The 24th Olympic Winter Games had a grand opening at the National Stadium in Beijing on 4 February 2022. At the opening ceremony, the impressive main torch was presented in an innovative way. After the main torch was lit, the torch base at Beijing Medals Plaza set between the Bird’s Nest and the Water Cube and the torch bases at Zhangjiakou and Yanqing will be lit in turn, and the flame will continue to burn until the end of the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Beijing 2022.
The torch bases in the National Stadium (Olympic Central Zone), the Yanqing Zone in Beijing and the Zhangjiakou Zone in Hebei Province were designed by the team led by Professor Ma Sai, Party Secretary of the Academy of Arts & Design of Tsinghua University. On the basis of the main torch at the opening ceremony, the concept of delivering a simple, safe and splendid Olympic Games was well incorporated in meet the requirements of art and engineering technology; the pure elements of ice and snow were used to interpret purity, peace, solidarity and friendship. Crystal snowflakes and graceful ribbons rotate towards each other, like performers dancing with long sleeves on ice, which look light, elegant, and simple. Such modern design conveys the Oriental aesthetics and makes one of the highlights of the Olympic Winter Games.
The three Olympic flame cauldron installations will be permanently housed at the National Stadium in Beijing, as well as the other competition zones in Beijing's Yanqing District, and in Hebei province's Zhangjiakou city following the completion of the Games.
Ma said he organized more than a dozen teachers and students from the Department of Industrial Design and the Department of Sculpture at the AADTHU to work on the dynamic cauldron design since November 2020, after he was commissioned by the opening and closing ceremonies team for the Winter Olympics. He believed the final product perfectly demonstrates the Olympic spirit and concept, as well as the speed, action and passion for the Games while considering science and technology for the installations' structures and materials during inclement weather.
