With the opening of Beijing Winter Olympics on Friday, Feb.4, volunteers and support team from Communication University of China (CUC) are doing their best to ensure the smooth running of the Games. Their stories are covered by more than twenty media outlets nationwide, including the official website and WeChat account of Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee, People's Daily, Xinhua News Agency, China Media Group (CMG), China Education Network Television (CENTV), Guangming Online, Beijing Daily, Hebei TV, etc.
The Volunteer Spirit
The volunteer spirit of the Chinese youth is reflected in their enthusiasm to contribute to the Games. Altogether, more than 700 faculty members and students from CUC provide volunteer service or support for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, serving as guides, actors or ushers in the opening and closing ceremonies, or technical staff, and so on.
On Lunar New Year's Eve, the operating team of Zhangjiakou Mountain Broadcasting Center held a special Spring Festival gala to celebrate the Spring Festival, Olympic venue staff and volunteers performed singing, dancing, poem recitation, etc. Although it was a small-sized gala, with about 60 performers and audience, and just a dozen shows, everyone felt like family. Xinhua News Agency covered this story, and included in the report a piece of vlog created by Gou Yu, a CUC volunteer at the center. Gou said that this was the first Spring Festival that he spent without his family, and contributing to the Winter Olympics was a more meaningful way to enter a new year.
A special Spring Festival gala on Lunar New Year's Eve
Under the influence of her father, Feng Yuwen, a sophomore German language student, has always cherished an Olympic dream. Her father was an engineer for the Bird's Nest, a main stadium of the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympic Games. Feng signed up to be a city volunteer working at Beijing Media Center as the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games approached. She hopes to give full play to her knowledge of foreign language in her position, and realize the value of being a Winter Olympics volunteer.
Feng Yuwen works at the Beijing Media Center.
As a CUC Winter Olympics volunteer with a foreign nationality, Li Xia (Veronika Martseniuk), a master student of arts management from the School of Cultural Industries Management, works at the Main Media Center of Beijing Winter Olympics.With her good command of Chinese, English, French, Russian and Ukrainian, she has been helping many foreign journalists since she entered the Winter Olympic closed-loop.
Veronica Martseniuk works at the Main Media Center.
In a CCTV report, Wang Yuqi, a junior student of Communication Studies said," It’s our duty to inform them of media notices. They might also meet with transportation problems, so we will help them get problems solved. In a word,we will take the initiative to provide whatever service they need.”
Lv Jiuhai, a senior student majoring in Internet and New Media said that during the Beijing 2008 Olympics, when he was still in elementary school, he has quietly planted a seed of “Olympic Dream” in his heart. When the Beijing Winter Olympics platform released volunteer registration information, he quickly signed up. "We did a lot of preparations in advance. We did physical exercise, running about ten kilometers every week, and we also went to the gym and swimming pool for some endurance training and cold resistance training. In terms of English learning, we focused on speaking skills.”
Wang Yuqi (up) and Lv Jiuhai are interviewd by CCTV News.
On January 3, three CUC volunteers from Hong Kong and Macao, and figure skating world Champion Tong Jian started their volunteer service at the Sanlitun Volunteer Service Station, as representatives of the first day Winter Olympics city volunteers in Chaoyang District.
People's Daily Online, Hong Kong Wen Wei Po, China Youth Daily and many other media reported them as “Winter Olympics Volunteers in Blue”.
Get Ready for the Winter Olympics
In order to foster a team of volunteers with ideals, skills, responsibility and warmth, CUC has designed a volunteer training program that integrates general training with job requirements and CUC characteristics, and combines online courses with offline training. This program is reported by CMG Live News, Morning News, as well as CENTV.
Zhu Chuanxin, secretary of CUC Youth League Committee, said ,"In the past three months, we have organized more than ten volunteer training sessions. There are general trainings like volunteer etiquette, knowledge of the Winter Olympics, emergency care. There are also specially designed multi-media training for media operation volunteers, such as sports photography, international communication, news gathering and editing, etc.All this training ensures that volunteers will fully meet their job needs.”
Zhu Chuanxin talks about volunteer training.
Liu Jian, Deputy Dean of CUC Graduate School conducted a special training course on sports photography for volunteers on the playground. Volunteer representative Fan Qimeng said,"The course can help me show the spiritual outlook of CUC students to world media, and use my professional knowledge of photography to tell China’s stories well."
Liu Jian conducts training course for CUC volunteers.
In addition, to offer more considerate and comprehensive services for athletes with disabilities, CUC adds specialized training courses for volunteers, who will serve the athletes with hearing impairments. This becomes a shining example of the Ever-Shining Cinema, a barrier-free film production and dissemination public benefit project of CUC.
After the training experience, Huo Yifan, a first-year graduate majoring in International Journalism said, “ I think as a Winter Olympics volunteer, I have the responsibility to be the eyes of visually impaired athletes, bringing them closer to the games, as well as to the world.
Huo Yifan is interviewed by CENTV.
In a video released by Guangming Online, a broadcast volunteer Qiu Zhenyu, unpacks the CUC “Winter Olympics Heartwarming Gift Package ". Apart from articles for daily use and epidemic prevention, such as masks, hand sanitizers, Band-Aids and snacks, the package also contains Spring Festival couplets and Chinese character “Fu” (Luckiness), delivering Lunar New Year good wishes to people.
Qiu Zhenyu’s vlog screenshot about his Winter Olympics life.
Qiu Zhenyu releases a series of his vlogs My Winter Olympics: Diary of An Ice and Snow Volunteer on Guangming.com, recording his daily volunteering experience from attending training classes to serving the Winter Olympics.
Tell the Stories of the Winter Olympics
Besides volunteering services, teachers and students from CUC also give full play to their academic and professional knowledge to tell wonderful stories of the Winter Olympics and spread voices of China. Their stories and media works have been released by Guangming.com, CCTV.com, China Youth Daily, the official website of China Volunteer Service Federation, etc.
For example, Feng Lin, a third-year student majoring in the Art of Broadcasting and Anchoring, serves as an ambassador of the Beijing Winter Olympics urban volunteers. She will represent different types of urban volunteers during the Winter Olympics and express the thoughts of these volunteers described as the most beautiful scenery line.
Feng Lin serves as an ambassador of the Beijing Winter Olympics urban volunteers.
CUC volunteers also participated in the production of Happy Lunar New Year, Join Us for the Winter Olympics, a special program made by CMG’s Voice of China for the Winter Olympics’ 72-Hour Countdown, and CMG’s series program “Winter Olympics FunTalk” to popularize knowledge and culture of the Winter Olympics.
Series program“Winter Olympics FunTalk”
A CUC MV version of Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics’ motto song, Together for a Shared Future was released on Dec. 8, on the WeChat channel of the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee, expressing our wishes and expectations for the Olympics.
The next day, the hashtag Everyone Singing Together for a Shared Future broke into the hot search chart on Chinese social media Sina-Weibo as this music video covered a total of 200 million people, was searched more than 8.04 million times, and was played 450,000 times. Beijing Radio and Television Station, Xinhua Omni media plus of Xinhua App, etc., published articles on this music video.
A CUC MV version of Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics’ motto song, Together for a Shared Future.
Several teachers, current students and graduates of CUC are key members of the production team for the licensed cartoon film of Beijing 2022 Me and My Winter Games. In this effort, they seek to support Beijing 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games by way of film-making. As the film features many classic Chinese cartoon characters, it will become the first-ever mascot animation in Olympian history.
Poster of the licensed cartoon film of Beijing 2022 Me and My Winter Games
CUC is Like a Family
As the Winter Olympics coincides with the Spring Festival, it's a very special occasion. In order to make the students working in different venues in Beijing and Zhangjiakou spend a peaceful, fulfilling and unforgettable Winter Olympics Spring Festival, CUC tries its best to provide related guidance and services.
Before the Spring Festival, Liao Xiangzhong, CUC Party Committee Secretary, and Winter Olympics working group leader extended warm Lunar New Year greetings to all teachers and students working for winter Olympics.
Liao Xiangzhong extends Chinese New Year greetings.
On January 30, in an online activity, Deputy Party Committee Secretary Li Zhong sent his Lunar New Year wishes to members of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics CUC service and support team.
Li Zhong sends Lunar New Year wishes to all teachers and students working for Winter Olympics.
For many student volunteers, it is their first time to spend the Spring Festival away from their family. They wrote letters to their parents about their volunteering experiences, and some of these letters were selected to be published on CCTV News and a few other Apps.
On Lunar New Year's Eve, staff in service stations inside and outside the closed-loop organized colorful activities like paper-cutting for window decoration, writing “Fu” character, putting up Spring Festival couplets, and extending New Year wishes, online and offline. Teachers and students utilized their professional expertise to hold a unique Spring Festival gala featuring the Winter Olympics.
Students and teachers together celebrate the Spring Festival.
Upon the final kicking off of the Winter Olympics, CUC staff and students working at the frontline sent their New Year wishes by means of video clips to teachers, fellow students and their families.
At the start of a fresh New Year, the winter Olympics also starts. Let’s wish the Beijing Winter Olympics a complete success, more achievements to be made by Olympic athletes,and CUC students to be fully vigorous in this Tiger year. Together for a shared future!
Translator:Zhang Yujie
Proofreader : Meng Lanjuan Zhao Shuo Hou Fuli
Editor:Zheng Shuyu
Advisor:Zhang Xu
