There's no deception as the excitement mounts for this week's opening of the Beijing Olympic Games. A retrospective painting exhibition on Olympic sports has opened in Beijing. Officials from the International Olympic Committee and the International Olympic Truce Center attended the launch on Monday.

Former International Olympic Committee president Juan Antonio Samaranch and Lambis Nikolaou, vice president of the IOC, were there.

The show has the lengthy title: "From Ancient Greek Olympia to Beijing: Greek and Chinese artists discuss truce, fair play, war and peace." The exhibition displays works by over thirty artists from both countries. It aims to demonstrate the course from Greece, the birthplace of the Olympic Games, to China, the site of the 2008 Summer Games.

The exhibition is organized by the International Olympic Truce Center. Officials from the Center say both China and Greece are nations with an ancient civilization. The exhibition offers a platform for an exchange of views. It engages the two countries in a dialogue about sports, while underscoring universal values as viewed from a cultural perspective.