A Chinese father and son's devotion to the Olympic Games

By Tang Yuankai

GREEN GAMES: Liu Hongliang, a famous scientist and the son of China's first Olympic athlete, speaks to journalists at the premiere of a documentary on Green Olympics in Beijing on August 13, 2008 (LI GANG)

As the London 2012 Olympic Games approached, the grand event in Beijing four year ago seems even more distant in the past. But for an academician named Liu Hongliang, a commitment made at the 2008 games to promote a "Green Olympics" continues to this day.

"Green Olympics is much more than a commitment of the Beijing Olympic Games. It should be closely combined with the goal of building an ecological civilization," said Liu.

Liu is an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and former President of the Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences (CRAES). Aged 80, he is still guiding a number of Ph.D candidates, and is responsible for some of the country's key research projects.

A prominent father

CHINA'S DEBUT: A picture of Liu Changchun on the field of the 10th Olympic Games in Los Angeles, the United States, in 1932. It was the first time a Chinese athlete had participated in the Olympic Games (XINHUA)

Despite Liu's great achievements in environmental engineering, his fame is overshadowed by his father, Liu Changchun (1909-83), who was the first Chinese athlete to compete in the Olympic Games.

Liu Changchun is regarded as China's Pierre de Coubertin, who is considered the father of the modern Olympics, because he introduced China to the Olympics.

It was 1932 when Liu Changchun left for the United States to attend the men's 100-meter race at the 10th Olympic Games in Los Angeles as the sole participant from China. His son, Liu Hongliang, had been born just 13 days earlier.

That year, Japan invaded the three provinces of northeast China­—Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning—and attempted to force the world to recognize its puppet regime there. Without consulting him, the puppet regime announced that Liu Changchun would participate in the Olympic Games as an athlete of the "new country." Liu Changchun was furious, and promptly declared in a newspaper that as a Chinese he would refuse to participate in the Olympic Games on behalf of the Japanese and their puppet regime in northeast China.

After heeding the advice of Zhang Xueliang, a patriotic general who was stationed in northeast China, Liu Changchun changed his mind and agreed to appear on the competition field to represent China.

As the first-time athlete from a struggling country, he faced a bumpy road to the Olympics.

In 1929, General Zhang organized a track and field tournament between China, Japan and Germany, with Japanese and German Olympic athletes invited to compete. Liu Changchun won second place in the men's 100-meter race, and immediately rose to fame.

In order to provide better training for Liu Changchun, Zhang spent a great deal of money to hire a famous German athlete, then the world 5,000-meter record-holder, to be his coach.

When Liu Changchun departed for the United States, scores of his fellow countrymen saw him off at the port, which moved him into tears. He swore he would "try his best" to win honor back for the country.

However, the long journey at sea exhausted him. When he hurried to Los Angeles just one day before the game, there was no time for him to rest and adapt to the competition field. As a result, he failed to perform at his top level and missed the final.

"China was a weak country at that time. It was too lonely and helpless for my father to attend the Olympic Games alone. He could only return with deep regret," said Liu Hongliang.

But Liu Changchun's attendance was so significant for the Chinese people that he has been remembered and adored by them. According to statistics, his best 100-meter race result ranked in the world's top 10.

"My father's biggest wish was to see China host an Olympic Games. This was unimaginable under the past national conditions. But finally his wish came true in 2008. It proved that the Olympic spirit is closely linked with social development," said Liu Hongliang.

Liu Changchun passed away in 1983. China resumed sending athletes to participate in the Olympic Games again in 1984 and held the Olympic Games in 2008.

Birth of the Green Olympics

"My father was a person of strong will. He was always firm in the pursuit of his life goals. The Olympic spirit that I saw in him was this unremitting determination," said Liu Hongliang.

Moreover, his father's love and loyalty for the country had a great influence on him, and he was taught to always put the needs of the country and the people first.

In the early 1950s, Liu Hongliang entered Tsinghua University in Beijing, where he intended to major in hydropower engineering. But after listening to Qian Weichang, a well-known scientist in applied mathematics, mechanics and physics, and Vice President of Tsinghua University from 1946-82, Liu Hongliang changed his mind and instead chose water supply and sewerage as his major, which was badly needed in China at the time.

"My father's patriotism, integrity, and diligence have motivated me at various stages of my life, and led me to success," said Liu Hongliang.

Twenty-five years after Liu Changchun passed away, the Olympic torch was handed over to Beijing. Liu Hongliang traveled to Greece—the birthplace of the Olympic Games—to take over the Olympic torch.

"I became an Olympic torchbearer because my father is the first Chinese athlete to participate in the Olympics, and second, because of my involvement with the concept of the Green Olympics," he said.

In the 1980s and 90s, Liu was president of CRAES, China's biggest research institute of environmental science. In the last 30 years, this non-profit environmental protection research institute, founded at the beginning of China's reform and opening up in 1978 for the purpose of improving people's well-being, has cultivated high-level research teams specializing in solid waste disposal technology, circular economy and cleaner production, contaminated soil remediation, air pollution control and designing eco-industrial parks.

As the environmental consultant of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG), Liu Hongliang paid special attention to Beijing's air and water quality and raised many specific suggestions on solving various environmental problems. He made valuable suggestions at seminars while inspecting sports venues.

The Central Government and the Beijing Municipal Government had invested 140 billion yuan ($21.54 billion) in more than 10 major projects. As a result, the air and water quality and the overall environmental quality of Beijing and several other Olympic host cities had been improved dramatically.

At the same time, he proposed that science and technology should play more important roles in environmental protection, and more money should be invested in solving key problems of environmental science research. His proposals received attention from the highest levels of government.

He proposed developing public transportation, but at the same time pointed out that Beijing couldn't reduce exhaust emission and control air pollution solely by restricting the number of cars running on the road. It must also raise exhaust emission standards to match the advanced standards of the European Union.

BOCOG adopted many of his suggestions. In the Olympic Village that covered 7 square kilometers, only electric cars were used; around the Olympic sports venues, athletes' apartments and the media center, a new quick-charge hybrid bus was used. The bus used clean energy and even achieved zero exhaust emissions, making it the most advanced environmentally friendly vehicle in the village.

Since athletes from Europe and the United States have the habit of drinking tap water, Liu Hongliang suggested that tap water in the capital airport, athletes' apartments, and sports venues should be converted into purified water.

"In fact, the tap water of Beijing is very clean and can be drunk directly. However, some water pipes in Beijing are worn down by years without repair and affect the quality of tap water," he said.

BOCOG took Liu's advice and converted the tap water of related venues and spots into purified water so that athletes could drink from the tap.

Four years after the Beijing Olympic Games, Liu has continued to carry on the ideals initiated for the Green Olympics. His goal is to help all Chinese people fully understand the concept and apply it to all aspects of economic and social lives.

Who is Liu Hongliang

June 20, 1932: Born in Dalian, northeast China's Liaoning Province. He is the son of China's first Olympic athlete Liu Changchun.

1954-82: Graduated from the Department of Civil Engineering at Tsinghua University and worked there until 1982.

1982: Joining the Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences (CRAES), a national non-profit environmental research institution established on December 31, 1978.

1994: Selected as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

As a top pioneer in research on water environment, Liu Hongliang has made significant contributions to the study of lakes, including eutrophication and integrated control of lake environmental pollution. Now he is a research fellow of CRAES and deputy director of the Consultant Committee on Science and Technology under the Ministry of Environmental Protection.