The 44 Fuping children who sang "Ode to the Olympics" in Greek at the opening ceremony of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing have returned! The original team sang this song on the stage of the closing ceremony of the Winter Olympics, and this time the red tiger head coat was replaced by an ice and snow blue pisces suit, and the children's faces were also full of more confidence and calm temperament.
After the opening, I only slept for 5 hours to see the flag raising
Just a week after leaving Beijing, the 44 children of the Ma Lanhua Children's Voice Choir returned to Beijing. On both occasions in Beijing, the children did not have time to go out to visit, but they had a wish - to go to Tiananmen Square to see the flag-raising ceremony. This wish was learned by the Gehua team, the general production organization of the opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. So under careful arrangement, in the early morning of the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics, after only more than 5 hours of rest, the children got up and ran to Tiananmen.
Liu Kai, secretary and principal of the Central School District of Xiazhuang School District in The South Of Chengnan County, Fuping County, Baoding City, who led the team, recalled that when standing on the east side of Tiananmen Gate, everyone was very excited when they stood on the viewing platform on the east side of Tiananmen Square and saw the whole process of the National Flag Guard starting from Tiananmen, walking through Jinshui Bridge, passing through Chang'an Avenue, and then marching to the square to raise the flag. "Finally, we have come to the land of faith." Yang Zirui, a girl with big braids in the choir, said. When the national anthem was played, many children's eyes were moist.
Leave the Bird's Nest for 8 days and return to the stage to rehearse in the snow
After watching the flag raising, the children set off to return to Fuping at noon that day. The reunion dinner with his family has not yet eaten a few meals, and at 18:00 on the evening of the seventh evening of the New Year' Day, Liu Kai received a notice from the director group of the closing ceremony, inviting the choir to sing "Ode to the Olympics" on the Bird's Nest stage again. On 10 and 11 February, 44 children were intensively trained before the trip. In the early morning of February 12, the bus to Beijing departed.
Several children on the road had motion sickness and vomiting. This situation actually occurred when I last came to Beijing. Sometimes after a dozen minutes of driving, the children have to slow down for an hour to get back to normal. In order to reduce physical discomfort, the Gehua team also urgently changed the hotel, changing the children's station from a hotel 40 minutes' drive from the Bird's Nest to a hotel 200 meters away from the Bird's Nest. Back in Beijing, the kids stay here again, walking distance from each rehearsal.
"On the 12th, I arrived at the station at 14:00, entered the bird's nest at 18:00 to start rehearsals, and it snowed heavily at night." Liu Kai recalled that on the 13th, the snow had been falling. The view was beautiful, but the water on the ground caused the children's pants below the knees to get wet. "Wring out the socks, take the hair dryer and dry them and put them on. Back at the station, the teacher kept warming the feet of the youngest child, Han Shu, who was only 6 years old, with his hands. Liu Kai said that the next day all the children brought two pairs of spare socks before entering.
Children come on stage with more confidence and calmness
"The facial muscles are no longer tense", "I am not nervous after taking the stage", "I am faster and more tacit with each other", "Even the speed of changing clothes has become faster"... On the stage again, whether it is the director team or the staff of the security department, they can feel the subtle changes in the children's temperament from many subtleties.
The children who have experienced the baptism of the opening and closing ceremonies of the Winter Olympic Games have also unconsciously changed their mood. The last time I left Beijing to see the flag-raising ceremony, the teacher had assigned homework: everyone should seriously think about their ideals in front of Tiananmen Square and under the national flag. Xi Qingru, an 11-year-old girl, once had a wish to become a singer when she grew up. But a few days ago, she told the teacher: "My dream is to be a teacher, like Grandma Deng Xiaolan, and when she grows up, she will teach the children in the mountains to sing." ”
Source Beijing Daily Client | Reporter Li Yang
Editor: Li Tuo
Process Editor Tai Shaofeng