On August 27, at the opening ceremony of the 13th National Games, President Xi Jinping met representatives of the individual and groups, and prize-winning athletes. In his speech, President Xi stressed that sport is carrying the national dream of prosperity and revitalization. Much attention should be paid to the development of sport, and it should be well planned and unswervingly implemented to constantly create a new situation in China's sports development and accelerate the country to become a sports power.

Cheng Xin, an undergraduate student from the School of Precision Instrument and Opto-electronics Engineering at Tianjin University and a volunteer at National Games opening ceremony said: “I feel the responsibility and the glory. Before the opening ceremony, I was nervous, excited, and a little wistful. Everyone was looking forward to meeting President Xi. To our surprise, our wish really came true!

During the ceremony, the rain did not stop but became heavier. Although there were umbrellas, we were not willing to use them to keep the rain off, because the umbrellas were to be used as props in our performance at the ceremony and we regarded them as most precious thing at that time. We even placed the umbrella in our raincoats that our University prepared for us.

At the beginning of the ceremony, a resounding cheer instantly infected me. In the heavy rain, we finished the most important performance we prepared this summer.

Through this show, I really feel the youth, health and vitality that sport has brought me.”

(Source:  Excerpted from the article "A country strengthens along with its sports, and sports flourishes with the prosperous country" from the People's Daily (23th edition, September 5, 2017)

 Editors: Yin Shiyu and Ross Colquhoun