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Communication across Borders: Translation & Interpreting; Vol. 04 No. 01 (2024) 
ISSN (online): 2766-791X 
ISSN (print):    2770-6354  

 

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China’s Culture Dissemination in Greece: From the Perspective of Olympic Spirit 
Influences 

 
Xiao MA1, Guochang CHEN2 

 
1Faculty of English Language and Culture, Institute of Hermeneutics, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, China, 
Email: kentma@gdufs.edu.cn 
2Corresponding author: School of Journalism and Communication, Institute of Hermeneutics, Guangdong University of 
Foreign Studies, China, Email: cgcchen@gdufs.edu.cn 
 
Abstract: The spirit of the modern Olympics originated in Greek civilization and has become an important means of 
promoting exchanges among peoples, solidarity among nations, and mutual understanding among civilizations worldwide. 
Athens, the capital of Greece, hosted the modern Summer Olympic Games for the first time in 1896 and again in 2004. 
Beijing, the capital of China, is notable for being the first city to host both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games. The 
experiences of China and Greece in hosting the Summer Olympics back-to-back in 2004 and 2008 have strengthened the 
Olympic spirit as a new bond of cultural exchanges and mutual understanding between the two countries. Following these 
events, exchanges and cooperation between China and Greece accelerated. Greece, as the first European Union country to 
respond to China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), has become a model for international civilization exchanges, mutual 
understanding, and shared prosperity, exemplified by the cooperation in the construction and development of the Port of 
Piraeus. The Olympic spirit has thus become a bridge of friendship, promoting mutual understanding. Under the Belt and 
Road Initiative, China and Greece will continue to advance in cultural exchanges, enhance cultural mutual trust, and 
strengthen cooperation and development. 
Key Words: the Olympic Spirit Influences; China’s Culture Dissemination; Belt and Road Initiative (BRI); 
Funding: This work was supported by the Humanities and Social Sciences Foundation of the Ministry of Education of China 
(Grant No. 23YJC740003).  
1. Introduction 
China and Greece are excellent representatives of Eastern and Western civilizations. China and Greece have respected each 
other since ancient times. Greece is regarded as the cradle of Western civilization. The ancient Greek historian Herodotus, on 
the other hand, believed that “China is the cradle of all culture and wisdom, and the nation favored by the sun god.” Ancient 
Europeans' imagination of mainland China also unfolded through the ancient Greek geographer Ptolemy's description of 
Ceres. The ancient Silk Road gave the people of ancient Greece the space to imagine China as the “Oriental Other”. If 
traditional Chinese culture was obscure and imaginary to ancient Greece, today in the 21st century, in the context of China’s 
Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), China and Greece have a new opportunity to learn from each other’s civilizations. From Mount 
Olympus to Mount Everest, from the Aegean Sea to the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, China and Greece are facing a new 
historical opportunity for common prosperity. Both being as the world’s most important civilization, the communication 
between China and Greece should take place in an appropriate culture context. “Accessibility is key to the understanding of 
the meaning of the discourse.” (Chen, 2020). With openness and win-win cooperation, the two countries share mutual respect 
for the wisdom of ancient civilizations as the starting point, the inheritance of the Olympic spirit as a new opportunity for 
dialogue, and the Belt and Road Initiative as a new idea for civilization development, in the context of the spirit of “Faster, 
Higher, Stronger – Together”, the two countries will continue their cooperation, and set up a model of mutual understanding 
among civilizations in the international community. 
2. Literature Review 
2.1 The Perspective of Mutual Appreciation of Chinese and Greek Civilizations 
The Clash of Civilization theory holds the view that “relations between states and groups from different civilizations, will not 
be close and will often be antagonistic.” (Samuel Huntington, 1996). However, the friendly practice of mutual understanding 
between the civilizations of China and Greece breaks this assertion with facts. China-Greece relations were transformed by 
the mid-2000s, “the fact that Beijing was hosting the 2008 Olympics after the 2004 Athens Olympic offered a unique 
opportunity to increase cultural contacts and advanced cooperation” (Stroikos, 2022). Given each civilization has its own long 
history, Sino-Greek people can share the same civilization values and have similar cultural connotations. In recent years, the 
pace of interaction between China and Greece has accelerated and the areas of exchange have deepened. According to the 
report, under the promotion of the “Year of Culture and Tourism in Greece and China” (2021-2022), cultural exchanges and 



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mutual appreciation of civilizations between China and Greece have been carried out frequently. The two countries use 
cultural symbols, such as art, philosophy, theatre, drama and exhibitions of cultural relics, as a vehicle for dialogue, and 
moving from “resembling each other” to “knowing each other”. From “acquaintance and knowledge to similarity and affinity” 
(Cheng, 2022). The commentary article shows in the 50 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations, China and 
Greece, as two long-standing civilizations, “have always appreciated, learned from, understood and helped each other.”(Yan, 
2022). According to the Chinese Academic Index Knowledge (CNKI), as of July 2024, most of the comparative studies on 
the topic of “China and Greece” focus on the long history of Chinese and Greek “myths”, with Greek myths being the most 
popular, with 65 articles, followed by Chinese myths, with 41 articles. Greek mythology has the largest number of articles, 
with 65, while Chinese mythology has the second largest number of articles, with 41. Both countries identify with each other 
as representatives of the East and the West of a long civilization. In Greek mythology, the Olympic spirit is undoubtedly the 
most spiritual treasure that transcends the ancient and the modern, and the cultural space. 
2.2 Research on the Spread and Influence of the Olympic Spirit in Current China 
China first bid to host the Olympic Games in 1991, and has so far successfully organized one Summer and one Winter Olympic 
Games. Beijing became the world's first dual Olympic city. The two Olympic Games contributed to the rooting of the Olympic 
spirit in the hearts of the Chinese people and to the popularity of the Olympic Movement in Chinese society. Research on the 
impact of the Olympic Spirit in China mainly centers on its manifestations, communication carriers, and its influence on 
Chinese values and its own international image. In terms of expression, the Olympic Memory and its carrier, the perfect fusion 
of Chinese cultural elements and Olympic elements, enhance the Chinese cultural confidence and national identity. (Chen & 
Liu, 2024). In terms of the vehicle of communication, Coubertin's “Ode to Sport” glorifies peace and emphasizes the important 
purpose of sport as a vehicle for bringing people from all over the world together, interacting with each other and promoting 
friendship to promote world peace and unity. (Chen R. & Chen X.F., 2024). The humanistic value of the new Olympic motto, 
“Together”, which, in the context of the crisis, conveys the original spirit of the Olympic Games and promotes the idea of 
uniting strengths, coping with change and returning to the humanistic approach, thus promoting the concept of a community 
with a shared future of mankind. (Wu & Cai, 2023). In terms of the integration of values, the Olympic spirit is intrinsically 
compatible with China's Global Civilization Initiative, that is, they share the same value concerns, have similar values and 
have a common value orientation; and sports and physical education based on the Olympic spirit have increasingly become 
an important element of humanistic exchanges and cooperation on the platform of the Belt and Road Initiative. (Liang & 
Wang, 2023). In terms of national image, some studies have taken multiple symbols as the dimension of analysis, arguing that 
the Beijing Winter Olympics, with traditional Chinese culture as its foundation, not only illustrates “Chinese romance” but 
also integrates and expresses the perseverance and inspirational spirit of the Olympic spirit.(Wang, 2023) It can be said that 
the spread of the Olympic spirit in China has promoted the cultural exchanges between China and Greece in a 
multidimensional and in-depth manner. 
3. Discussion 
Mutual Learning of Culture Content in the Perspective of Olympic Spirit 
Since the Opium War of 1840, as the Qing Dynasty was forced to open its gate of authority and market, colonial oppression 
has caused sentiments of national self-improvement and independence to run high in Chinese society. The Chinese people 
wanted to get rid of the plight of being colonized and were constantly searching for ways and means of salvation and survival. 
At the beginning of the 20th century, ZHANG Bolin, the headmaster of Tianjin Nankai High School, made a public speech 
calling for the participation of Chinese athletes in the International Olympic Games. One of the reasons why modern Chinese 
society actively promotes the Olympic Movement and the Olympic spirit is that modern China is in dire need of a spiritual 
force that can awaken national renaissance and break through colonial oppression, “civilizing its spirit and barbarizing its 
body”. On July 17, 1910, Shanghai “Declaration” article “Chinese sports conference of the herald” issued the famous Chinese 
“Three Questions on Olympics”, namely, “When can China send a team to participate in the Olympic Games? When will 
China be able to win the Olympic Games? When will China be able to host the Olympic Games?”(Li, 2018). Since then, 
China has been pursuing its century-old Olympic dream, which was eventually realized in Beijing in 2008. The Olympic spirit 
originated in Greece, and China's journey in pursuit of the Olympic dream is also a journey of mutual understanding between 
Chinese and Greek civilizations. 
3.1 Research Design 
This study mainly adopts questionnaire analysis and case observation to derive opinions. The questionnaire centers in the 
themes of perception of the spread of Chinese culture, preference for specific contents of Chinese culture, and the effects of 
the local spread of Chinese culture in Greece. The age distribution of the respondents concentrated in the 18-25 age group 
and they are all local Greeks, with educational backgrounds at the university level or higher. 



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Meanwhile, this study observes and analyzes cases of cultural exchanges that have been widely reported in China and Greece 
in recent years. The selection of cases takes into account important factors such as the industry, the identity of the 
representative of the person, the source of the report and the authority, etc. Olympic events, the deeds of cultural figures, 
Internet bloggers, and cases of economic and trade cooperation between the two sides were selected as samples for observation 
and analysis. 
3.2 Olympic Spirit: Culture Content of Cross-fertilization Combining Tradition and Modernity between China and Greece 
According to the investigation of the European Business Review (EBR), a positive attitude towards the Chinese people was 
expressed by 71% Greek citizens from the poll of Greek agency Public Issue in July 2016. The research emphasizes that 
“since 2008, the increasingly close ties between Greece and China have caught the attention of the world media”. 
Undoubtedly, sharing the experience of hosting Olympic events has brought the two countries closer together in cultural 
exchanges and the friendship of their people. The 2004 Olympics returned to Athens, Greece, where Beijing took over the 
Olympic flag at the closing ceremony. At the closing ceremony of the Athens Olympic Games, Beijing presented an eight-
minute performance titled “From Olympia to the Great Wall of China”. This presentation aimed to demonstrate to the Greek 
people and the global community the Chinese cultural interpretation of the Olympic spirit. Through the Olympic Games, more 
Greeks have learned about the development of contemporary China and have had direct contact with a modernized China. 
The cultural symbols in the opening ceremonies of the two Beijing Olympic Games, the Olympic medals rich in traditional 
Chinese cultural connotations, and the Olympic mascots that are deeply rooted in people's hearts have perfectly conveyed the 
spiritual character, aesthetic tendency and value orientation of Chinese culture. From the 2008 slogan “One World, One Dream” 
to the 2022 theme “Together to the Future”, it shows the development of the Olympic spirit into Chinese culture, and it also 
fits perfectly with the newly added Olympic motto “Together”. The values of sharing, co-governance and win-win in Chinese 
culture are presented and transmitted to the world through the Olympic Games. For Greece, the Olympic Games are seen as 
part of Greece's own cultural heritage and as its contribution to the world at large (Mavrotas, 2022). By expressing its firm 
support for the Beijing Olympic Games, the Hellenic Olympic Committee recognizes and accepts the Olympic spirit conveyed 
by China. It can be said that China and Greece have accomplished mutual appreciation and recognition of traditional culture 
and modern civilization in the Olympic Games. According to the results of the questionnaire, more than half of the respondents 
to the question “What forms can enhance the understanding of Chinese culture?” believe that cultural exchanges and sports 
events can enhance the spread of Chinese culture in Greece. 
Table 1. Enhance understanding of Chinese culture 

3.3 Olympic Game: A Platform for Cross-cultural Exchanges of Mutual Understanding and Trust between the People of Two 
Countries. 
A 44-member choir of children from the mountains of Fuping County, Hebei Province, China, sang the Olympic Anthem in 
Greek during the opening ceremony of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. Music as an art meets in this moment across the 
languages of China and Greece, interpreting the unity and hope in the Olympic spirit. According to the questionnaire, Chinese 
culture resonates well with local Greek respondents. In the history of cultural exchanges between the people of the two 
countries, there have been both sympathetic exchanges between great thinkers and hospitable exchanges between the people. 
Nikos Kazantzakis, a famous Greek writer and thinker, is passionate about Chinese culture and has written a biography of his 
personal experience in China, which provides valuable material for the Greek public to understand Chinese culture. 
Kazantzakis was invited to visit China again in 1957 and met face-to-face with the Chinese literary scholar Mr. Mao Dun. 
Kazantzakis commented on the similarities between the cultural heritage of China and Greece, noting that “Socrates and 
Confucius are the two masks of mankind, and underneath the masks is the same face of human reason”. In June 2024, the 
statues of another Chinese literary giant, Lu Xun and Kazantzakis, were inaugurated in the Kazantzakis Museum in Crete. 
The two literary giants, who had never met each other before, had long since met ideologically, and the height of Sino-Greek 
cultural exchanges was increasing. For the general public, the short video community has also become a new venue for cultural 
exchanges between Greece and China. Marianna and Sofia, Greek twin sisters studying in China, have received a lot of 
attention and praise for their promotion of China-Greece tourism on Chinese social media and short video platforms, and the 
Greek government has encouraged their friendly initiative by awarding them the title of “Ambassador of Greek Tourism in 
China”. The Greek government encouraged the sisters' friendly initiative by awarding them as “Greek Tourism Ambassadors 



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in China”. The results of the questionnaire on “Favorite Cities in China” showed that Chinese cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, 
Guangzhou and Xi'an are well known in Greece and have become the ideal destinations for Greek young people to travel to 
China. 
3.4 Olympic Spirit Promotes Economic Effectiveness of Sino-Greek Cooperation 
China and Greece have moved from mutual cultural appreciation to development and common prosperity. Greece is the first 
EU member state to sign the Belt and Road initiative with China. The two-way investment between China and Greece focuses 
on maritime transportation, telecommunications and other fields. Among them, the Piraeus Port jointly constructed by China 
and Greece is a successful example of China and Greece practicing the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). According to the Belt 
and Road Country Study: Greece, the economic benefits of the Bi-Port project, which is operated by the Sino-Greek 
partnership, have been favorable, and Greek officials view the project as “the key to unlocking Greece's future investment 
potential...” (Yiannis Plakiotakis, 2019). 
Table 2. 2004-2018 Piraeus Port Benefits 

As the largest port in Greece and the closest deep-water port to the Far East, the new situation of the maritime hub of Bilbao 
has not only brought new opportunities to the lives of the locals, but has also made it possible to share the prosperity and 
development of China and Europe with the guarantee of a transshipment port for maritime transportation. Reversing the 
stereotype of “stealing our job chances”, the throughput of the Port of Piraeus has steadily exceeded the 5-million-ton mark 
since 2016, from 680,000 TEUs at the beginning of the cooperation, and has become a top port in the Mediterranean region. 
Table 3. Throughput of Piraeus Port Data from: Lloyd's List 

In the midst of epidemics and regional conflicts affecting world trade, the Port of Piraeus has maintained its position as the 
top port in the Mediterranean region with a throughput of 5 million tons in the last three years. The significance of the 
exchanges and mutual understanding between the civilizations of China and Greece is worldwide and “in line with the 
essential requirements for the development of civilization.”(Xiao Junzheng, 2024). It is believed that the value of China is 
going to be learned by the Greek exporters gradually, “not only as an importing country but also as a hub for the export of 
Greek products to Southeast Asia.” (George Floras, 2020) 
Against the background of the deepening cooperation in the economic and trade fields between China and Greece, the 
investment of Chinese enterprises in Greece has formed the scale of dozens of investments after more than ten years of 
development, involving a wide range of industries and fields, covering not only the infrastructure, shipping, finance, real 
estate and other industries, but also shipping, e-commerce, telecommunication and other fields. It is foreseeable that with the 
deepening cooperation of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the scale of Sino-Greek bilateral investment will be optimized 
continuously. 
4. Current Issue and Challenges 
4.1 Chinese Culture Overseas Communication Needs to Explore Diversified Approaches 
The survey still reveals some objective problems. Linguistic differences between the peoples of different countries remain a 
natural barrier to cultural exchange. In the case of Olympic sports. For example, China has become a major gold medal-
winning country in recent Olympic Games, while Chinese athletes and coaches in dominant Olympic sports are just known 
by the local Greek public. In the spring of 2024, DUAN Fang, a member of the Chinese women's national volleyball team, 
joined a Greek women's volleyball league team, becoming one of the few players to play overseas. In China, individuals learn 
and understand Greek civilization more through reading translated works of classic ancient Greek philosophers, historians, 
and dramatists, while contemporary Greek literary and cultural works have still not been popular. The spread of Chinese 



Communication across Borders: Translation & Interpreting; Vol. 04 No. 01 (2024) 
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culture in Greece was similar in that most of the early knowledge of Chinese culture and thoughts among the Greek people 
came from the translation of Chinese classics by missionaries. It should not be overlooked that most of the time, exchanges 
between two countries carried out more by a third-party internationalized language, and lack of bilingual talents are still an 
urgent problem. In China, there have been universities specializing in the Greek language since 1972, and since the beginning 
of this century, Chinese universities have established centers of Greek studies. In Greece, four Confucius Institutes have been 
contracted to teach the Chinese language and to disseminate Chinese culture and traditional Chinese medicine. It should be 
noted, however, that there is still a shortage of people who are able to exchange ideas in the original languages of the two 
countries. The vast majority of cultural exchanges are still officially led. Spontaneous cultural exchanges in the form of 
humanistic tourism, studies in China or Greece, and bilateral consumption in the arts, culture and sports industry are still main 
directions that can be focused on in the future. 
4.2 Public cultural exchange radiates the prosperity of popular culture 
With the introduction of the Belt and Road Initiative, bilateral exchanges between China and Greece have become more 
frequent, and cultural exchange activities have become increasingly close. In recent years, the two countries have held many 
important official and private events such as exhibitions of cultural relics, exchanges of art collections, as well as drama, and 
the organization of book translations and publications. However, most of the cultural activities are still mainly for public 
welfare, with the main purpose of promoting and enhancing mutual understanding between people. Although the spread of 
Chinese culture in Greece has formed a benign interactive situation, more and more Greek people are willing to understand, 
learn and try to incorporate elements of Chinese culture into their lives, such as learning the concept of Chinese medicine and 
health care methods. However, Chinese culture has not yet established a mature cultural market and industry in Greek society. 
A stable and prosperous mass culture industry and mass culture market is the ideal goal of cross-cultural exchanges, and a 
prosperous market means that cultural exchanges can be self-sufficient, self-supporting and constantly renewed under the 
impetus of the industry. Therefore, from cultural exchanges of public welfare nature to the breeding of prosperous mass 
culture, there is still much room for the development of Chinese culture in Greece, and the future goal should be to pay 
attention to improving the acceptance of Chinese culture in Greece and the effect of localization of Chinese culture. 
5. Conclusion 
The Olympic motto “Faster, Higher, Stronger-Together” not only conveys the spirit of the Olympic movement, but also 
expounds the common ideals and common goals of the development of human civilization. China and Greece have centered 
on the core of the modern Olympic spirit in their international exchanges, which is in line with the value orientation of building 
a community with a shared future for mankind. As important representatives of Eastern and Western civilizations, China and 
Greece share common and far-reaching values and worldviews in uniting all human races and promoting common prosperity 
of the world. China and Greece can commit themselves to becoming a friendship and prosperity model for the exchange and 
mutual understanding of world civilizations, and bring a new Olympian flame to the current turbulent world situation. 
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