Source: CCTV.com | 07-26-2008 13:34

A large cultural display is set to open at Beijing's Olympic Park on August 9th. Visitors will increase their knowledge about Chinese culture in more than 30 "lucky cloud" houses.

On Friday, organizers for the Beijing Olympics invited the press to meet volunteers taking part in the cultural display. And one of the volunteers is kung fu movie star, Jackie Chan.

In the "lucky cloud" house displaying the folk arts of northwestern Shaanxi province, artists are performing shadow puppetry. This type of play was popular in Shaanxi over two thousand years ago. It reached its peak during the Yuan dynasty about seven hundred years ago. The artists here are giving visitors from home and abroad the chance to experience traditional Chinese culture.

Jackie Chan is one of the volunteers here. (Photo: beijing2008.cn)

Jackie Chan said "I still have more to learn about Chinese culture. I have visited six of the special houses here. And I learned that paper can be used in this way. I think TV stations and other media outlets should cover Chinese culture more so it will go global. I think foreigners will like this. I really wish a place like this could continue so that more foreigners can understand China."

The "lucky cloud" houses feature a large number of state-level non-tangible cultural heritages and folk arts from provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions. The houses open to athletes and spectators and the number of visitors is expected to reach an average of 180,000 a day during the Games.