On July 23, the Tianjin Sports Museum unveiled a permanent exhibition to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Eric Liddell (known in Chinese as Li Airui) winning a gold medal at the 1924 Paris Summer Olympic Games.
The theme of this memorial exhibition is “Eric Liddell, the Olympic Champion, Dedicated Himself to Tianjin.” A century ago, Liddell, the “Flying Scotsman,” born in Tianjin in 1902, secured the men's 400-meter gold medal, breaking the world record and becoming the first Olympic champion born in China.
In June, the Tianjin Sports Museum hosted a temporary exhibition to mark the centennial of Eric Liddell's championship at the Paris Olympics, said the Tianjin Municipal Bureau of Sports.
Now this permanent exhibition sits at the heart of the museum, and the number of exhibits has nearly quadrupled. It also includes the “Chariots of Fire Beach Race” medal, recently donated by a teenager from the Confucius Institute for Scotland's Schools, along with commemorative albums contributed by other teachers and students.
Before the ceremony, a memorial video of the event was shown. Liddell's daughter, Patricia Liddell Russell, was unable to attend the event in Tianjin due to health reasons, but she sent written remarks for the unveiling ceremony.
“My father cherished Tianjin deeply. He spent more time in Tianjin than in Scotland. He did what he thought was right. His example of self-sacrifice and compassion continues to inspire and benefit many people to this day,” she wrote.
Catriona Radcliffe, head of the Scottish Government Office in China, visited Tianjin to witness the unveiling of the permanent exhibition. Radcliffe remarked, “His compassion, integrity, and passion are the values that we can hold dear today and close to us, whether in China or Scotland... It helps us remember that the connection between the people in China and the people in Scotland is so important. The China-Scotland connection and those values ring true wherever you are in China, in Scotland, or wherever in the world.”
