On the evening of February 4, the opening ceremony of the 24th Winter Olympic Games in Beijing was held at the National Stadium. The picture shows President Xi Jinping waving to everyone on the rostrum. Photo by Ju Peng, Xinhua News Agency
On the evening of February 4, the opening ceremony of the 24th Winter Olympic Games in Beijing was held at the National Stadium. Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji, Han Zheng, Wang Qishan and other party and state leaders attended the opening ceremony. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Yue Yuewei
Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, February 4 -- Building dreams of ice and snow, the same direction to the future. On the evening of February 4, 2022, the opening ceremony of the 24th Winter Olympic Games in Beijing was held at the National Stadium. President Xi Jinping attended the opening ceremony and announced the opening of the Winter Olympics. The Chinese civilization and the Olympic Movement have once again joined hands to play a magnificent movement of unity, peace and friendship for all mankind.
Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji, Han Zheng, Wang Qishan and other party and state leaders, IOC President Bach, as well as leaders and distinguished guests from all over the world attended the opening ceremony.
Illuminated and beautiful at night, the National Stadium, known for its bird's nest shape, is about to make history as the world's first stadium to host the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics and Summer Olympics.
At about 19:15, dignitaries from all over the world, including heads of state, heads of government, members of the royal family and heads of international organizations, arrived one after another. At this time, the Golden Hall is full of lights, full of the festive atmosphere of the Spring Festival and the passion and vitality of the Winter Olympics.
Before the official opening ceremony, the atmosphere of the National Stadium was warm. Accompanied by cheerful music, people from Beijing and Hebei came to the venue to welcome guests from all over the world with simple and fiery square dance performances. The huge "Fu" character on the venue creates a festive atmosphere for the Chinese New Year. On the big screen, the masses from 10 cities in China, such as Zhangjiakou in Hebei, Harbin in Heilongjiang, and Nanjing in Jiangsu, showed the world the enthusiasm and passion of China's "300 million people participating in ice and snow sports". UN Secretary-General António Guterres also delivered a video message. Inside and outside the venue, China and the world sang the ice and snow song of "going to the future together".
At 19:57, a Chinese and English text of "Happy New Year" appeared on the huge screen of tens of thousands of square meters of ice and snow crystal in the center of the stadium. In the music of "Peace - Community of Destiny", Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan and Bach walked to the rostrum and waved to the audience. There was a long round of warm applause and cheers.
February 4 coincides with the first of the 24 solar terms of the Chinese lunar calendar, "Li Chun". At 20:00, the countdown to the opening ceremony began in the time rotation of the traditional Chinese calendar, and the twenty-four solar terms flashed on the big screen in turn, and the audience shouted in unison with the digital transformation: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1... In a cheer, on the central screen of the stadium, a round of bright moon rises, flying butterflies, dandelion seeds fly into the air, brilliant fireworks light up the bird's nest, blooming out of the "Li Chun" Chinese and English shapes, in the winter to convey the news of spring.
The announcer introduced Chinese President Xi Jinping and IOC President Bach to the audience, and Xi Jinping and Bach stood up and waved to everyone, and the audience once again burst into warm applause.
A child trumpeter blows the melodious melody of "My Motherland and Me". Representatives of all walks of life, advanced model figures and 56 nationalities in China slowly passed the bright five-star red flag to the flag-raising area of the stadium with their hands and delivered it to the hands of the salute soldiers. All stood up and sang the national anthem of the People's Republic of China. The five-star red flag is rising and fluttering in the wind.
The lights in the field dimmed, and a drop of ice-blue ink fell from the sky along the huge vertical screen, transforming into the water of the Yellow River, pouring thousands of miles, and the churning waves condensed into a world of ice and snow. A giant ice cube was formed from the ice and snow world, and the history of the past 23 Winter Olympics hosted the city, with the carving of 24 "laser carving knives", flashed back to it, and finally fixed as "2022 China Beijing". 6 ice hockey players "slid" into the entrance, made a swing batting action, and drove the fierce carving of the "laser carving knife", and finally shaped the ice cube into a crystal clear ice and snow ring.
At 20:17, the athletes' entrance ceremony began. A "Chinese gate" carved by ice and snow opened, the Greek delegation from the birthplace of the Olympic movement entered first, the Italian delegation from the place where the next Winter Olympics will be held and the Chinese delegation, the host of the Current Winter Olympics, appeared last, and delegations from other countries and regions entered in the order of simplified Chinese character strokes. Delegations from 91 countries and regions participated in the Winter Olympics. In the next 16 days, nearly 3,000 athletes will compete in the same stadium under the five rings. Accompanied by background music composed of 19 world-famous songs, the athletes walked into the stadium and waved to the audience from time to time. The audience welcomed their arrival with warm applause and cheers.
In the exciting melody of "Singing the Motherland", the host Chinese delegation finally entered, and two flag bearers, Zhao Dan, a female chinese steel frame snowmobile, and Gao Tingyu, a speed skater, walked at the forefront of the team. The applause in the field was thunderous, and the cheers were higher than the waves. The Chinese delegation of the Winter Olympics totaled 388 people, including 177 athletes, setting a record for the highest number of Chinese participants in the previous Winter Olympic Games.
After the athletes entered, the guides of the delegation held aloft snowflake shape guide boards and gathered together to form a "big snowflake", and the short film "Stronger and More United" was played on the big screen, which vividly expressed the theme of the opening ceremony "World Unity, One Family in the World".
Subsequently, Cai Qi, chairman of the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee, delivered a speech. He said that on the occasion of the Chinese Lunar Year of the Tiger, athletes, coaches and guests from all over the world gathered in Beijing to share the Winter Olympic Games, witnessing Beijing becoming the world's first "double Olympic city" and witnessing China continue to write a new legend for the Olympic Movement. Under the personal promotion of President Xi Jinping and the strong leadership of the Chinese government, we have practiced the concept of green, shared, open and clean Olympic Games, worked with the International Olympic Committee and other parties to overcome the impact of the epidemic and realize the opening of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games as scheduled, showing the world the tenacity of mankind in facing difficulties and overcoming challenges. Let us work together to the future and write a new chapter in building a community with a shared future for mankind.
IOC President Bach delivered a speech. He thanked the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee, the Chinese government department and all the Chinese people. Bach said that China's extraordinary achievements in winter sports have opened a new era of global winter sports, which will bring global winter sports participation to a new level and benefit Chinese and winter sports enthusiasts around the world.
At 21:51, the opening ceremony ushered in an exciting moment. President Xi Jinping announced: The opening of the 24th Winter Olympic Games in Beijing! Suddenly, the whole venue boiled, and brilliant fireworks rose up in the air, presenting the shape of "welcome pine" in the air, expressing the welcome to guests from all over the world, and the applause and cheers lasted for a long time.
76 young people from all over the world walked into the stadium and walked side by side. Everywhere I passed, a long scroll of photographs showing people around the world working together to overcome the epidemic and fighting passionately for their dreams unfolded slowly, like a long river of images flowing quietly. On both sides of the long river, the Chinese knot pattern, which symbolizes unity and auspiciousness, gradually transforms into the Chinese and English characters of "together to the future", expressing the beautiful expectation of working together to create a better future.
In the quiet singing of the song "Imagine", 24 skaters in red sportswear are divided into four groups and slide across the ice in a healthy posture, leaving a long trajectory, showing the new Olympic motto: "Faster, higher, stronger - more united", showing the common dream of all mankind. In the air, simulating the glowing humanoid form of the high platform jumping snow, it flew over the five rings of ice and snow. At the same time, the vertical screen image shows the ice and snow sports of multiple projects, which together present the beauty of ice and snow sports.
Six flag bearers carry the Olympic flag. They are the representatives of China's outstanding winter sports athletes in different periods - Luo Zhihuan, the first winter sports world champion in New China, Li Jiajun, the first athlete in China to win the men's event medal at the Winter Olympics, Shen Xue, a pair skater who achieved a breakthrough of "zero" gold medals in the Chinese Figure Skating Winter Olympics, Han Xiaopeng, China's first Winter Olympics snow sports gold medalist, Zhang Hui, the short track speed skating women's relay gold medalist at the Vancouver Winter Olympics, and Zhang Hong, an athlete who achieved a breakthrough of "zero" gold medals in the Chinese speed skating event Winter Olympics.
44 children from the Fuping Mountains of Hebei Province sang the Olympic anthem in Greek. In the song, the Olympic flag was slowly raised, flying high with the five-star red flag.
In front of the Five Rings Flag, Chinese cross-country skier Wang Qiang and snowboarder Liu Jiayu, Chinese freestyle ski referee Tao Yongchun and Chinese snowboard instructor Ji Xiaoou took the oath on behalf of all participating athletes, referees, coaches and officials.
On the big screen, a short film called "Champion of the Future" attracted the attention of the audience, and the toddlers became fans of ice and snow sports, although they fell and got up again and again, they always laughed and faced setbacks, and the relaxed and humorous picture made the audience can't help but be amused. Amid the laughter, innocent and cute children appeared in the stadium. Armed with sparkling "white pigeons", they run freely and joyfully, converging from all directions to the middle of the stadium to form a heart shape around the "big snowflake".
At 22:10, the Olympic torch taken from Olympia arrived at the National Stadium. The Torch Relay of the Winter Olympics will be held from February 2 to 4 in Beijing, Yanqing and Zhangjiakou. Olympic Forest Park, Summer Palace, Badaling Great Wall, Grand Canal Forest Park... The Olympic flame travels through the ancient and the modern, connects history and the future, and shows the world the thick and innovative Chinese civilization.
Seven torchbearers hold the torch high, divided into 6 sticks, and carry out the final pass in the stadium. Zhao Weichang, a "post-50s" athlete who has won the national championship in speed skating for 11 consecutive times, Li Yan, a "post-60s" athlete who won 1 gold medal and 2 bronze medals in the short track speed skating competition at the Calgary Winter Olympics, Yang Yang, a "post-70s" athlete who achieved a breakthrough of "zero" in the Winter Olympics of the Chinese sports delegation at the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, Su Bingtian, the "post-80s" athlete who won the short track speed skating women's 1500 meters championship at the Sochi Winter Olympics, The Chinese athletes who have created brilliant records run in relay and won warm applause from the audience.
The final bat was passed to two "post-00s" athletes, cross-country skier Diniger Yilamujiang and Nordic biathlete Zhao Jiawen. Under everyone's attention, two torchbearers ran to the "Big Snowflake" surrounded by "white pigeons" and embedded the torch in the center of the "Big Snowflake", forming the main torch composed of snowflake-shaped guide cards for all delegations. For the first time in the history of the Olympic Games, the main torch uses the "micro-fire" method, which fully embodies the concept of green environmental protection.
Brilliant fireworks rose up in the air, and the entire stadium suddenly turned into a sea of joy.
It was a moment that more than 1.4 billion Chinese people will never forget, another glorious moment for the Winter Olympic Movement. After more than 6 years of meticulous preparations, overcoming the adverse effects of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the Chinese people will dedicate a simple, safe and wonderful Olympic event to the world with diligence, courage and wisdom.
Tonight, Beijing embraces the world!
Tonight, the world is watching Beijing!
International dignitaries attending the opening ceremony were: President Putin of Russia, King Sihamoni of Cambodia, President Khalima of Singapore, President Tokayev of Kazakhstan, President Zaparov of Kyrgyzstan, President Rahmon of Tajikistan, President Berdymukhamedov of Turkmenistan, President Mirziyoyev of Uzbekistan, President Sisi of Egypt, Emir Tamim of Qatar, Crown Prince Mohammed of Abu Dhabi of the United Arab Emirates, President Duda of Poland, President Vucic of Serbia, Grand Duke Henry of Luxembourg, Prince Albert II of Monaco, President Fernandez of Argentina, President Rasso of Ecuador, Prime Minister Oyun Erden of Mongolia, Prime Minister Imran Khan of Pakistan, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina Tegeltia, Prime Minister malapé of Papua New Guinea, Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea Park Byung-seok, Princess Sirindhorn of Thailand, Secretary-General guterres, President of the General Assembly Shahid, Director General of the World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization Deng Hongsen, President of the New Development Bank Trollo, Zhang Ming, Secretary-General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and other heads of international organizations, a total of nearly 70 official representatives of countries, regions and international organizations.
Present at the opening ceremony were members of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, members of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, vice chairmen of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, state councilors, presidents of the Supreme People's Court, chief procurators of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, vice chairmen of the NATIONAL COMMITTEE of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and members of the Central Military Commission in Beijing.
He Yicheng, Chief Executive of the Macao Special Administrative Region, and Hong Xiuzhu, former chairman of the Chinese Kuomintang, attended the opening ceremony.
The head of the International Olympic Committee attended the opening ceremony.