WUG Opening Ceremony, long article
Hrtoppel
http://www.u21.org.cn/english/index.htm
The World University Games Opening Ceremony looks like a stunning Cultural
extravaganza.
BEIJING, August 22 (U21net) -- The audience feasted their eyes with splendid
display of fireworks throughout the opening ceremony here this evening.
This was made possible by the application of what is known as “low ignition
fireworks technology”.
Controlled by electronic device, the fireworks were ignited at a low ignition
point for special effect of each performance, according to Cao Yueshan, an
official from the major activity department of the Universiade Organizing
Committee.
The fireworks will last throughout the gala performance.
The fireworks feature safety for both performers and audience in the stadium,
said Cao. Enditem
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BEIJING, August 22 (U21net)?A total of 12,000 people are involved in the gala
performance at the opening ceremony of the 21st Universiade, according to Chen
Wei’an, general director of the soiree evening.
Choreographer of more than 130 dance dramas and dances, Chen and some 40
directors and choreographers from around the country started to design the gala
performance for the Universiade last December.
Chen became the chief director of the gala performance through public bidding.
He said the original proposal he submitted to the Organizing Committee has been
modified since it was accepted, but “not very much.” The final version “is
not much different from my original design.”
His creative design features a stage 38 meters high and 50 meters wide, which
“is eye-catching,” he said. The steel pipes to make up the stage, if jointed
in a line, run 240 kilometers in length.
The scene Chen is most proud of himself features “torrents of the Yellow River
pouring down from the heaven,” in which water flows down at 80 tons per minute
into a pool of 5 meters deep.
For the 12,000 performers, most of them students from universities and high
schools in Beijing, a total of 15,000 costumes were designed and made, Chen
said.
Chen disclosed that the total expenditure of the gala performance is 17 million
yuan (US$2 million), about one twentieth of that for the opening ceremony of
the Sydney Olympics. Enditem
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BEIING, August 22 (U21net)-- Seven hundred pigeons were released as the
formation of university campus angels were passing through the rostrum as the
opening ceremony of the 21st Universiade here this evening.
“They are all homing pigeons,”said Xu Peiwen, adviser to the Major Activity
Department of the Universiade Organizing Committee. Other kinds of pigeons
never fly at night.
The 96 girls danced into the stadium, each holding a pure white pigeon. The
other pigeons were kept in cages near the rostrum and were released when the
"angels”released theirs.
Long Ahduo, a teacher of the Beijing Arts School, choreographed the dance.
“The angels of campus and pigeons symbolize youth and peace,”she said.
The girls began training in May, and they received "selfless help” from the
Beijing Pigeon Society, Xu said.
All the pigeons are raised by individual members of the society.“We feel
obliged to support the activity as much as we can,” said Zhang Zhaoxiang, the
society’s vice-president.
The Beijing Pigeon Society has 19,000 members. The 696 pigeons were contributed
by 25 members. Enditem
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BEIJING, August 22 (U21net) ? The entire stadium was stunned by the unique
consummate skill of a 59-ytear-old painter who painted a section of the Great
Wall on a canvas 8 meters long and 4 meters wide in just three minutes at the
opening ceremony of the 21st Universiade here this evening.
The audience was also amazed by Calligrapher Zhang Shufan who wrote the big
Chinese character meaning “dragon” in the cursive style on a canvas measuring
12 meters long and 8 meters wide.
Mr. Wang is a member of the Chinese Artists Association. He did the painting
with a brush 12 cm in diameter, with the tip 25 cm long.
"This is my first time to paint on such a grand occasion," said Wang. "I think
painting is also a kind of sport," he said
Calligrapher Zhang Shufan, 58, is a member of the Chinese Calligraphers
Association. He used a nearly two-meter long brush, weighing 25 kg, to write
the big Chinese character.
The painting and the character cost 15 kilograms of Chinese ink and paint.
They said that they painted and wrote like "dong Taiji exercises.”
Wang began to learn painting at 9 under the tutorship of famous landscape
painter Bai Xueshi. Zhang was guided into calligraphy by his father 40 years
ago.
"I feel lucky to represent China to perform in this most traditional art form
at this modern opening ceremony," Zhang emphasized. "The enthusiasm of
university students has reminded me of my prime years." Enditem
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21st Universiade Opens with Pageantry (1)
THE 21st UNIVERSIADE 2001-08-22 21:33:40
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BEIJING, August 22 (U21net) -- The Beijing 21st Universiade opened here with
pageantry here this evening.
Present at the opening ceremony were Chinese leaders including Jiang Zemin, Li
Peng, Zhu Rongji, Li Ruihuan, Hu Jintao, Wei Jianxing and Li Lanqing.
Following the playing of the Anthem of the People's Republic of China,
7,000-plus athletes of the Beijing 2001 Summer University Games of the new
millennium paraded through the rostrum and marched into the arena, under the
guidance of "Campus Angels", a formation of university girls. Welcomed with
open arms by the host Universiade City of Beijing, the athletes and referees
and judges and officials gained rapturous applause from the spectators.
One of the most outstanding features of the parade is that on the name-board of
each participating country or region there is the picture of a bird most
representative of the country or region. It signified the advocacy for a green
and environment-friendly gathering.
Participating in the parade were 169 countries and regions. The procession
lasted for more than an hour.
Addressing the opening of the Universiade, Chairman of the Organizing Committee
of the 21st Universiade and Beijing Mayor Liu Qi expressed his warmest welcome
to the members of the FISU Executive Committee, to the team officials,
athletes, judges and coaches of different countries and regions, to the members
of the International Olympic Committee, and to all our guests who are here to
participate in this Universiade.
He praised the World University Games for its roles in promoting sports at the
university level, and for furthering mutual understanding between young people
from around the world. "The 21st Universiade not only marks the very first
international sports meet in the new century, but also the first international
sports celebration since Beijing’s successful bid for the right to host the
Games of the XXIX Olympiad in 2008,"he said. He pledged to make the games the
best ever staged in the history of FISU.
In his speech, FISU President George E. Killian praised Beijing for its efforts
to organize the Universiade. "Beginning tomorrow the world will be able to see
the fruits of their labor," he said."New venues have been constructed, old
venues have been refurbished, and an athletes’ village, without a doubt is one
of the finest ever constructed for a worldwide multi-sport event."
He thanked the Organizing Committee for the efforts that they have made during
these past years. "It has been a joy to have had the pleasure of working with
them as they prepared for tonight’s opening of the Universiade 2001. In
addition, I would like to thank the citizens of China and the City of Beijing
for believing in the value of University Sport."
As Chinese President Jiang Zemin ascended the rostrum to declare open the 21st
Universiade, a long-standing ovation rocked the 60,000-seat stadium.
The ceremony was culminated in the raising of the FISU flag and the lighting of
flame of the 21st Universiade by famous Olympic title-winning diver Tian Liang.
The torch was carried around the stadium by a posse of China’s most revered
athletes headed by Lou Dapeng. The short torch relay ended with the Olympic
diving star Tian Liang, who then lit the flame.
Magically combining the modern technology and rich imagination,Tian Liang lit a
small flame seed at a UFO-like disk. Instantly, the disk rose into the sky and
moved toward the cauldron. At a point above the cauldron, the disk sent a spark
to the cauldron and the flame sprang up instantly. The lighting of the cauldron
created another memorable moment in the pages of the Universiade. The flame
will remain burning in the main stadium until the end of the university games
on September 1.(more)
BEIJING,August 22 (u21net) -- (continued from Part 1)
Following the performance of an international marching band made up of
performers from five countries, the audience was at once brought on a visual
tour from the birth of the Chinese nation to the terracotta warriors of the Qin
Dynasty and the four major inventions of the ancient civilization to modern
China, to cheerful, modernistic Beijing,
As performance begins, torrents symbolizing the Yellow River are pouring down
from the backdrop of the main stage. Simple and vigorous but soul-stirring
music is echoing in the vast universe. Suddenly, illuminated by special light
effect, waves of the 100-meter wide Yellow River is pouring down as if from the
sky, stirring up roaring mists in the square. Dozens of massive yellow silk
ribbons drop from the ends of the spectator’s stands in four directions,
signifying water of the Yellow River coming from the sky.
Then, the yellow silk ribbons flowing down from the spectator’s stands
converge to the center of the square, rolling wave upon wave. From among the
waves appears a silvery sundial float, with the “Goddess of Time” atop,
gazing the universe as if calling for the birth of a great nation. Behind her,
a giant sundial is turning, with the hand piercing into the universe. The
“Goddesses of Wisdom” holding high torches are flowing slowly along the
circular track on the upper part of the main stage.
The massive yellow silk ribbons in the square split into nine bends and 18
turns, signifying the zigzag course of the Yellow River and from the rolling
waves appear ten golden dragons, turning up and down, sometimes around the
sundial float and sometimes in between the sky and water, to the deafening
beating of drums. The dragon dance comes to a climax when the sundial float
suddenly spews blinding flames and the dragons are flying toward the universe,
signifying that a nation of the dragon was born and is taking off.
The scene then gives way to a group of floats carrying glistening stone-chimes,
which are rolling onto view. Young girls rise to a dance to the fantastic
music. Dozens of smaller floats with stone chimes are weaving their way around
the larger one. Then eight flying floats with lighting devices of special
visual effect appear on the circular track. In the grotesque light ring, golden
“Dunhuang Flying Angels (Asparas)” are dancing on the floats with graceful
composure, striking infinite illusions in the audience. The eight flying angels
floats are changing their formations, ending with a giant pattern of a lotus
flower. Hundreds of pretty “dancing angels” appear around the Flying Angels.
In a blink of an eye, all the dancing angels are sending out lights, forming an
exquisite picture of flying angels with peculiar shapes. On the main stage,
beautiful girls are performing a dance to the chime music. The entire square is
immersed in the music of an ancient orchestra and dances, with an unimaginable
artistic appeal.
Then, at the sound of a bugle, a group of people are plugging and connecting
metal frames and bars. In no time, a symbolic “China Dragon Boat” takes shape
magically and is moving forward against waves. In between the scrolls of
paintings of civilization and the seas, hundreds of people in white Wushu
attire are practicing Taiji boxing and rhythmic gymnastics that are impregnated
with the magic oriental charm, moving against waves to make way for the “China
Boat”. The “China Boat” carrying with it the wisdom and friendship of the
Chinese nation has opened up the paths to cultural exchanges with the West,
thus making great contributions to human civilization.
Suddenly, white snowflakes are falling from the sky. Thousands of snow girls
are flowing slowly toward the center, dancing a smooth and beautiful
ice-and-snow dance. The whole site is turned into a world of silver. On the
main stage, 40 snow girls are dancing beautifully. On the circular track, 10
snowmen dressed in colorful skiing attire are playing together with children.
Beijing’s pinwheels, kites and sugarcoated haws on sticks are moving on
together with a group of roller-skating children.
All of a sudden, the world of silver turns into a world of green; thousands of
snow girls have changed their silvery attire into green, too. Amidst beautiful
music, the girls are dancing; the breeze is blowing across the grass, breathing
with the spring air.
In the splendid music, green girls and children swiftly turn into flowerbeds,
with flowers blooming among the green leaves, signifying that Beijing is
youthful, green and colorful.
With "Hello, 21" as its theme, the performance blending arts and science
brought the audience beyond the limit of time, setting them afloat between
ancient times and the future, between dreamland and reality, and between space
and oceans. The ancient oriental mysterious culture and Beijing's youthful
vigor struck the audience with amazement. The 60,000 spectators in the stadium
interacted with performers, getting involved in the magnificence. While
enjoying the splendid performance, people felt strongly the pulse of peace and
development in the 21st century. “Hellow, 21, youth of mankind gather in
Beijing …, making the world full of vigor.”The theme song is resounding in
the stadium. The tenor voice aroused the contemporary students' youthful
aspirations for getting "higher, faster and stronger."
The performance ends with a spectacular display of fireworks.
The opening ceremony was preceded by a singing session, featuring such famous
singing stars as Wei Jia, Sun Yue and Mao Ahmin in her red limousine. The pop
music and songs had the enthusiastic response and interaction from the cheering
audience. Enditem
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