奧運沙雕亮相舟山

近日，以“奧運史話——從雅典到北京”為主題的沙雕公園，在第九屆中國舟山國際沙雕節開幕后向游人開園，伴著藍天碧海，許海峰、劉翔與五位“福娃”一齊亮相浙江舟山朱家尖島海濱。

在長200米、寬50米的海灘上，一尊巨大的北京奧運會火炬沙雕成為這座公園的主體形象。公園內由50多個沙雕構成的三大組合沙雕群，分別將古希臘奧運歷史、歷屆奧運會盛況和北京2008奧運會予以生動展現。

據沙雕節組委會有關負責人介紹，本屆沙雕節是北京奧組委批準的第29屆奧運會組委會文化活動部支持活動之一。為迎接2008年北京奧運會倒計時一周年，沙雕節推出的奧運沙雕公園于8月8日開始堆沙作業，從9月16日起，來自中國、美國和俄羅斯等10個國家的30名沙雕藝術家匯聚朱家尖島，經歷近半個月的烈日曝曬和臺風肆虐，終于精雕細鑿出奧運沙雕公園的全部塑像。專程前往舟山擔任沙雕節比賽評委的國際沙雕界專家艾潑·馮格爾說：“無論從公園創意還是從造型風格看，這些沙雕都近乎完美地體現了‘更快、更高、更強’的奧運精神，三大組合沙雕群的體量更是與朱家尖島的海濱環境相得益彰。”

本屆沙雕節開幕后將延續至2007年11月底，但舟山奧運沙雕公園的沙雕群像將在海濱一直佇立至2008年7月底，它將以獨特的藝術形式迎接北京奧運會。

自從1999年舟山舉辦首屆國際沙雕節以來，沙雕就成為當地旅游業一筆巨大的無形資產，朱家尖島的年游客量也由原來的40萬人次增至目前的近150萬人次。僅2006年沙雕節期間，這個只有2.6萬常住人口的海島就吸引了27.8萬游客。

Olympic Images in Sand Sculptures

By Tan Jin

On September 29th， 2007， the Olympics Sand Sculpture Park opened to the general public in Zhujiajian Islet in Zhoushan Archipelago，Zhejiang Province. The park was the result of the Ninth China Zhoushan International Sand Sculpture Festival starting on September 19.

The beach site for the sculptures measures 200 meters in length and 50 meters in width. This is an event accredited by the organizing committee of the 29th Beijing Olympic Games.

The theme sculpture for this exhibition is a giant torch of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. The initial preparations for the sand sculptures started on August 8th， 2007， marking the one year countdown to the 29th Beijing Olympic Games. Over 30 artists from ten countries such as USA， Russia and China started their individual sculptures on September 19th. They worked for ten days against sweltering heat and storms before they successfully created over 50 sculptures featuring the theme of “History of the Olympics-From Athens to Beijing? The sculptures featured historical events and figures of the Olympics， including ancient Athens Olympic Games， all previous modern Olympic Games and the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. The figures include Liu Xiang， China’s Olympic 110-meter hurdle champion in Athens， Xu Haifeng， China’s first ever Olympic gold medalist and five Fuwas， the official mascots of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

The sand sculpture festival will last till November， 2007， but the Olympic sculptures will go through July， 2008. It is designed to serve as a special event to usher in the Beijing Olympic Games.

Since the first international festival in 1999 in Zhoushan， sand sculptures have become a huge intangible asset for the local tourism in the country’s largest archipelago. Since then， the annual arrival has increased from 400，000 to nearly 1.5 million. During the 2006 sand sculpture festival， 278，000 tourists flocked to the islet where 26，000 residents live.

(Translated by David)