Related news of the 199 Beijing Asian Games

People often say that the sports stadium is a battlefield without smoke. Back in 199, there was another battlefield without smoke outside the Asian Games, with China and an unfriendly international environment as the two sides.

If we say that athletes can put friendship first and don't care about the result of the game, there is no retreat in the latter wrestling.

At that time, Zhang Qing, the director of the International Department of the State Sports Commission, was dealing with international sports organizations in his daily work. Being familiar with foreign situations, he had a deep understanding of the international environment faced by China in those years.

"At that time, the mainstream media reports about China in Europe and America were mostly negative. The international environment of reform and opening up has been challenged unprecedentedly. " Zhang Qing said that under such circumstances, it is very necessary for China to play the role of sports as the main platform for non-governmental diplomacy, and take the Asian Games as an opportunity to open up the situation and improve the surrounding environment.

according to Zhang Qing's recollection, there were voices in the world saying that they wanted to boycott the Beijing Asian Games. Due to the fruitful work done by the foreign affairs department and the Asian Games Organizing Committee, this did not happen in the end. On the contrary, the participation of 37 delegations set a record that year, and Taiwan Province returned to the Asian Games after a lapse of 12 years.

However, Zhang Qing said that at that time, because the outside world didn't know much about the real situation in China, all kinds of prejudices, misunderstandings, intentional misinterpretations and even malicious attacks were real.

He remembers that when the Japanese delegation came, they brought several containers of food and drinks. "In their imagination, China was a poor and chaotic place, but they didn't expect to come and have a look. They had everything to eat." As a result, after the Asian Games, the Japanese delegation left behind a lot of food that they had brought but had no time to eat.

When chatting privately, the coaches of athletes from Taiwan Province told the receptionists that the media there always said that the mainland was "in dire straits", but when they came to Beijing, it was not the case at all.

Over half a month, more than 6, foreign athletes and coaches came to Beijing to compete, and nearly 2, media reporters and foreign tourists watched the games. Through various reports, hundreds of millions of foreigners learned that the Asian Games was concerned about Beijing, which undoubtedly gave China the best opportunity to publicize and show themselves.

At the closing ceremony on October 7th, the Saudi delegation put up the banner "Thank you China", while the Bangladeshi delegation put up the slogan "Long live the friendship between China and Bangladesh".