Chapter 6 Chapter 05 Dazed 2: Don't Understand the World (2)
How did the original Olympic Games come about?
The origin of the Olympics turned out to be three different versions of myths.What kind of cultural power is contained in the Olympic Games?Therefore beauty and strength should be combined with each other, which is the fundamental spirit of the Olympic Games.
What kind of mentality should we use to view the Olympics?
I hope to take advantage of the opportunity of the Olympics to bring in the real European culture that we don't understand—power and beauty.
In the Olympia Park in Athens, Greece, there is an ordinary tombstone. The owner of this tombstone is a Frenchman, but he is well known and admired by all Greeks, and even hundreds of millions of people all over the world.This person is Coubertin, known as the father of the Olympics.
Although Coubertin was a Frenchman, he dedicated his life to the modern Olympic Games.It was he who expanded the ancient Olympic Games limited to the Greeks to the whole world, giving the Olympic Games a new vitality.After Coubertin's unremitting efforts, in 1896, the first modern Olympic Games opened in the historic city of Athens.
After Coubertin passed away in 1937, according to his last wish, his heart was buried in Olympia, the birthplace of the Olympic Games, but his enthusiasm and hope for the Olympic Games has been handed down for a long time with the convening of the Olympic Games every four years. .
In 2008, the 29th Olympic Games was held in Beijing, but do you know what is the soul of the Olympic Games?
The grand Beijing Olympic Games has come to an end. In this chapter, I would like to talk about the Olympic Games with you.Well, you know, the Olympics I am talking about is different from others.Whether everyone really understands the word "Olympics" is what I want to talk about.
Before I talk about the Olympics, I would like to ask everyone, do you know what Christmas means?I did a survey last time, and found that many of our students don't know the origin of Christmas, thinking that Christmas is the birthday of Santa Claus.This understanding is simply wrong, which shows that there is a huge gap between China and the West.In fact, simply speaking, Christmas is the birthday of Jesus Christ, not Santa Claus.
Then I would like to ask you another question, why are you hosting the Olympics?Why did the Olympics start in Greece?I will tell you a historical story now.
The history of the Olympic Games can be traced back to the ancient Greek period.On the summer solstice in 776 BC, in front of the Temple of Hera under the holy mountain of Olympus, solemn sacrifices lit the holy fire on the altar, waiting for a group of strong men in the distance to see the fire and run towards the holy fire on the altar , the first group of warriors to arrive was designated as the messengers to deliver the torch.This is a sacred duty.They will start from Olympia and deliver the oracle to each city-state. After receiving the oracle, each city-state immediately disarms and ceases fighting, and sends people to participate in the Olympic Games held on the day of the full moon.Since then, the Olympic Games have been a symbol of peace and friendship.But there are various legends about the origin of the ancient Olympic Games.
So the first question, when did the Olympic Games start?I believe many of you know the answer to this question.In fact, the origin of the Olympic Games is actually three different versions of myths, but the significance of these myths is astonishing and profound, which surprised all of us Chinese.These three stories are all related to one person, and he is the most famous god in Greek history-Zeus who rules the world.This god has the greatest power, just like our Jade Emperor, he is too famous and has dominated the West for many years.Then the Olympic Games will start with Zeus's father. Zeus’s father is very interesting. When he was young, he believed what a fortune teller said. The fortune teller told him that the children you will have in the future will kill you (readers think about it, it’s ridiculous to tell a fortune even if you are a god. Our Chinese gods are much more powerful than the Greek gods).So the five children he gave birth to later were all swallowed by him.When the sixth child—that is, after Zeus was born, Zeus's mother was very nervous, because she was afraid that Zeus would be eaten by his father again, so she hid Zeus in a cave and was taken care of by two very beautiful fairies.When Zeus grew up, he started a duel with his father with the help of his grandmother. What Zeus fought against was not only his father alone, but also a group of gods from the interest groups represented by his father.Together with Zeus' father, these gods fought against Zeus.Later, Zeus forced his father to spit out his five older brothers and sisters together, and then built a castle with his brothers and sisters in the Olympic place to fight against the fairy group represented by his father.The war fought for four years, and Zeus and the others finally won. Therefore, the Olympic Games will be held every four years in the future. Don't think this story is absurd, because there are even more absurd ones below.This second story involves the illegitimate son of Zeus. His illegitimate son is called Hercules, whose name is difficult to remember.He was born of Zeus and the beautiful goddess Alcmene.This son is very powerful, he is a Hercules, so his life is basically fighting against people and demons, busy fighting every day.His story is very legendary. When Hera, the first wife of Zeus, knew that he had given birth to an illegitimate child, she was very unhappy, so Hercules grew up amidst Hera's jealousy and revenge. Heracles continued to be hurt by Hera, and Alcmene asked Hercules to complete 12 major things that others could not do, so as to hone his son's will and increase his knowledge. One day, when Hercules passed through the city-state of Elis, he saw the king's announcement, saying that whoever can clean the cattle pen with 3,000 cattle in one day will be rewarded with 300 cattle.Hercules said: "I can!" Of course, the king would not believe this boy who came from afar, and the two made a bet.In order to prevent the king from reneging on the debt, Hercules called witnesses and wrote a contract, stating that if he cleaned the cattle pen, the king must keep his promise and give him 300 cows.The clever Hercules removed the partitions of the cowshed, dug a ditch beside the cowshed, brought in the river water, and washed the cowshed clean.Later, he reinstalled the partitions and the bullpen was completely new.But the king reneged, and instead of fulfilling his promise, he insisted that he had never promised to give so much a reward.This offended Hercules, who drove the king away in a rage, and the common people who had been oppressed by the king for a long time all applauded for this.This happens to be the 12th great feat that Hercules has done that no one else can accomplish. From then on, Hercules wanted to host the Olympic Games, why?Because he has a good relationship with God, he wants to show his divine power through the Olympics.This guy is a decathlete, capable of doing everything. After hosting the Olympics, he has won championships in almost every event.It is said that he organized the first Olympic Games. At that time, there was only one event - running.So how long is the racing field? 192.27 meters is said to be 600 times the length of his feet, and 600 times the length of his feet is used as the length of the race.This is the second story. The third story is even more interesting, involving Pelops, the grandson of Zeus, which is also a hard-to-remember name.The fate of Pelops was a bit rough. His father was thrown into hell because of his impiety, so he also suffered a lot and was driven out of the city of Troy.This guy lives in the wilderness, but even when he is down and down, he still misses women.Legend has it that Pelops fell in love with Hippodamia, the only daughter of the king of the ancient Greek city-state of Pisa.Because the princess was very beautiful, there were so many proposals that almost broke the gate of the city of Pisa.But a fortune teller warned the king, "You must not let your daughter marry, because according to my speculation, your future son-in-law will definitely kill you!" The way to keep his daughter from getting married and keep countless suitors from complaining: He asked the suitors to compete with him in a driving race.If the suitor wins, he can marry the princess; if he loses, he will be stabbed to death.As a result, a total of 13 suitors died under the king's spear. Pelops was the 14th suitor, and he happened to be the princess' sweetheart.Inspired and encouraged by the power of love, Pelops accepted the king's challenge.But the king's chariot was the best, and it was very difficult for Pelops to win the race with his chariot.So he went to find a helper, and who did he find? He found Sea God.Because Poseidon has a "Benz", which is a very famous fire chariot.He thought it was very good, so he borrowed a fire chariot from the sea god, pulled it by four horses, and ran very fast.This silly boy got on the fire chariot and also wanted to run to the finish line.Before he knew it, when his prospective father-in-law caught up with him in a two-horse express car and was about to stab him in the back with a spear, the sea god came out and unscrewed the king's wheel .So when the king stabbed Pelops, the wheel fell off and the king was thrown to death.After falling to his death, the silly boy looked back and saw that his father-in-law’s palace had just been struck by lightning, and the fire was burning until there was only one pillar left. He was frightened, and hurried back to save his wife-to-be, and finally a wonderful marriage was made , and at the same time he became the new king of the city-state of Pisa.A few days later, in order to celebrate the victory and the wedding, Pelops held a grand arena at Olympia, at which he arranged for chariots, wrestling, and other competitions.It is said that this is the beginning of the Olympic movement. These three stories may sound absurd to each other. Is this really the origin of the Olympic Games?Let me tell you, you have to look at the essence from the phenomenon, the secret of all these lies in these few stories.Please note that whether you kill your father or your father-in-law, these are all Greek myths.Why is Greek culture different from Chinese culture? Don’t ask me whether Greek culture is better or Chinese culture is better. Let me tell you that there is no difference between good and bad, just different.Greek culture is about the relationship between man and God; Chinese culture is about the relationship between people.Therefore, we have hundreds of schools of thought, all of which talk about the relationship between people.But Greek culture basically talks about the relationship between man and god, but generally speaking, the character of god is not as good as that of man, which is what Greek mythology looks like. In this environment, the people in the above three myths, what they want to express, I think readers will understand after seeing a few pictures of Greece on the Internet, that is to show the strength and beauty of muscles .The reader has only to look at all the statues in ancient Greece, which are basically nude.When we first saw it, we were not used to it, because our Chinese culture has never been naked.Look again, when they are fighting, they don't even wear pants, they are really naked.If you look at Greek women, such as Venus with a broken arm, they are beautiful, but they are also naked.Think about our Chinese beauties again, when did you see Wang Zhaojun naked, or Diao Chan naked, right?But you see all the goddesses in Greece, all the men, are basically naked.Do you know why?The reason why when wars are fought, the protagonists in the myths are all naked to kill and compete naked, just to show the strength and beauty of muscles. So what is the basic spirit of the Olympic Games?It is the combination of power and beauty.It can be seen from these myths that the Greeks liked struggle and competition very much.For example, in the third story, there is a carriage race with the father-in-law and a struggle with the father.What does it mean?That's the nature of a game.Then the nature of this kind of competition developed to 776 AD, that is, the beginning of the Greek era, and there was a sports meeting.And the purpose of this sports meeting is very clear, which is the combination of strength and beauty.Therefore, when it came to the 14th ancient Olympic Games, the athletes who appeared were basically naked.From the perspective of our Chinese culture, this kind of thing is unimaginable and unreasonable, but what the Greek culture emphasizes is the strength and beauty of primitive muscles. This consensus of strength and beauty has continued into the modern Olympic Games. In 1896, the first modern Olympic Games opened in Athens, Greece, and 311 athletes from 13 countries participated in the competition.James, a student from Harvard University in the United States, won the triple jump and became the first hero of the modern Olympic Games.With the convening of each Olympic Games, "fair competition" and "participation" have become important elements of the Olympic Games.In the marathon of the fourth Olympic Games held in London, Italian confectioner Pietrou fell to the ground several times due to excessive fatigue, but he struggled to get up and run forward every time. His spirit made all the people present Applause.All of this is just like the famous saying that is widely circulated: the important thing in the Olympic Games is not victory, but participation.The pursuit of fairness is the spiritual connotation of the Olympic Games.
Let me tell you again, the way we eat steak in China is different from that of Westerners. We need to add a lot of seasonings such as black pepper sauce.But Westerners eat steak without adding juice, just eat the original flavor of beef, this is their culture.Everything returned to the most primitive point, the original taste, but we added a lot of packaging.Therefore, our heavenly soldiers and generals are basically fully armed, wearing steel helmets and iron armor.So how do we demonstrate power? Our way of expressing power is different from that of the West. I will use a modern story as an illustration, and readers may be more touched.Have you ever watched American westerns and shootouts?In the 19th century, the legal system in the West was not perfect, and it was difficult for two people to disagree with each other. So there was a martial arts contest, standing face to face, and then drawing a gun to see who could kill the other quickly.You should pay attention here, their duels are all one-on-one.Let’s look at the previous three myths. In the first story, when Zeus dealt with his father, a group of people led by Zeus fought against a group of gods led by his father. The number of both sides was equal, just like playing basketball and volleyball .The third story, the grandson of Zeus and his father-in-law, is also one-on-one.Therefore, this symmetrical competition is the essence of Greek culture - fairness, and what this symmetry expresses is strength and beauty.When he wants to fight, besides showing strong strength, his movements are extremely beautiful, so he can be made into a statue, but all sports must have fairness as the spiritual connotation. If it is replaced by Chinese culture, this is unimaginable.In Chinese culture, our view of power is different from Greek culture.In the chapter novels or TV dramas we often see, there is a hero holding a sword against more than a dozen people. It is basically an asymmetric and unfair competition, and the hero can always win in the end. Break out of the encirclement.This is our culture. So what does our culture emphasize?What we emphasize is massacres on a large scale, such as Bai Qi's massacre of 400,000 Zhao soldiers, and the one-to-many massacres of heroes.But this kind of fighting is basically called asymmetrical fighting.Our martial arts novels are all like this, almost without exception, and occasionally one-on-one is rare.This kind of asymmetric competition makes it difficult to form a fair competition. Moreover, our requirements for heroes have never emphasized strength and beauty.For example, what about Bai Qi's figure?have no idea.How is Li Guang's figure?How tall is Huo Qubing and Wei Qing?It's as if none of us are paying attention.Is this guy handsome?It seems that they don't pay much attention.why?We do not emphasize this, we only emphasize large-scale, asymmetric massacres.This is our way of showing the strength of Chinese men. What about women?Our understanding is completely different.Western goddesses are all beautiful, and Western literature is more interesting.Let me give you an example. "Faust" is a very classic poem. Its last line is actually "the eternal woman leads us to sublime".This poem is very beautiful, but the middle circle is incredible - what does "eternal woman" mean, how can she lead us to sublime?And how does our Chinese culture view women?For example, when Zhuge Liang beheaded Ma Di with tears, Ma Di said to Zhuge Liang, please take care of my old mother.Frankly, we've never heard the phrase "please take care of my daddy."Let's take Zhang Xueliang again as an example. When he executed his subordinates, he often said: "Don't worry, I will take care of your old mother." We never heard Zhang Xueliang say: "Don't worry, I will take care of your father." We Our culture believes that a man's asymmetrical mass killing of many people is a manifestation of strength, but for women we especially emphasize maternity. Life is hard for pretty women in China.For example, there must be conflicts between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. Chinese mother-in-laws are very difficult to deal with, and daughter-in-laws have to swallow their anger.When the daughter-in-law of many years became a mother-in-law, she also became such an unreasonable mother-in-law.To be beautiful is to be a confidante, and a confidante to be unlucky.A beautiful woman is either unlucky, or short-lived, or kills those around her.For example, Daji, Baosi, Xishi, Diaochan, Wang Zhaojun, and Concubine Yang, all had tragic fates.I couldn't help asking: "What did Baosi do wrong?" In order to please her, King Zhou You tore the silk one by one, just to make her smile.In the end, she didn't want to laugh anymore, so King Zhou You lit the beacon tower, which attracted soldiers to come to rescue her.These soldiers arrived in a hurry, discarding their helmets and armor. It looked like a farce. Bao Si couldn't help laughing after seeing it on the city wall.King Zhou You did this because he was a lover, and he wanted the beauty to smile, which was not a big sin, but these things turned out to be the heinous crimes of Baosi.So why is King Zhou You so stupid?History has attributed the reason to Bao Si.How wronged is this, Bao Si doesn't laugh when she doesn't smile, what's wrong with her?The one who really played tricks on the soldiers was King Zhou You, and he was just a lover, and he didn't commit any serious crimes. There is also the relationship between Xishi and her lover Fucha, the king of Wu, which is also very interesting.In fact, Wu Wang Fucha is a very affectionate and righteous lover, but I think his opponent, Yue Wang Goujian, is a marketer.It is really unreasonable to define Xi Shi as a confidante in history. The problem lies in Wu Wang Fucha's self-willed, self-righteous and self-righteous personality, which has little to do with Xi Shi.Wang Zhaojun is also unlucky enough, because he didn't bribe the corrupt painter to paint her so badly that he was sent to a place where birds don't lay eggs to get married.This is the new national characteristic of our confidante, who is troublesome and unlucky. The entire Greek culture is the power and beauty displayed in the Olympics, while the Chinese culture, its power is asymmetrical mass slaughter, and its beauty is the beauty of confidante's disaster and fate.Therefore, we cannot breed the modern sports spirit, which is basically a combination of strength and beauty, and more importantly, it must be a symmetrical "fair" competition, which is often overlooked by all of us. Take playing volleyball as an example. Is it possible to have 6 people on one side and 3 people on the other? It’s impossible.Or if there is a hero here, it is impossible for 15 people from the other side to fight you.Therefore, according to my understanding, the so-called symmetry is the basic spirit of the Olympic Games.So let’s think about it again. The essence of the West, especially the Greek culture, that can give birth to the Olympic spirit is that the ancient Greek people pursued this combination of strength and beauty.Especially the explosive power of muscles and the beauty of movements, such as gymnastics, running, boxing, and wrestling, not only show strength, but also beautiful postures.It's like doing gymnastics, flipping down and falling to the ground. If you fall down, it won't be beautiful.Another example is high platform diving. No matter how beautiful the jumping movements are, it doesn’t matter if the splashes in the human water are not beautiful.Therefore, the combination of beauty and strength is the fundamental spirit of the Olympics, and this spirit can only be achieved in symmetrical "fair" competitions.This is the Olympics. On the Olympic Games, a platform for fair competition, every country has the opportunity to participate, regardless of nationality or status.From the 1932 Los Angeles Olympic Games when Liu Changchun held high the flag to represent the Chinese for the first time in the Olympic arena, to today's hosting of the 29th Olympic Games in Beijing, the Chinese have already started to participate in all aspects of the Olympic Games.
Whether we can truly provide a stage for strength and beauty and fair competition has become the challenge for us to host this Olympic Games.But what do we actually understand the Olympics as?understood as a symbol of national strength.This understanding cannot be said to be wrong, because we simply think that pursuing the first place in the number of medals does seem to symbolize the rise of national power, but this is not the Olympics.In fact, the athlete who disappointed me the most was Liu Xiang who didn't understand the Olympic spirit at all.Even if his foot is injured, he can still walk. Readers, please imagine that if he did not walk back to the athlete's lounge, but walked or climbed to the finish line, he not only showed the real Olympic "heavy participation" His great spirit can move the people all over China. In fact, we don't understand Western culture. For example, we don't know why there is Christmas or why the Olympics are held. At the same time, the West also doesn't understand us. This mutual cognitive gap has caused many contradictions.I think the great significance of the Olympics lies in the contact between the two sides.However, many readers saw a problem with the movies during the Olympics—they were too preachy, and we began to teach people again, to sit upright, not to spit anywhere, and to show the demeanor of a great country.Is it right to educate everyone in this way? It is indeed right, but this is not a question of right or wrong, but our focus is blurred. We emphasize technical details, such as not to defecate indiscriminately, but we have lost the Olympic emphasis on strength and beauty. The soul of fair play. In fact, I think we put too much effort into the Olympic Games. This is not a fault, but a lack of understanding of the Olympic spirit.Some media asked me: "Professor Lang, you have watched the Olympic Games so many times, can you talk about how other countries organize the Olympic Games? For example, what is the United States doing, and what is France doing?" I replied that I have no impression at all. No, because when I watched the Olympics in the United States or in Europe, they never put the honor and disgrace of the country on the Olympics, and there were no news reports about how great the preparations for the Olympics were. It seems that only China and other Asian countries put so much emphasis on the preparations process.Think about it, everyone, is the success of the Olympic Games so important to the honor and disgrace of the country?What a heavy burden.Even when watching the Olympics in the United States, I feel that not many people are watching. Americans prefer to watch American football, professional basketball, baseball and so on. To truly allow the West to understand China, we must understand the West.We don’t necessarily need to display the torch relay everywhere in this Olympic Games, but if we declare to the world: “China is the platform that can best show strength and beauty, and it is a platform for fair competition”, this sentence can win the hearts of all Westerners. Heart, because the Olympic blood they shed is not the honor and disgrace of the country, but the "fair" competition of the symmetry of strength and beauty.Readers, have you understood? Then I would like to ask everyone to think about a topic. Do we have requirements for strength and beauty in our pursuit of the Olympics today?What kind of Olympic spirit are we showing?Well, whether it is government propaganda or media reports that we see today, we seem to only emphasize a simple competitive relationship-we want to come out on top and win the championship in this competition of the century.Of course, this approach sounds right, but in fact it just doesn't understand the essence of the Olympics. I want to talk to you about another topic, that is, whether we can continue to enrich our cultural connotation through the Olympics.What is the connotation of great culture?A truly great culture is to integrate other cultures, which is called greatness.For example, which dynasty did the greatest culture in Chinese history come from?Everyone will tell me the same answer - Tang Dynasty.The reason why the culture of the Tang Dynasty is great is because it incorporates the culture of the Xianbei people.That is to say, Xianbei is a very special minority in Chinese history, inheriting the past and ushering in the future.The wisdom of this minority is not found in the West. After the fall of the Roman Empire, the northern barbarians of Europe entered the interior of Europe. What they adopted was the reign of terror, which brought Europe into a dark age for hundreds of years. In China, which was at the same time as Europe at that time, the Eastern Han Dynasty ended, the Three Kingdoms ended, and the Jin Dynasty began.It stands to reason that China should enter a dark age like the late Roman Empire, but at that time, the Tuoba clan, the ruler of the Xianbei people in the north, held the imperial meeting in this way.They said: "Are we going to kill all the Han Chinese and turn their fields into pastures for us to hunt? Are we going to kill them all or lock them up?" This topic has been discussed for a long time, whether it is Whether it is killed or locked up, it will lead China into a dark age like the late Roman Empire.However, the Tuoba clan of the Xianbei tribe finally decided to completely abandon Xianbei culture and fully sinicize themselves. This kind of great thinking is unimaginable-how could there be such a great man!Moreover, they stipulated that from now on, they must not speak Xianbei, and they must intermarry with the Han people. They must fully integrate with the Han people.Therefore, from the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties to the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the mothers of the founding fathers all had Xianbei blood.This kind of foreign blood and foreign culture will not destroy Chinese culture, but will make Chinese culture more dazzling after this great integration, making the Tang Dynasty a miracle in the history of Chinese culture. Therefore, compared with Europe, Europe was in a dark age for hundreds of years at that time; and Chinese culture, a stagnant culture, after accepting Xianbei culture, went through conflicts and fusions to form a great Tang civilization.So you see, the tableware used by people in the Tang Dynasty at that time might have been imported from India and Persia.The servants in their homes may be Indians, and such foreigners are everywhere.It is very strange, this is the phenomenon brought about by the fusion of different cultures.Therefore, only true cultural fusion can shape a great nation. The jubilation and joy when Beijing won the right to host the Olympic Games in 2001 is still vivid in my memory, and the seven-year preparation to host the Olympic Games has allowed the Chinese people to truly touch the soul of the Olympic Games.Hosting the Olympic Games is not for money, nor for city construction, but to fully convey our Chinese culture to people all over the world.
In addition, we need the boldness of Datang culture to fully accept Xianbei culture, this kind of tolerance, this kind of explosion, will make our culture more brilliant.If we can integrate this spirit into our culture, I believe this is the true spirit of the Olympics. I hope to take advantage of the opportunity of the Olympics to bring in the true European culture that we don't understand - the spirit of fair competition between strength and beauty.As Coubertin said in "Ode to Sports": Ah, sports, You make happy connections between peoples. Let young people all over the world learn to respect and learn from each other, Make different ethnic identities the driving force for peaceful competition.
So the first question, when did the Olympic Games start?I believe many of you know the answer to this question.In fact, the origin of the Olympic Games is actually three different versions of myths, but the significance of these myths is astonishing and profound, which surprised all of us Chinese.These three stories are all related to one person, and he is the most famous god in Greek history-Zeus who rules the world.This god has the greatest power, just like our Jade Emperor, he is too famous and has dominated the West for many years.Then the Olympic Games will start with Zeus's father. Zeus’s father is very interesting. When he was young, he believed what a fortune teller said. The fortune teller told him that the children you will have in the future will kill you (readers think about it, it’s ridiculous to tell a fortune even if you are a god. Our Chinese gods are much more powerful than the Greek gods).So the five children he gave birth to later were all swallowed by him.When the sixth child—that is, after Zeus was born, Zeus's mother was very nervous, because she was afraid that Zeus would be eaten by his father again, so she hid Zeus in a cave and was taken care of by two very beautiful fairies.When Zeus grew up, he started a duel with his father with the help of his grandmother. What Zeus fought against was not only his father alone, but also a group of gods from the interest groups represented by his father.Together with Zeus' father, these gods fought against Zeus.Later, Zeus forced his father to spit out his five older brothers and sisters together, and then built a castle with his brothers and sisters in the Olympic place to fight against the fairy group represented by his father.The war fought for four years, and Zeus and the others finally won. Therefore, the Olympic Games will be held every four years in the future. Don't think this story is absurd, because there are even more absurd ones below.This second story involves the illegitimate son of Zeus. His illegitimate son is called Hercules, whose name is difficult to remember.He was born of Zeus and the beautiful goddess Alcmene.This son is very powerful, he is a Hercules, so his life is basically fighting against people and demons, busy fighting every day.His story is very legendary. When Hera, the first wife of Zeus, knew that he had given birth to an illegitimate child, she was very unhappy, so Hercules grew up amidst Hera's jealousy and revenge. Heracles continued to be hurt by Hera, and Alcmene asked Hercules to complete 12 major things that others could not do, so as to hone his son's will and increase his knowledge. One day, when Hercules passed through the city-state of Elis, he saw the king's announcement, saying that whoever can clean the cattle pen with 3,000 cattle in one day will be rewarded with 300 cattle.Hercules said: "I can!" Of course, the king would not believe this boy who came from afar, and the two made a bet.In order to prevent the king from reneging on the debt, Hercules called witnesses and wrote a contract, stating that if he cleaned the cattle pen, the king must keep his promise and give him 300 cows.The clever Hercules removed the partitions of the cowshed, dug a ditch beside the cowshed, brought in the river water, and washed the cowshed clean.Later, he reinstalled the partitions and the bullpen was completely new.But the king reneged, and instead of fulfilling his promise, he insisted that he had never promised to give so much a reward.This offended Hercules, who drove the king away in a rage, and the common people who had been oppressed by the king for a long time all applauded for this.This happens to be the 12th great feat that Hercules has done that no one else can accomplish. From then on, Hercules wanted to host the Olympic Games, why?Because he has a good relationship with God, he wants to show his divine power through the Olympics.This guy is a decathlete, capable of doing everything. After hosting the Olympics, he has won championships in almost every event.It is said that he organized the first Olympic Games. At that time, there was only one event - running.So how long is the racing field? 192.27 meters is said to be 600 times the length of his feet, and 600 times the length of his feet is used as the length of the race.This is the second story. The third story is even more interesting, involving Pelops, the grandson of Zeus, which is also a hard-to-remember name.The fate of Pelops was a bit rough. His father was thrown into hell because of his impiety, so he also suffered a lot and was driven out of the city of Troy.This guy lives in the wilderness, but even when he is down and down, he still misses women.Legend has it that Pelops fell in love with Hippodamia, the only daughter of the king of the ancient Greek city-state of Pisa.Because the princess was very beautiful, there were so many proposals that almost broke the gate of the city of Pisa.But a fortune teller warned the king, "You must not let your daughter marry, because according to my speculation, your future son-in-law will definitely kill you!" The way to keep his daughter from getting married and keep countless suitors from complaining: He asked the suitors to compete with him in a driving race.If the suitor wins, he can marry the princess; if he loses, he will be stabbed to death.As a result, a total of 13 suitors died under the king's spear. Pelops was the 14th suitor, and he happened to be the princess' sweetheart.Inspired and encouraged by the power of love, Pelops accepted the king's challenge.But the king's chariot was the best, and it was very difficult for Pelops to win the race with his chariot.So he went to find a helper, and who did he find? He found Sea God.Because Poseidon has a "Benz", which is a very famous fire chariot.He thought it was very good, so he borrowed a fire chariot from the sea god, pulled it by four horses, and ran very fast.This silly boy got on the fire chariot and also wanted to run to the finish line.Before he knew it, when his prospective father-in-law caught up with him in a two-horse express car and was about to stab him in the back with a spear, the sea god came out and unscrewed the king's wheel .So when the king stabbed Pelops, the wheel fell off and the king was thrown to death.After falling to his death, the silly boy looked back and saw that his father-in-law’s palace had just been struck by lightning, and the fire was burning until there was only one pillar left. He was frightened, and hurried back to save his wife-to-be, and finally a wonderful marriage was made , and at the same time he became the new king of the city-state of Pisa.A few days later, in order to celebrate the victory and the wedding, Pelops held a grand arena at Olympia, at which he arranged for chariots, wrestling, and other competitions.It is said that this is the beginning of the Olympic movement. These three stories may sound absurd to each other. Is this really the origin of the Olympic Games?Let me tell you, you have to look at the essence from the phenomenon, the secret of all these lies in these few stories.Please note that whether you kill your father or your father-in-law, these are all Greek myths.Why is Greek culture different from Chinese culture? Don’t ask me whether Greek culture is better or Chinese culture is better. Let me tell you that there is no difference between good and bad, just different.Greek culture is about the relationship between man and God; Chinese culture is about the relationship between people.Therefore, we have hundreds of schools of thought, all of which talk about the relationship between people.But Greek culture basically talks about the relationship between man and god, but generally speaking, the character of god is not as good as that of man, which is what Greek mythology looks like. In this environment, the people in the above three myths, what they want to express, I think readers will understand after seeing a few pictures of Greece on the Internet, that is to show the strength and beauty of muscles .The reader has only to look at all the statues in ancient Greece, which are basically nude.When we first saw it, we were not used to it, because our Chinese culture has never been naked.Look again, when they are fighting, they don't even wear pants, they are really naked.If you look at Greek women, such as Venus with a broken arm, they are beautiful, but they are also naked.Think about our Chinese beauties again, when did you see Wang Zhaojun naked, or Diao Chan naked, right?But you see all the goddesses in Greece, all the men, are basically naked.Do you know why?The reason why when wars are fought, the protagonists in the myths are all naked to kill and compete naked, just to show the strength and beauty of muscles. So what is the basic spirit of the Olympic Games?It is the combination of power and beauty.It can be seen from these myths that the Greeks liked struggle and competition very much.For example, in the third story, there is a carriage race with the father-in-law and a struggle with the father.What does it mean?That's the nature of a game.Then the nature of this kind of competition developed to 776 AD, that is, the beginning of the Greek era, and there was a sports meeting.And the purpose of this sports meeting is very clear, which is the combination of strength and beauty.Therefore, when it came to the 14th ancient Olympic Games, the athletes who appeared were basically naked.From the perspective of our Chinese culture, this kind of thing is unimaginable and unreasonable, but what the Greek culture emphasizes is the strength and beauty of primitive muscles. This consensus of strength and beauty has continued into the modern Olympic Games. In 1896, the first modern Olympic Games opened in Athens, Greece, and 311 athletes from 13 countries participated in the competition.James, a student from Harvard University in the United States, won the triple jump and became the first hero of the modern Olympic Games.With the convening of each Olympic Games, "fair competition" and "participation" have become important elements of the Olympic Games.In the marathon of the fourth Olympic Games held in London, Italian confectioner Pietrou fell to the ground several times due to excessive fatigue, but he struggled to get up and run forward every time. His spirit made all the people present Applause.All of this is just like the famous saying that is widely circulated: the important thing in the Olympic Games is not victory, but participation.The pursuit of fairness is the spiritual connotation of the Olympic Games.
Let me tell you again, the way we eat steak in China is different from that of Westerners. We need to add a lot of seasonings such as black pepper sauce.But Westerners eat steak without adding juice, just eat the original flavor of beef, this is their culture.Everything returned to the most primitive point, the original taste, but we added a lot of packaging.Therefore, our heavenly soldiers and generals are basically fully armed, wearing steel helmets and iron armor.So how do we demonstrate power? Our way of expressing power is different from that of the West. I will use a modern story as an illustration, and readers may be more touched.Have you ever watched American westerns and shootouts?In the 19th century, the legal system in the West was not perfect, and it was difficult for two people to disagree with each other. So there was a martial arts contest, standing face to face, and then drawing a gun to see who could kill the other quickly.You should pay attention here, their duels are all one-on-one.Let’s look at the previous three myths. In the first story, when Zeus dealt with his father, a group of people led by Zeus fought against a group of gods led by his father. The number of both sides was equal, just like playing basketball and volleyball .The third story, the grandson of Zeus and his father-in-law, is also one-on-one.Therefore, this symmetrical competition is the essence of Greek culture - fairness, and what this symmetry expresses is strength and beauty.When he wants to fight, besides showing strong strength, his movements are extremely beautiful, so he can be made into a statue, but all sports must have fairness as the spiritual connotation. If it is replaced by Chinese culture, this is unimaginable.In Chinese culture, our view of power is different from Greek culture.In the chapter novels or TV dramas we often see, there is a hero holding a sword against more than a dozen people. It is basically an asymmetric and unfair competition, and the hero can always win in the end. Break out of the encirclement.This is our culture. So what does our culture emphasize?What we emphasize is massacres on a large scale, such as Bai Qi's massacre of 400,000 Zhao soldiers, and the one-to-many massacres of heroes.But this kind of fighting is basically called asymmetrical fighting.Our martial arts novels are all like this, almost without exception, and occasionally one-on-one is rare.This kind of asymmetric competition makes it difficult to form a fair competition. Moreover, our requirements for heroes have never emphasized strength and beauty.For example, what about Bai Qi's figure?have no idea.How is Li Guang's figure?How tall is Huo Qubing and Wei Qing?It's as if none of us are paying attention.Is this guy handsome?It seems that they don't pay much attention.why?We do not emphasize this, we only emphasize large-scale, asymmetric massacres.This is our way of showing the strength of Chinese men. What about women?Our understanding is completely different.Western goddesses are all beautiful, and Western literature is more interesting.Let me give you an example. "Faust" is a very classic poem. Its last line is actually "the eternal woman leads us to sublime".This poem is very beautiful, but the middle circle is incredible - what does "eternal woman" mean, how can she lead us to sublime?And how does our Chinese culture view women?For example, when Zhuge Liang beheaded Ma Di with tears, Ma Di said to Zhuge Liang, please take care of my old mother.Frankly, we've never heard the phrase "please take care of my daddy."Let's take Zhang Xueliang again as an example. When he executed his subordinates, he often said: "Don't worry, I will take care of your old mother." We never heard Zhang Xueliang say: "Don't worry, I will take care of your father." We Our culture believes that a man's asymmetrical mass killing of many people is a manifestation of strength, but for women we especially emphasize maternity. Life is hard for pretty women in China.For example, there must be conflicts between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. Chinese mother-in-laws are very difficult to deal with, and daughter-in-laws have to swallow their anger.When the daughter-in-law of many years became a mother-in-law, she also became such an unreasonable mother-in-law.To be beautiful is to be a confidante, and a confidante to be unlucky.A beautiful woman is either unlucky, or short-lived, or kills those around her.For example, Daji, Baosi, Xishi, Diaochan, Wang Zhaojun, and Concubine Yang, all had tragic fates.I couldn't help asking: "What did Baosi do wrong?" In order to please her, King Zhou You tore the silk one by one, just to make her smile.In the end, she didn't want to laugh anymore, so King Zhou You lit the beacon tower, which attracted soldiers to come to rescue her.These soldiers arrived in a hurry, discarding their helmets and armor. It looked like a farce. Bao Si couldn't help laughing after seeing it on the city wall.King Zhou You did this because he was a lover, and he wanted the beauty to smile, which was not a big sin, but these things turned out to be the heinous crimes of Baosi.So why is King Zhou You so stupid?History has attributed the reason to Bao Si.How wronged is this, Bao Si doesn't laugh when she doesn't smile, what's wrong with her?The one who really played tricks on the soldiers was King Zhou You, and he was just a lover, and he didn't commit any serious crimes. There is also the relationship between Xishi and her lover Fucha, the king of Wu, which is also very interesting.In fact, Wu Wang Fucha is a very affectionate and righteous lover, but I think his opponent, Yue Wang Goujian, is a marketer.It is really unreasonable to define Xi Shi as a confidante in history. The problem lies in Wu Wang Fucha's self-willed, self-righteous and self-righteous personality, which has little to do with Xi Shi.Wang Zhaojun is also unlucky enough, because he didn't bribe the corrupt painter to paint her so badly that he was sent to a place where birds don't lay eggs to get married.This is the new national characteristic of our confidante, who is troublesome and unlucky. The entire Greek culture is the power and beauty displayed in the Olympics, while the Chinese culture, its power is asymmetrical mass slaughter, and its beauty is the beauty of confidante's disaster and fate.Therefore, we cannot breed the modern sports spirit, which is basically a combination of strength and beauty, and more importantly, it must be a symmetrical "fair" competition, which is often overlooked by all of us. Take playing volleyball as an example. Is it possible to have 6 people on one side and 3 people on the other? It’s impossible.Or if there is a hero here, it is impossible for 15 people from the other side to fight you.Therefore, according to my understanding, the so-called symmetry is the basic spirit of the Olympic Games.So let’s think about it again. The essence of the West, especially the Greek culture, that can give birth to the Olympic spirit is that the ancient Greek people pursued this combination of strength and beauty.Especially the explosive power of muscles and the beauty of movements, such as gymnastics, running, boxing, and wrestling, not only show strength, but also beautiful postures.It's like doing gymnastics, flipping down and falling to the ground. If you fall down, it won't be beautiful.Another example is high platform diving. No matter how beautiful the jumping movements are, it doesn’t matter if the splashes in the human water are not beautiful.Therefore, the combination of beauty and strength is the fundamental spirit of the Olympics, and this spirit can only be achieved in symmetrical "fair" competitions.This is the Olympics. On the Olympic Games, a platform for fair competition, every country has the opportunity to participate, regardless of nationality or status.From the 1932 Los Angeles Olympic Games when Liu Changchun held high the flag to represent the Chinese for the first time in the Olympic arena, to today's hosting of the 29th Olympic Games in Beijing, the Chinese have already started to participate in all aspects of the Olympic Games.
Whether we can truly provide a stage for strength and beauty and fair competition has become the challenge for us to host this Olympic Games.But what do we actually understand the Olympics as?understood as a symbol of national strength.This understanding cannot be said to be wrong, because we simply think that pursuing the first place in the number of medals does seem to symbolize the rise of national power, but this is not the Olympics.In fact, the athlete who disappointed me the most was Liu Xiang who didn't understand the Olympic spirit at all.Even if his foot is injured, he can still walk. Readers, please imagine that if he did not walk back to the athlete's lounge, but walked or climbed to the finish line, he not only showed the real Olympic "heavy participation" His great spirit can move the people all over China. In fact, we don't understand Western culture. For example, we don't know why there is Christmas or why the Olympics are held. At the same time, the West also doesn't understand us. This mutual cognitive gap has caused many contradictions.I think the great significance of the Olympics lies in the contact between the two sides.However, many readers saw a problem with the movies during the Olympics—they were too preachy, and we began to teach people again, to sit upright, not to spit anywhere, and to show the demeanor of a great country.Is it right to educate everyone in this way? It is indeed right, but this is not a question of right or wrong, but our focus is blurred. We emphasize technical details, such as not to defecate indiscriminately, but we have lost the Olympic emphasis on strength and beauty. The soul of fair play. In fact, I think we put too much effort into the Olympic Games. This is not a fault, but a lack of understanding of the Olympic spirit.Some media asked me: "Professor Lang, you have watched the Olympic Games so many times, can you talk about how other countries organize the Olympic Games? For example, what is the United States doing, and what is France doing?" I replied that I have no impression at all. No, because when I watched the Olympics in the United States or in Europe, they never put the honor and disgrace of the country on the Olympics, and there were no news reports about how great the preparations for the Olympics were. It seems that only China and other Asian countries put so much emphasis on the preparations process.Think about it, everyone, is the success of the Olympic Games so important to the honor and disgrace of the country?What a heavy burden.Even when watching the Olympics in the United States, I feel that not many people are watching. Americans prefer to watch American football, professional basketball, baseball and so on. To truly allow the West to understand China, we must understand the West.We don’t necessarily need to display the torch relay everywhere in this Olympic Games, but if we declare to the world: “China is the platform that can best show strength and beauty, and it is a platform for fair competition”, this sentence can win the hearts of all Westerners. Heart, because the Olympic blood they shed is not the honor and disgrace of the country, but the "fair" competition of the symmetry of strength and beauty.Readers, have you understood? Then I would like to ask everyone to think about a topic. Do we have requirements for strength and beauty in our pursuit of the Olympics today?What kind of Olympic spirit are we showing?Well, whether it is government propaganda or media reports that we see today, we seem to only emphasize a simple competitive relationship-we want to come out on top and win the championship in this competition of the century.Of course, this approach sounds right, but in fact it just doesn't understand the essence of the Olympics. I want to talk to you about another topic, that is, whether we can continue to enrich our cultural connotation through the Olympics.What is the connotation of great culture?A truly great culture is to integrate other cultures, which is called greatness.For example, which dynasty did the greatest culture in Chinese history come from?Everyone will tell me the same answer - Tang Dynasty.The reason why the culture of the Tang Dynasty is great is because it incorporates the culture of the Xianbei people.That is to say, Xianbei is a very special minority in Chinese history, inheriting the past and ushering in the future.The wisdom of this minority is not found in the West. After the fall of the Roman Empire, the northern barbarians of Europe entered the interior of Europe. What they adopted was the reign of terror, which brought Europe into a dark age for hundreds of years. In China, which was at the same time as Europe at that time, the Eastern Han Dynasty ended, the Three Kingdoms ended, and the Jin Dynasty began.It stands to reason that China should enter a dark age like the late Roman Empire, but at that time, the Tuoba clan, the ruler of the Xianbei people in the north, held the imperial meeting in this way.They said: "Are we going to kill all the Han Chinese and turn their fields into pastures for us to hunt? Are we going to kill them all or lock them up?" This topic has been discussed for a long time, whether it is Whether it is killed or locked up, it will lead China into a dark age like the late Roman Empire.However, the Tuoba clan of the Xianbei tribe finally decided to completely abandon Xianbei culture and fully sinicize themselves. This kind of great thinking is unimaginable-how could there be such a great man!Moreover, they stipulated that from now on, they must not speak Xianbei, and they must intermarry with the Han people. They must fully integrate with the Han people.Therefore, from the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties to the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the mothers of the founding fathers all had Xianbei blood.This kind of foreign blood and foreign culture will not destroy Chinese culture, but will make Chinese culture more dazzling after this great integration, making the Tang Dynasty a miracle in the history of Chinese culture. Therefore, compared with Europe, Europe was in a dark age for hundreds of years at that time; and Chinese culture, a stagnant culture, after accepting Xianbei culture, went through conflicts and fusions to form a great Tang civilization.So you see, the tableware used by people in the Tang Dynasty at that time might have been imported from India and Persia.The servants in their homes may be Indians, and such foreigners are everywhere.It is very strange, this is the phenomenon brought about by the fusion of different cultures.Therefore, only true cultural fusion can shape a great nation. The jubilation and joy when Beijing won the right to host the Olympic Games in 2001 is still vivid in my memory, and the seven-year preparation to host the Olympic Games has allowed the Chinese people to truly touch the soul of the Olympic Games.Hosting the Olympic Games is not for money, nor for city construction, but to fully convey our Chinese culture to people all over the world.
In addition, we need the boldness of Datang culture to fully accept Xianbei culture, this kind of tolerance, this kind of explosion, will make our culture more brilliant.If we can integrate this spirit into our culture, I believe this is the true spirit of the Olympics. I hope to take advantage of the opportunity of the Olympics to bring in the true European culture that we don't understand - the spirit of fair competition between strength and beauty.As Coubertin said in "Ode to Sports": Ah, sports, You make happy connections between peoples. Let young people all over the world learn to respect and learn from each other, Make different ethnic identities the driving force for peaceful competition.