Figure skaters draw artistic inspiration from traditional Chinese painting
Chinese figure skating athletes are saluting elements of traditional Chinese culture as the Olympic rink becomes an important stage for home-grown artistic beauty.
Figure skating emerged as the most sought-after buzz when the team events started on Friday.
That's not only because of the captivating and outstanding sports performances combining skating and dancing, but also as a result of the increasing interest and pride in traditional Chinese culture elements.
As the elements are increasingly becoming more deeply embedded in the minds of Chinese Olympians and millions of audiences, Chinese skaters are drawing artistic inspiration from traditional Chinese painting, famous movie theme music and many other aspects.
China's two-time Olympian Jin Boyang competed on Friday morning in the Figure Skating Team Event Men's Short Program to the theme music of the popular movie "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" by Ang Lee.
Having used the same music when he competed in the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics, Jin said it was more meaningful this time when competing in his home country.
"As a Chinese athlete, I feel even more comfortable when dancing to the 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' theme and to fully showcase the piece of music representing China," he said.
Jin Boyang competes today in the Figure Skating Team Event Men's Short Program.
Ice-dancing duo Wang Shiyue and Liu Xinyu captivated audiences with their training session on Thursday at the Capital Indoor Stadium.
Wearing green and blue outfits, resembling the colors of traditional Chinese painting, for the free skating segment of their figure skating, the pair impressed viewers around the world.
Liu's blue outfit resembled a mountain landscape and Wang's green skirt reflected the water running through it as they practiced on the ice rink.
Ice-dancing duo Wang Shiyue (right) and Liu Xinyu in their training session.
"We would like the outfits to fully represent our home country's grandiose scenery," Liu said.
An all-female ensemble of young dancers, led by Meng Qingyang, had already captured the hearts of millions of viewers of the Spring Festival Gala earlier this week.
Their poetic dance, "The Journey of a Legendary Landscape Painting," highlighted the aesthetics of traditional blue-green shanshui (literally "mountain–water") painting.
Dance performance "The Journey of a Legendary Landscape Painting" in the Spring Festival Gala.
"Qinglv," or "blue-green" elements, have since made the headlines for their captivating resemblance of a Chinese natural landscape.
This painting genre was famous for the use of blue and green mineral or plant dyes as primary colors to depict grand natural landscapes and sceneries.
Online commentator Joey said he got goose bumps and tears in his eyes after seeing the dance.
"Words can't describe this beauty in my perspective," he noted.
The ideas and aesthetic elements of the gala dance by the China Oriental Performing Arts Group were conjured from the famous painting "A Panorama of Mountains and Rivers," the archetypal blue–green shanshui style work by Wang Ximeng in the Song Dynasty (960-1279).
