At a park bordering the middle section of the East Second Ring Road in Beijing, some 200 children and adults were playing diabolo on Tuesday morning amid cheers from onlookers.

Organized by the Dongsi Olympic Community as an event to mark the two-year countdown to the opening of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, the event drew participants ranging from 5 to more than 70 years of age.

Zhang Ligui, 77, was eager to show his skills in playing diabolo, a game in which a two-headed top is thrown up and caught with a string stretched between two sticks.

Having played the game for 71 years, he could control the toy with ease. He could hold it up and down, quick and slow anyway he liked to the amazement of onlookers at Dongsi Olympic Park.

"It's a game that requires the exercise of all your body and your full attention," Zhang said at the event. "You see, it's quite useful to your health a practice of half an hour will make you perspiring.

"When you are doing it as a mass sport like what we are doing now at the park, it can help promote the friendship of community residents. We want to show our skills, we have pleasure in sports and we can have harmony among us."

According to Mu Fang, the Dongsi Olympic Community which has some 2,400 residents had been trying to think of a special way to mark the two-year countdown before deciding on the diabolo event.

"We wanted to use diabolo as our gift to welcome the 2008 Olympics, as the game can showcase our mass participation in the Olympics, and our better performance can help enhance our fitness," she said in a speech at the event, which was organized by the Dongsi Street Neighbourhood Office.

Originating in the Song Dynasty (960-1279) in China, diabolos made from bamboo or plastic, with openings on the side to make it whistle while spinning can be used for more than 100 tricks.

They are loved by children and adults alike as a way of entertainment, fitness and performance, Mu said.

Li Mengzhe, a 10-year-old from Dongxi Qitiao Primary School, said she was happy to join in the event as a fitness exercise.

"More than 20 pupils from our school have come. The Beijing Olympics needs our participation," Li said.

According to Wang Lu, from the Dongsi Street Neighbourhood Office, the participants also included several residents from different ethnic groups in the community.

"They want to greet the Olympics with fun," she said.

(China Daily 08/11/2006 page5)