Willow Branches(柳枝) at the

Olympics Closing Ceremony

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In ancient China, when relatives or friends said goodbye, people often broke willow branches down and gave them to those who would leave, and hoped they would come back. In Chinese, "willow" has the similar pronunciation to a Chinese word "留", which means asking a person to stay. It's not "goodbye" but "see you again soon".

At Beijing Winter Olympics Closing Ceremony, the whole world enjoyed an amazing performance. The performers perfectly acted with the LED floor to show the picture of willow branches. It showed the strong feelings of a sad but sweet goodbye. 365 people holding willow branches were in the center of the Bird's Nest, showing the missing of 365 days. It fully showed the theme of "One World, One World".