IOC President Bach begins visit to China by watching official Beijing 2022 film

Beijing: Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), began his visit to China by watching the official film for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.

The 13th Beijing International Film Festival's opening ceremony served as the world premiere for the Lu Chuan-directed and Zhang Yimou-produced movie "Beijing 2022," which will begin playing in theatres on May 19.

Bach watched the film with volunteers and the film's production team. Prior to that, Han Zirong, Beijing 2022 vice president and secretary general, presented Bach with a special Year of the Rabbit version of Bing Dwen Dwen, the Games' mascot.

"Now this was waking up many emotions about the truly exceptional Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 and I think everybody was particularly excited about the athletes and the volunteers seeing the emotions, then seeing this film together with the volunteers made it a very special moment because this is what the Olympic spirit is about, " Bach told Xinhua after the viewing.

"You could see that the volunteers gave all their heart for the athletes and for the game. So the Chinese people can, once again be very, very proud of the truly exceptional Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022," he added.

This is Bach's first visit to China since the 2022 Olympic Winter Games. He will also travel to Qufu, the birthplace of many Chinese sages, such as Confucius and Mencius, Hangzhou and Shanghai to meet with Olympic partners and athletes.

With inputs from IANS