Set in Ink

As the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics came to a close, all are who took part in and watched from the sidelines committed to keeping the memories of the games with them moving forward and onward. The closing ceremonies reinforced the importance of “remembrance” in the featured “memory tower” to live on after the giant flame was extinguished, on which nearly 400 performers climbed and swayed to the music. After nine months of training, the climbers surely represented unity and teamwork, two values by which the Olympic Games stand. It was incredible to watch as the performers moved together like flowers opening, recreating a whole new flame, and using floating yarn at the end to reveal the logo on the tower—the logo living on in our memories.

But in case the “memory tower” is too metaphoric for you, you can always… get a tattoo, the New York Times describes in this past Sunday’s “Sunday Styles” section. Tourists, athletes, and local residents have sported the Olympic rings in ink in an effort to commemorate their time in Beijing. The action is a surprising one, considering the disreputable past of tattoos in China for centuries. The article mentions how “imperial courts tattooed criminals’ faces before sending tem into exile. By the 1949 revolution, the tattoo was the favored mark of crime syndicates and subsequently condemned by the Communist Party. Today, tattoos remain taboo for many of China’s elder generation, which sneers at the sight of a sun or lotus inked on the back of a trendy neighbor.” Even Phelps sports the rings on his right hip... but he also holds 8 Beijing gold medals of which to be reminded.