Human Flower Project

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Ringing in Beijing

Chinese and South Korean students team up for pre-Olympic festivity.

South Korean students in Beijing fashioned an Olympic

symbol from flowers, part of a “green exchange”

Photo: Hao Xiaotian for Xinhua

The next Summer Olympics are still fourteen months off, but preparations and even decorations began long ago. The Chinese capital is hoping to allay international suspicions and raise its global profile with One World, One Dream, the Summer Olympics of 2008.

One effort of the past week was an Olympic emblem made of flowers by students at Beijing’s Botanical Garden. One hundred young South Koreans had the chance to visit China, and 60 Chinese students visited South Korea as “green volunteers,” May 14-16. (Here are an informative essay about the state of environmental education in Asia and an impressive roster of “green” organizations—scores of them!— serving students in China and Hong Kong.)

Looking at this floral sculpture prompted us to investigate the interlocking rings that have symbolized all the Olympics in our memory. We read at wiki that the emblem “was originally designed in 1913 by Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic Games, but gained widespread popularity due to its promotion by Nazi Germany.”

It’s said to signify “the union of the five continents and the meeting of athletes from throughout the world at the Olympic Games.” How nice. But, your Baronship, aren’t there seven continents—or at least six ? (At the moment, we can’t name any Antarctic athletes who competed in summer sports, anyway.) Even here at the Human Flower Project, we’ve used the motto “floral customs on seven continents.” 

Turns out that geographers actually disagree about counting continents. Some scholars, mainly Europeans, have lumped North and South America together—even before NAFTA. And these days, we understand, Europe and Asia, rather than being split on a dotted line running from Estonia to Istanbul, are often merged as “Eurasia.” (Our third grade teacher Mrs. Berquist is rolling over in her grave.)

We aim for open-mindedness in most things, but in this case—favoring a cultural definition of “continent” over a topographical one—we’re sticking with seven. It’s such a good number!  The five rings of the Olympic flag and this Beijing flower project will have to stand for something else, like the number of times John Williams is permitted to compose a new “anthem”  for the games (he must be stopped!).

We’re not giving in on Pluto as a planet either.