Gathering at Hangzhou Asian Games for better future

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

By Gong Yuhua

With the countdown to the opening of the Hangzhou Asian Games underway, Hangzhou is making final preparations, pulling out all stops to refine organizational details and raise service standards.

From venue maintenance to support services, and from cultural exchange to atmosphere building, Hangzhou welcomes guests from all over the world with great passion and vibrancy.

After the 1990 Beijing Asian Games and the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games, the Asian Games torch will be lit up in China for the third time.

Over the past 33 years, the Asian Games has witnessed the vigorous development of China's sports undertakings, and recorded China's steady march forward.

Since Hangzhou won the bid to host the Asian Games, the city and the 5 co-host cities of Ningbo, Wenzhou, Jinhua, Shaoxing, and Huzhou have upheld the concept of "green," "intelligent," "frugal," and "civilized" in organizing the Games. They are committed to delivering a splendid Asian Games with Chinese characteristics and Asian styles.

It will be a green Games, with the fruitful outcomes of the green development philosophy.

All the Asian Games venues and offices use green electricity, helping create the first carbon-neutral Asian Games in history. Electric power networks deliver green power from thousands of miles away to the venues of the Asian Games; electric vehicles running the streets help foster a new fashion for green transportation; ingeniously designed Asian Games venues utilize technologies to reduce energy consumption and enable sustainability. The "Green Asian Games" matches words with action, reflecting China's ethos of protecting the ecological environment and caring for the planet.

It will be an intelligent Games, with technological innovation to be seen in every aspect.

At the Asian Games information technology management center located in Binjiang district of Hangzhou, energy consumption of venues, real-time conditions, passenger flow, traffic flow and other information are shown clearly. On the roads outside the Shaoxing Baseball & Softball Sports Center, autonomous buses decorated with Asian Games elements stand ready to welcome spectators...

Thanks to the extensive use of technologies, venue management for the Hangzhou Asian Games is much more refined, and services comprehensively upgraded, allowing spectators to have better experiences.

It will be a frugal Games, embracing "simple yet sophisticated" as both the pursuit and course of action.

The vast majority of venues for the Hangzhou Asian Games are reconstructed and renovated rather than newly built. For example, the squash venue of the Asian Games is temporarily converted from an exhibition hall at the Hangzhou International Expo Center. The LED screens, spectator seats, and fire equipment inside the venue are rented, so after the Games ends, the venue can be dismantled in the shortest time to restore the exhibition hall to its original function.

A frugal Games does not mean abandoning innovation or lowering standards, but spending less, doing more, and doing things well, following the principle of "substance over extravagance."

It will be a civilized Games, with the host city showcasing new heights of civility.

The Asian Games spirit and ethos of good manners will prevail. Over 10,000 events have been held as part of extensive efforts to improve urban quality, governance, and civility. Around 10,000 accessible facilities and nursing rooms have been set up at 56 venues. New practices promoting courteous conduct have been pioneered province-wide, enriching urban culture and elevating urban refinement.

Multifaceted enhancements to the city's image, surroundings and scenery of Hangzhou have stirred a sense of communal pride in all citizens, making it the prevailing ethic that every citizen contributes to the Games.

Over 12,000 athletes from 45 countries and regions across Asia have gathered along the banks of the Qiantang River, coming together for this grand sporting event.

"It's the home that we love. From our hearts love grows. Near or far we're together. A million voices full of pride, sing it loud and clear, we are all here in Asia." As the song "The Love We Share" goes, the Hangzhou Asian Games is becoming an important opportunity to jointly create a better future for Asia and the world.

With sports as a carrier to tell China's stories and spread China's voice, the Hangzhou Asian Games, themed "Heart to Heart, @Future," will make a valuable contribution to building a community with a shared future for mankind.