Beijing, 5 Feb (Xinhua) -- At about 22:00 on the evening of 4 February, the Olympic flag was once again slowly raised at the "Bird's Nest" at the National Stadium.
All the spectators stood up and paid attention to the ceremony, and the "Bird's Nest" was quiet.
It was as if the world was quiet.
The Olympic song gradually rises, and under the flagpole more than ten meters high, the children's eyes are firm and their voices are clean.
"Valleys, mountains, and oceans shine against you like temples made of colorful rocks." (Lyrics to the effect)
The group of children who sang came from between the valleys and mountains.
On the evening of February 4, the opening ceremony of the XXIV Winter Olympic Games was held at the Beijing National Stadium.
This is the Olympic flag and the flag of the People's Republic of China raised at the opening ceremony. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Xue Yuge
Look for the fragrance of the earth
September 28, 2021, this is the day when Ma Xiaojing first visited Fuping.
From Beijing to the depths of the Taihang Mountains, she and her colleague Xu Hongye traveled more than 300 kilometers with the navigation with casting tasks.
Since the first modern Olympic Games in 1896, almost every Olympic Games has had an anthem session, and each host country will interpret this extremely difficult Greek song in its own way.
At a discussion, Zhang Yimou, the general director of the opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing Winter Olympics, proposed that he "wanted to find a group of simple children to sing."
"But what is simplicity? What exactly do we want to present to audiences around the world?" Ma Xiaojing pondered for a long time.
This is not the first attempt of the director team, before that, they also looked for a lot of places, but they never got the "feeling of being moved in an instant".
On the way, she kept imagining the children's appearance, some trepidation, but also some expectations.
At the same time, many children at Malan Elementary School are also waiting in the classroom for the two directors from Beijing.
No one knows that between the lofty mountains, a wonderful connection line is quietly forming with the ruts.
"Cute, clean and shy", this is Ma Xiaojing's first impression of children. "Some children, you can see that her eyes are full of curiosity, very much want to come up and talk, but just embarrassed, hiding behind the teacher." 」
Casual clothes, small cloth shoes, simple eyes, curiosity and evasion, many details and vitality of the children gradually embodied her imagination of the song program in her heart.
"I suddenly understood the director's idea, we dared to let this group of most unadorned, most simple and natural, the most innocent children out of the mountains, with the unknown and curiosity, to the biggest stage to sing happily, which is a kind of confidence in itself." 」
After visiting all the primary schools in the vicinity, they initially selected a group of children and simply recorded a chorus video.
A few days later, Ma Xiaojing returned to Beijing with the video, and the director team heard the children's singing for the first time, with childishness in the loudness and even a little out of tune.
After the video was broadcast, there was a brief silence in the workshop, and almost everyone at the scene felt an indescribable tremor, a kind of straightforward nature from the mountains, a kind of pure childishness from the banks of the valley.
The silence was finally broken by the applause of the general director Zhang Yimou: "That's it, the children's voices are natural, this is the kind I'm looking for - the fragrance of the earth." ”
Songs in the mountains
Ma Xiaojing saw the children again at the end of November 2021.
The wind in late autumn is a little steep, and that day is the ceremony of opening a small road in the village. The villagers spontaneously held a concert, and many children were present.
The bolder child saw her, changed his shame at first sight, and rushed from a distance to hug her.
Due to the complicated work of the opening ceremony, Ma Xiaojing was unable to train with the children in Fuping, but almost every day, she would pay attention to the children's training through video.
The last trip to Fuping finalized the general selection of the song session, and the children quickly gathered to train at the Bayi Primary School in Seongnamzhuang.
The picture shows the children training at Bayi Primary School.
At that time, there were still about four months before the opening ceremony, a group of completely zero-based children, a very difficult Greek song, and a pure vocal a cappella performance form.
In this case, it is a great challenge for any professional, let alone in such a rural primary school with not too good conditions.
In the midst of the silent mountains, several lines of destiny are slowly intersecting.
Retired teacher Fu Baohuan, Greek teacher Qin Yezhen and his assistant Lin Jiahao arrived from Beijing; Zhang Hongyu, dean of the Conservatory of Music, came from Baoding with a professional team; Bayi Primary School organized young teachers to accompany them throughout the whole process and eat and live with the children; After an emergency meeting, the principals of several schools in Seongnamzhuang decided to take turns on duty and drive their children to and from school every day...
Overnight, the innermost teaching building of Bayi Primary School was particularly lively.
The vocal teacher developed a teaching plan based on the characteristics of the children, which in the words of Dean Zhang is an experience that cannot be replicated anywhere. Zero foundation of music theory, using body movements to assist memory; Mischievous and mischievous people can't sit still, so they take the children to practice songs while making games in class...
The Greek teacher translated this obscure song as much as possible into a Chinese that the children could accept. "The great spirit is forever immortal", this is the song that the big-eyed girl Chen Sitong understands.
In order to enhance the children's lung capacity and resistance, the life teacher will take the children to practice in the morning every morning, help with homework, tidy up the hairstyle, from the psychological state to the diet and living, meticulously.
Since then, the Olympic anthem has haunted the town every day. Children sing to their families, to animals, to streams, to distant mountains...
In early January 2022, children sang songs and got on a bus bound for Beijing.
Man is a seed
Man is a seed, and what the soul draws, it will grow.
As night falls, further north along Beijing's solemn central axis, you can see a huge building, the National Stadium Bird's Nest.
Countless lines intersect the building's steel frame shell, and the red interior walls are dotted with lights, like a flame jumping in the "bird's nest".
"Bird's Nest", the shift of the stars to witness the Olympic fire burning again; Witnessed the great changes in this land in 14 years; It has also witnessed countless glories, miracles and dreams.
Li Zhengze's room happened to be able to see the corner of the "Bird's Nest".
On the evening of February 4, the opening ceremony of the XXIV Winter Olympic Games was held at the Beijing National Stadium. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Xin
His world used to be small.
The way to school, less than two kilometers. The family lives near the highway exit, and every morning he needs to cross a bridge and walk a short walk along National Highway 207 to get to the school.
In addition to participating in the opening ceremony this time, Li Zhengze went to Chengde as far away as once. When he was very young, he once went to Shunyi, Beijing with his family to visit his relatives, but he was too young to leave any impression.
Born in 2010, he enjoys basketball and athletics. The "unparalleled" event 14 years ago was just a historical picture of the tv and the Internet for this child who was not yet 12 years old.
After being selected for the choir, a small dream took root in Masazawa's heart. ——" The teacher said that if you perform well enough, you may have the opportunity to go to Beijing and sing in the "Bird's Nest". ”
"I wanted to see what was inside the Bird's Nest, to see how the songs of that time were sung. In order to fill this dream, he himself brushed countless videos of the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympic Games on the Internet: Yao Ming led Lin Hao to enter, Li Ning held a torch in the air across the long scrolls of history... Although he had never experienced it himself, he knew almost every detail.
On August 8, 2008, the 29th Summer Olympic Games was grandly opened at the Beijing National Stadium. This is China's former gymnastics national player Li Ning preparing to light the main torch tower at the opening ceremony. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Guo Dayue
Imagining countless trips to Beijing, Li Zhengze could not imagine that when he actually embarked on the journey, he would get motion sickness.
"I was confused in the car, and when I got out of the car, I just wanted to sleep."
The bus ride from Fuping to Beijing lasted nearly four hours, and most of the children in the mountains were not too accustomed to long-distance travel, so they got on the bus happily and swung all the way down, almost all of them fainting.
This discomfort did not last long, and after a brief rest in Beijing, the children immediately underwent adaptation training and entered the hall of dreams.
Li Zhengze still remembers his first reaction when he stepped into the "Bird's Nest" - "It seems to be different from the video, why is it so big here?" Maybe it's the instinctive tension in the face of a huge volume gap, or maybe it's the unreal feeling of realizing the desire to think day and night. During the first rehearsal, many of the children's voices were trembling.
This tension on the stage even spread to Liang Youlin, the most confident and mischievous child in the whole group.
Liang Youlin's mischievous mischief is almost to the extent that everyone knows it. The Chinese teacher who taught him said: "After he went to the training camp, the class was not as lively as before. ”
In order to let her son calm down and sit down, his mother Zhao Xing planned to take him to learn art and calligraphy, but he turned around and Liang Youlin couldn't pull his leg out at the door of the classroom where the drum was fighting. "I thought I should still respect his opinion a little, and try it if I want to learn." Can insist on the best, can not insist, anyway, we have tried, do not let him regret. Zhao Xing and her husband discussed it, or gritted their teeth and bought a set of drums for her son that cost the equivalent of her two months' salary.
Before leaving, Grandpa asked him what to do when he missed home, and Liang Youlin turned his head to pretend to be cool: "What home do you want?"
Pictured here is Liang Youlin (right) and grandpa.
A week later, on the video call, he smiled and introduced the "Bird's Nest" to his mother, like a small tour guide. "Mom, you see, this is the "Bird's Nest", especially big and the basement..."
When the happy things were finished, Liang Youlin's mood began to be wrong. "I saw that his eyes were a little red, so I quickly hung up the phone and couldn't make him homesick." Zhao Xing said.
At this opening ceremony, all the children were away from their parents for the first time, and the first time they were outside for the New Year; At the same time, due to the epidemic and intense training, the children's life after arriving in Beijing is almost always two points and one line, which is not a small challenge for the curious, playful children.
On the occasion of the Lunar New Year, the teachers solicited everyone's wishes to satisfy the children as much as possible within their ability. Many of the small notes handed over read, "I want to go to Tiananmen Square to have a look."
Fast forward to February 4, 2022, "On stage we thought of the audience as a tree on a mountain and a star in the sky." "The kids overcame the tension in their own way.
Holy, wonderful, childlike. They completed the song almost perfectly. Under the world's attention, he lifted his breath and straightened his waist, and passed on his confidence and happiness to the world.
On the evening of February 4, the opening ceremony of the XXIV Winter Olympic Games was held at the Beijing National Stadium. It's children singing Olympic songs. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Ga
After the performance, the lights dimmed. The children lined up for the last time and walked off the stage from the passage in the southwest corner.
On February 5, the morning light was faint, and another bus carried them to Tiananmen.
This is the first morning after the spring, and it is also the first day that the children walk out of the "Bird's Nest" after the performance.
(Some of the image materials are provided by the interviewee)
Editors: Liu Ning, Yu Sihui, Zheng Daojin
Source: Xinhua News Agency