Exchange platform

In the past 30 years, Shenzhen has emerged as an international cosmopolitan city from a frontier fishing village thanks to the establishing of the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone in August 1980. With a population of an average age of about 30 years, Shenzhen made the Universiade a festival for young people.

The organizing committee of the event extended the registration deadline to July 12, one month before its opening, when many overseas universities completed their enrollment of new students, in hopes of allowing more freshmen to fulfill their Universiade dream. Even in early August, there were still athletes registering for the competition. By convention, the organizing committee has the right to refuse delayed applications. But, in order to enable a larger number of students to enjoy the grand event, the committee tried to meet demand.

“Up to August 10, there were 7,865 athletes and 4,036 team officials registered for the Universiade,” said Huang Guoqiang, Deputy Secretary General of SUOC.

The Universiade is not only a sporting event but also a communication platform for youth worldwide. Young people are curious about cultural differences and thirsty for knowledge of the world outside their national boundaries.

They came from everywhere to compete with each other at venues, converse and make friends in the streets, at the competition arenas or the Universiade Village, and gave brilliant performances at ceremonies.

“Most of our performers were amateurs: A large number of them were from Chinese universities; a dance team was from Duke University in the United States; the theme song was performed by a team of college students from China, Russia and Serbia,” said Shi Gang, vice conductor of the Universiade opening and closing ceremonies.

The Universiade held a series of activities to facilitate athletes and students of different nationalities making friends and learning from each other, such as a musical festival on beach, concerts at the Universiade Village, exhibitions and a center for overseas athletes to gain an insight into the Chinese language and culture.

What is more important than a gold medal? Head of Chinese delegation Yang Liguo said, “Exchange.”

“We made three suggestions to our athletes. First, try to make friends with an overseas athlete during the competition; second, try to learn comprehensively about an overseas university; third, learn about Shenzhen in every aspect,” Yang said.

Universiade volunteer and college student Cheng Lisha met her first foreign friend, Mexican swimmer Silvia Araiza at the Universiade Village. “We helped each other to learn about the different customs of our own cultures. I also improved my spoken English through communication between us,” Cheng said.

Cheng said she looks forward to more exchanges through e-mail with Silvia in the future.

Tuna Tali, the youngest Turkish water polo athlete, said he has made many new friends from different countries in Shenzhen and learnt a lot about other countries.

“Everyone here in the Universiade Village likes to make friends. You can make new friends even when you are walking around the village or eating in the canteen. I ran across a guy last night when I was going down the stairs to buy an ice cream. We talked a lot. He told me stories about his motherland, very interesting,”Tali said.

The Shenzhen Universiade also provided a chance for college students to learn about China. Kenyan athlete Mathew Kiptoo said China is developing so quickly it can match any of the Group of Eight countries in terms of economic power.

Head of the Australian delegation Martin Roberts said the most important communication not only took place among athletes, coaches and offcials of delegations, member of SUOC and volunteers, but also involved Shenzhen’s citizens.

“Our athletes often told me when they were walking on the road, local people would come and talk to them in a friendly manner, asking to take pictures together or handing them cold drinks to refresh them in the hot weather. All this has made us feel good,” Roberts said.

A series of cultural exchange activities such as the World University Presidents Forum and the China-EU Youth Forum were also held in Shenzhen during the Universiade. Aside from forums and conferences, more than 100 art performances were staged for visitors and athletes and 36 exhibitions of traditional Chinese culture, sculpture and Shenzhen’s development were held. In addition, the Cultural Experience Zone of Shenzhen also provided athletes a convenient place to get to know each other during the games.

Universiade in Numbers

●Events: The Universiade had 24 sports and 306 events , including 22 Olympic sports and 2 non-Olympic sports: chess and aerobics.

●Gold medals: 306

●Participants: nearly 8,000 athletes and 4,036 offcials from 152 countries and regions

●Journalists: 3,156 registered reporters from 331 news agencies, of whom 342 were overseas journalists from 47 countries and regions

●Volunteers: 1.28 million volunteers and 818 volunteer stations

●Cultural activities: 84 stage performances and 36 exhibitions●Renovation: 355 afforesting projects and 824 parks

(Source:the official website of the Universiade 2011)