These children, who sang the song in Greek, came from the depths of the mountains of Hebei

When the Olympic flag is raised, the ethereal "Olympic Anthem" echoes in the bird's nest, and in the camera, the young and cute faces gently shake with the music. Can you imagine that these children who sang in Greek came from the Taihang Mountains? From their clear eyes, the world will see contemporary China.

How to interpret the indispensable "reserved repertoire" "Olympic Hymn" at the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympic Games is an extremely important task, and Zhao Lin, the music director of the opening ceremony, has read a large number of relevant materials for this purpose. Each host country wanted to showcase its unique musical culture in this session: in 2012, the opening ceremony of the London Olympic Games was rearranged with the Olympic Anthem, played only by a symphony orchestra, and in 2014, the opening ceremony of the Sochi Winter Olympics was very Russian opera.

"The expressive techniques that can be used are basically exhausted." This time, what should China do? The main creative team decided to change the track, starting from the "meaning", inviting real children in the mountains to sing this song, the children are not only a microcosm of the "Winter Olympics for all", but also let the world see the true face of contemporary China.

"Director Zhang Yimou always said, 'Let the aroma of the earth ascend to the hall of elegance'." Yang Rong, director of the opening ceremony, said. However, the vast china has many mountains, which mountain should the "children of the mountains" come from? At first, the main creative team found a multi-award winning choir in the mountains of Yunnan, and considered Daxing'anling, Daliangshan, Yimengshan... Considering that this Winter Olympics has a competition area in Hebei, everyone's eyes are finally fixed on the Taihang Mountain.

It takes about 4 hours to drive southwest from Beijing, along the way, the flat land rises into a mountain, and the Taihang Deep Mountainous Area is located in Fuping County, Baoding City. On September 27, 2021, Liu Kai, secretary and principal of the Xiazhuang School District Central School in Nanzhuang Town, Fuping County, clearly remembers this date, and on that day, he first received a notice to select small actors for the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics. "How is such a big event possible?" Liu Kai's knee-jerk reaction was "disbelief." The next day, another group of opening ceremony main creative team staff rushed to Fuping County. From them, Liu Kai confirmed that the children would go to the stage of the Bird's Nest and sing the Olympic Hymn.

Source: Beijing Daily Client | Reporter Gao Qian Wu Yibin

Process Edit: U022