Great Ding of the Olympics, the themed bronze sacrificial vessel for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, is the first in the international Olympic history. It is 2.9 meters in height and 2.008 meters in diameter, representing the 29th Olympic Games. The base of the Ding is 0.96 meters high, the perimeter 13.6 meters long, the edge 3.4 meters long, referring to the 9,600,000 square kilometers of land area, 13,600,000 square kilometers of territory, and 34 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government and special administrative regions, respectively.

A Ding is an ancient Chinese cooking vessel (like today’s ‘pot’). It is kind of like a round tripod or a square quadripod. Some have caps and some don’t. The earliest Ding dates back 10,000 years. With the development of bronze making technology during the Shang (1600-1100 BC) and Zhou Dynasties (1100-221 BC), productivity further improved, and the bronze Ding was invented. Gradually, bronze Dings were used as sacrificial vessels, not only as cooking vessels. Pigs and goats were killed and boiled in Dings as sacrifices to the gods, meaning the Ding is sacred. Dings were also used to record the accomplishments of Kings.