Olympic Legend

Author: Wang Xiaoshu, Editor-in-Chief
Publisher:
Publishing Date: July 1, 2004
Features: 23 exciting legends detailing the ups and downs of the Olympic Movement; 180 precious images showcasing the unique charm of the sports brand; Authored by Olympic experts, offering insightful interpretations of the Olympic mysteries. The illustrated book Legends of the Olympics is a tribute to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, bringing the Olympic spirit into households and closer to the people. It is both a commitment made in Beijing’s bid for the Olympics and a solemn requirement of the Olympic Charter. Thus, Legends of the Olympics was born, aiming to contribute to people’s understanding of the Olympic knowledge. Through 23 vivid and lively Olympic legends, the book comprehensively presents the spirit of the Olympic Movement. Coupled with over a hundred precious historical photographs, it allows readers to grasp the pulse of the Olympics in a relaxed reading atmosphere, appreciate the grand epic scenes of the Olympic Games, and experience the vivid charm of Olympic figures.
A fundamental principle guiding the selection of works in this book is aestheticism. In other words, it strives to provide readers with a light and joyful reading experience, selecting, filtering, and highlighting classic literary works from thousands of years of literary history based on the principle of beauty. Although only 109 works are included, they are essentially the most artistically moving masterpieces from each era, representing beautiful essays, renowned poems, famous musical compositions, and beloved excerpts from novels that have inspired, nourished, and shaped countless generations of Chinese people, becoming the very essence of our national spirit and culture. This is one of the book’s most prominent features. Achieving this is not as easy as it may seem. The ancient Chinese concept of literature serving as a means to convey moral and philosophical ideas viewed literature as a grand and burdensome undertaking, concerning not only personal reputation but also the honor of ancestors, the fate of the nation. Let alone the traditional view of literature, in recent decades, the re-evaluation and rejection of the legacy of ancestors from a political and ideological perspective have led experts selecting literary masterpieces for general readers to prioritize moral and political heights, the dissemination of knowledge and culture, while neglecting and setting aside people’s appreciation for beauty. As a result, ordinary readers have become estranged from the life states of ancient people and have misinterpreted and held prejudices against the literary heritage. In recent years, short essays by Lin Yutang, Zhou Zuoren, and others, which appraised ancient works with a "light and pure" perspective, became quite popular. In a sense, they can be seen as a reaction against the excessive "heaviness" and "substance" of literary history.
The combination of selected works and literary history is the book’s second feature. While reading the masterpieces alone can bring aesthetic pleasure and joy, it can also make one linger among towering trees while missing the lush forest. The editor-in-chief has categorized the selected works into eight themes: "Magnificent Humanistic Sentiments," "Noble Wei-Jin Spirit," "Heroic Atmosphere of a Prosperous Era," "Deep and Gentle Poetic Emotion," "Melancholic National Concern," "Passionate Love and Ideals," "Tragic Heroic Spirit," and "Sincere Literary Soul." These themes, derived from literary creations of specific historical periods, highlight the dominant aesthetic trends and attitudes of each era. The concise selection, detailed annotations, prompts, and summaries for each theme give the book a clear and vivid function as a literary history. Although it is only a brief outline and explanation, it creates connections, links, and causality among the most familiar and beloved masterpieces in the eyes of readers, making them shimmering jewels and surging peaks in the river of beauty. Whether readers skim through the book or seek a general understanding of traditional literature, they will "come for what they hear and leave with what they see." This is a successful effort by the compilers to cater to the comprehension level and reading expectations of beginners.