A visitor captures touching photos of Eric Henry Liddell's life experience during the exhibition on Tuesday. [Photo by Yang Cheng/chinadaily.com.cn]

During the challenging period of the Chinese People's Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-45), Liddell stood firmly with China, offering his utmost assistance to those in dire circumstances. In 1945, at the age of 43, he died from a brain tumor in a Japanese concentration camp in Weixian county of Weifang, Shandong province.

Liddell's story of Olympic glory was immortalized in the 1981 film Chariots of Fire, a globally acclaimed Oscar-winning blockbuster.

"The spirit of Liddell continues to shine brightly today." said Xue Hui, director of the Tianjin Sports Bureau. "The establishment of the permanent exhibition at the Tianjin Sports Museum aims to preserve his legacy forever."

Although Liddell's daughter, Patricia Liddell Russell, 88, could not attend the event because of frail health, she sent written remarks sharing memories of her father and expressing gratitude to the people of Tianjin.

She wrote: "My father loved China and its people. Despite his remarkable success at the Paris Olympics in 1924, and immediately after his graduation from the University of Edinburgh, he returned to China. He taught science to Chinese students at the Tientsin Anglo Chinese College and coached them in athletics.