By David Ferguson

Fan Tao, Zhao Lili and Li Yu are three fellow students from Tianjin Foreign Studies University. A month ago they were excited Olympic Games Volunteer candidates, waiting to see if they would be picked from the many thousands of applicants, and if successful, what their assignment would be.

A week later they discovered that they were to be given one of the highest-profile jobs among the volunteers – as English-speaking Guides at the One World One Dream Exhibition, a fascinating insight into the intersecting worlds of China, Beijing and the Olympic Games, that is running at the Millennium Monument from the start of August until October 10.

Fan Tao, Zhao Lili, and Li Yu in their blue Guide uniforms

With less than two weeks to prepare for their work – the exhibition opened on August 1 a week before the Games – they threw themselves into the task of studying the exhibits and learning their presentations with determination and enthusiasm. Fan, Zhao and Li were given the opportunity of a preview visit to the exhibition, and they seized the chance to try out their skills, along with Yang Tian and Zhang Shuanzhong, two qualified guides who have been seconded from the Museum of the War of Resistance against Japan.

The students were understandably nervous on their debut, but they have no cause for concern – their English is clear and articulate, and they help to make the visit a pleasure.

I was introduced to the exhibition by Ms Cheng Gong, a senior manager with Beijing Geihua Exhibition Co, the organizer of the event. It's a great privilege for me, as Cheng Gong was an Olympic Torchbearer – the only one I have met in person. She had the honour of carrying the Torch on a leg of its trip through Changsha City in Hunan Province.