China House opens in Paris

Pavilion's exhibitions on rich culture of nation serves as prelude to Olympics

With the curtain yet to be raised on the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Chinese culture has captivated Paris with the launch of the China House, which highlights for the world the country's rich history and modern achievements.

Visitors to the China House can try some of the Olympic sports' earliest forms, such as pitch-pot, which tests participants' accuracy as much as modern archery by requiring them to throw arrows into a distant pot, and cuju, the ancient ball-kicking game that some consider to be a prototype of soccer.

The China House, a pavilion set up at the Hotel Salomon de Rothschild in Paris, opened to visitors on Wednesday and has captured the attention of Parisians and others with plenty of galleries, exhibits, demonstration events and social-networking activities on the sidelines of the Summer Games.