Beijing 2008 First Olympic Cultural Festival will start on September 21, 2003. Mr. Sun Weijia, Deputy Director of the Media & Communication Department of BOCOG said at an exclusive interview with the official website of BOCOG that the Beijing 2008 Olympic Cultural Festival will bring forth the unique culture and image of China and Beijing to the world. He said the Cultural Festival has profound significance.

   Sun said to hold the Olympic Cultural Festival during the Olympic Games is an essential element of the tenet of modern Olympics that combines sports and culture. As the modern Olympics develop, cultural activities are becoming more important to the Olympic Games, and the Culture Festival has become a tradition of the Olympic Games, he said. "Cultural Olympics" is one of the three concepts of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Holding the Olympic Culture Festival will promote the spread of the Olympic spirit in China, introduce the rich Chinese culture to the world and bring forth the profound meanings of the Cultural Olympics.

   Sun noted that the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games will be a great event to promote cultural exchange between the East and the West, as well as a great opportunity to merge Chinese culture with the Olympic spirit and culture. China has very profound and rich culture and is regarded as the headwater of culture in the East. The BOCOG is presenting the China's history, culture and modern civilization to the world.

   Five years before the Beijing 2008 Olympics, the first annual Culture Festival for the Games will be held in Beijing, said Sun. He said the historic task of spreading the Olympic spirit can never be accomplished within merely 17 days of the Olympic Games competition. To hold an annual Olympic Cultural Festival will greatly help the 1.3 billion Chinese people to understand the meaning of the Olympic spirit and culture, and will make a major contribution to the world Olympic movement, he said.

   Sun said the annual Beijing 2008 Olympic Cultural Festival would enable the Chinese people to share the glory and dream of the Olympics with people around the world in an aspiration for peace, friendship and unity. It would convey the message to the world that the Chinese people have a unique and deep understanding of the Olympic Movement.