Officials attending the Citizens Day event have a close look at students painting cultural shirts.

July 10, 2004

Beijing marked its Citizens Day by holding a large-scale cultural and sports event "Dynamic Beijing, Youthful Olympics'', one of the major activities in the second annual Beijing 2008 Olympic Cultural Festival. Senior city official Long Xinmin kicked start the event at Chaoyang Park on 9 am.

About Citizens Day

The annual Citizens' Day is a major event of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Cultural Festival. It is designed to show Beijing citizens' enthusiastic participation in the Olympic Movement under the theme of "People's Olympics", BOCOG Vice-President Jiang Xiaoyu said at the opening ceremony. He said the Citizens Day will help promote the Olympic movement and enrich the citizens' cultural life.

A Grand Ceremony

Several hundred thousand Beijing residents took part in a diverse array of cultural and sports activities in Chaoyang Park, the main venue of the event. The activities included art performances, acrobat and gymnastic shows, display of traditional Chinese sport events, children's painting contest and health equipment exhibition and consultation. Among the participants were Chinese athletic stars, who signed their names on national flags held by the citizens.

During the two-day event, Beijing staged various activities in one main venue and 17 other venues around the city. Some of the parks and sports facilities in the city offered discount ticket rates for the citizens. People attended such activities as Chinese chess contest, movie parties and Yanggek Dance -- a traditional folk dance popular amongst Beijingers.

BOCOG officials Liu Jingmin, Duan Shijie, Wang Wei and officials from the Beijing Municipal Government also attended the activities to celebrated the Citizens Day with Beijing residents.

Popular singer Guo Feng gives a performance for Citizen Day.

School students attract the attention of passer-bys with their painting on cultural shirts.

Acrobat performer Adili performs atop a unicycle for the spectators.