On the evening of February 4, the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics was held in the Bird’s Nest. More than 10 kilometers away from the Bird’s Nest, Feng Yuwen, from Communication University of China was working as a volunteer in 2022 Beijing Media Center. She was filled with excitement about the opening of the Winter Olympics. From the Summer Olympics in 2008 to the Winter Olympics in 2022, her father’s bond with the Olympics goes on in her. 

Feng’s father was an engineer who had participated in the construction of the Bird’s Nest. In Feng’s memory, her father used to tell her his story with the building when she was a child. His father’s work photos and honors awarded during the construction of the Bird’s Nest were placed in the most prominent place at home . During the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, the 7-year-old Feng was taken by her father to the Bird’s Nest to watch the competition and feel the charm of the Olympic Games on the site.

At that time, I was too young to have a full understanding of my father’s work.” In 2020, Feng was admitted to Communication University of China. Apart from feeling happy for her, Feng’s father also made a special wish, hoping that she would have the opportunity to participate in the Winter Olympics if possible. Feng said, at that time, she didn’t understand why her father was so deeply attached to the Olympic Games.

It was not until recently that Feng understood her father better when she by chance read the news coverage of her father’s participation in the Bird’s Nest construction on the Internet. Feng Hongtao, Feng Yuwen’s father, once served as the director of the steel structure engineering of the Bird’s Nest, supervising the project by walking four times on the steel roof of the Bird’s Nest every day. In two years, he had walked about 2,900 kilometers, equivalent to the distance from Beijing to his hometown in Hubei Province. During an inspection, Feng Hongtao bumped into a steel pipe rack and had  two scars left, when urging the workers to eliminate a hidden danger on the construction site. Upon reading this story, Feng couldn’t help feeling so proud of her father and all the other selfless builders like him.  

Inspired by her father, Feng became a volunteer for the Beijing Winter Olympics. On the first day of the Chinese Lunar New Year, Feng officially started her work at the 2022 Beijing Media Center and began her 20 days of volunteer service. Feng is mainly responsible for answering foreign journalists’ requests for help. “As volunteers for the Winter Olympics, what we do is not much, even insignificant. However, it is precisely those little things that have made the Winter Olympic Games go on smoothly.”

At the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics, Feng Yuwen was on duty and couldn’t see the live TV broadcast. However, she did not feel regretted “I’m proud of what father did. In my days as a volunteer, my father, who used to be reluctant to share WeChat moments, also posted a few remarks to encourage me. I feel honored to be a Winter Olympic volunteer and carry on my father’s Olympic dream. Although I can neither watch the ceremony on the site nor through live stream, my heart is connected with the Bird’s Nest.”

Translator:Yu Jiaming

Proofreader :Tang Huirun  Liu Ying  Hou Fuli

Editor:Zheng Shuyu

Advisor:Zhang Xu