An interactive cultural event titled Best Wishes to Beijing: Charm of Chinese Characters in the Olympic Village has attracted attention from athletes, coaches and other visitors from China and abroad.

The cultural event, housed in a 50-sq-m pavilion in the Olympic Village, is designed to give visitors a chance to learn more about Chinese culture and arts, says Sun Jidong, an organizer with the World of Chinese magazine.

Viewers will see Chinese calligraphy, ink paintings, photographs, posters, woodblock prints and installations from 12 veteran Chinese artists, including Ouyang Zhongshi, Xie Xiaoqing, Wang Wangwang, Shen Yanxiang and Yu Anmin.

Any foreign visitors can ask the organizers for the Chinese equivalents of their names and then learn how write them down on Chinese rice paper with a paintbrush.

Overseas visitors can also learn basic spoken Chinese with the help of Chinese language coaches at the pavilion and get free copies of World of Chinese, published by Commercial Press, one of the most authoritative publications on Chinese language learning.

The cultural event runs until August 20.

(China Daily August 18, 2008)