By sportswriter Zhang Rongfeng

Two athletes from Moldova pose with their Chinese names at the Olympic Village in Beijing, China, Aug. 4, 2008. (Xinhuanet Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    BEIJING, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) -- Coming to Beijing to race the 100m sprint, Ivana Rozman of Macedonia found herself motionless for three minutes on Tuesday while an aging craftsman whipped out a paper cutting of her at the Olympic Village's Chinese Arts and Crafts Center.

    "I don't know, I think my chin's a bit big," said the smiling athlete, who has a personal best of 12.12 seconds but sounded like any other 19-year-old girl as she inspected the paper silhouette.

    "Now it looks more like me," she joked as Liao Yunwu from Fujian province made a few correctional nips and tucks. "Except that I'm more beautiful."

    Liao is one of 27 leading Chinese folk artists demonstrating their skills at the hidden jewel in the village's "business street". Other highlights include Peking Opera masks, shadow puppets and embroidery.

    "It's a great chance to revitalize the fading Chinese traditions, and it's also an opportunity for cultural sharing among people from countries probably the furthest apart," said Yu Zhihai, deputy chief of the center, which opens daily from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m..

    "The Village is a place where the athletes can unwind and get to know Chinese culture. I'm sure they will find the culture and arts very interesting," said Deng Yaping, former four-time Olympic table tennis champion and spokesperson of the Village.

    At one end of the multi-colored porta-cabin, a shadow puppet show involving a salesman flirting with a Chinese girl was being staged on an illuminated screen before a packed house.

    "It's amazing," said 100m freestyle swimmer Elena Popovska. "It's so different from Macedonian culture, which basically revolves around food."

    Brazilian floor exercise gymnast Danielle Hypolito struggled with the narrative but still enjoyed the performance.

    "I didn't really get the story but I liked the show very much -- even the music."

    Performer Jiang Jianhe, who plucked strings on the moon-shaped kit, sang and shrieked while someone behind the scenes operated the puppets, said it takes at least five years to master the skill.

    "The hardest part is getting the music and singing a synch with the puppets' movement," said the Shanxi province native, who shares his hometown of Xi'an with the famed Terracotta Warriors.

    George Bovell, Trinidad and Tobago's swimming chief, agreed it was something of a delicate operation.

    "It's really hard," said he, as he tried to make the puppets effect human actions. "I don't think I've quite got the fingers for it."

    Painter Zhang Xing, who was adding a dab of black pigment to the eye of an operatic mask to make it more melancholic, said it was a pleasure to introduce Chinese culture to this microcosmic world community.

    "I'm not sure if our overseas friends in the Village can identify with this kind of art, but this is part of the culture that I grew up in, and I'm glad to share with them," said the Baoji native, who hails from northwest China's Shaanxi's province.

    Zhao, who learned the painting skills from her mother, said the masks, usually made of willow wood, were used to exorcise evil and pray for good fortune and good health.

    Next to her, clay sculptor Zhang Hongyue sprayed water onto a chunk of clay then began shaping it into a male figurine.

    "Interest in the folk arts has been rekindled in recent years, and it would be great if more people could learn and appreciate my works," he said.