26 September,2023 08:24 AM IST | Hangzhou | Ashwin Ferro
The medals for the Asian Games
Innovative technology stares you in the face across the length and breadth of Hangzhou, known to be China's tech hub, to the extent that its applications are visible in toilets too. The commodes in the washrooms at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Stadium that hosted the glitzy opening ceremony sport a series of buttons, each performing a specific function. Temperature control, the amount of water flow needed, the seating position and even the functioning of the in-built jetspray, can all be adjusted from a panel conveniently placed at the armrest of the toilet seat.
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The technology-propelled washroom at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre. Pic/Ashwin Ferro
While most medals for global sports events are circular, the ones being handed out to winners of the Asian Games here are uniquely shaped. The circular medals are encompassed by a somewhat square-shaped border, making them distinctly different. Designed by Zhang Junjie, director of the Industrial Design Department of the China Academy of Art, the medals are called Shan Shui and are in the shape of a jade cong, which is a holy article used by ancient Chinese people for ceremonies dating back to the Liangxhu Culture which flourished in 2500 BC. Interestingly, there is a bridge-shaped buckle just above the medals which symbolises the famed water towns of the Yangtze River Delta region.
Volunteers are the backbone of any multi-discipline Games and the Hangzhou Asiad is no different. Nearly 40,000 volunteers have been recruited for the Games here and this includes students from 46 universities in the Zhejiang province besides international representatives and specialists in the field of linguistics, medicine and other services. While most of these are Chinese residents, resulting in the language being a hindrance while communicating with international guests, they efficiently overcome it by using speech to text translations on their mobile phones. This reporter was pleasantly surprised to be greeted with a "Namaste" by one of the volunteers at the Main Press Centre. "We have been taught a few words in different languages to make our guests feel comfortable. Namaste and Shukriya in Hindi and Shukran [thank you] and Mabrook [blessed] in Arabic are a few examples," Lin Ji, 24, one of the volunteers at the Media Village told mid-day.
