50,000 songs gathered in Olympic campaign

(BEIJING, February 13) -- Over 50,000 songs have reached the organizers of the campaign to seek best songs for the Beijing Olympic Games in August this year, the Beijing Evening News reported.

The Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) started soliciting the songs on April 15, 2003.

The responders include ordinary citizens, students, professional composers, overseas Chinese, people with disabilities, and many others.

Among the entries, many praise the rise of China, athletes' striving for the title, triumph of bid victory etc. However, the Olympic songs have their audiences not only in China, but the world over. "We expect more entries which embody the common aspirations and ideals of mankind," said Jiang Xiaoyu, executive vice-president of BOCOG.

"Only a song advocating the splendor of humanity as encouraged by the Olympic spirit, can surmount the cultural differences and become a good Olympic song," he said.

The world audiences would like to sing songs that integrate the nationality and internationality, he added.

The melody of "Hand in Hand" of the Seoul Olympic Games did not mention any word like "Korean", but it perfectly expressed the spirit of the people of the Republic of Korea promoting unity, development and progress, Jiang said.

With the Olympic Games less than 200 days away, BOCOG has started to promote part of the entries through television and mobile phone schemes.