Chinese boy and his mother look at the discus thrower during the ancient Greek exhibit related to the Olympic games. The collection belongs to the British Museum and can be seen in Shanghai. Photo: EFE / José Álvarez Díaz

SHANGHAI.- Less than one month vefore the Olympic Games begin in Beijing, the famous discus thrower and more than a hundred scultpures and porcelains from ancient Greece have visited China, where thanks to a temporary exhibit in Shanghai have been discovered by over 330,000 Chinese visitors.

The pieces, from the collection of the British Museum in London, where presented for the first time in the country in a show that, during two and a half months, has allowed citizens in Shanghai, who are very proud of the Olympic Games that will be held in China this year, to understand its origins and how the games were in ancient times.

"Between all the works of art, the discus thrower is a universal symbol of classic Greek art and of the Olympic Games and it is very extraordinary that it leave London to be shown here in China for a few months; this has been a great opportunity", said Lu Pangliang, from the Department of Exhibitons at the Shanghai Museum.

"There are a lot of people qho has been interested in the exibit, because they know the modern Olympic Games, but they do not know where they come from and desire to comprehend how they were in ancient times, when everything was so different," Lu explained.

For the Chinese expert, this exhibit is important because it allows people to see the origins of European art and to compare it, without leaving the building, with the bronzes that were made in China, at about the same time as the Greeks and to see that both "show a similar sensibility, with different aesthetics."