Ceremony for Yellow Emperor to bless Olympics

To venerate traditional Chinese culture and bless the Olympics, the 2008 ceremony for the Yellow Emperor will be held in Xinzheng on April 8 to celebrate the legendary emperor's birthday.

For hundreds of years, the local people of Xinzheng, a county-level city in Zhengzhou, capital of Henan province, have paid respect every year to the Yellow Emperor - or Huangdi- considered to be the common ancestor of all Chinese people.

The ceremony has since developed into an seminal event and is now one of the most important annual festivities in central China.

More than 20,000 people are expected to view the rites this year, including central and local government leaders, delegations from China's Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions, Taiwan province and overseas Chinese.

Participants in the event will witness the grand moment when respect is paid to the sacred fire altar before the Yellow Emperor's sculpture - then a flag will drop to start a torch relay from his hometown.

Medalists in previous Olympics will be part of the ceremony to bless the Games, watched over by the emperor's statue.

Other activities to mark the occasion include an evening soiree, the opening ceremony for Yellow Emperor Cultural Week - including an international forum about him -tourism and trade promotional campaigns and a traditional Chinese calligraphy exhibition.

Five thousand years ago, Huangdi unified the battle-plagued Chinese nation and established his empire in Xinzheng.

Years later under his leadership ancient China for the first time experienced a golden age of cultural development and prosperity by developing Chinese writing, silk making, the compass and using the lunar calendar.

To ensure cohesion among the tribes of the nation, the Yellow Emperor relinquished the totem of his own tribe, the bear, and adopted a new totem with characteristics of various tribes - a dragon featuring a snake's body, a fish's tail, a lion's head, deer's horns and eagle's claws. The dragon has since become an emblem of the Chinese nation.

(China Daily 03/12/2008 page19)