Yellow orioles singing willows, egrets in the blue sky, under the snow-capped mountains at sunset, the greenways are connected.
At 10 o'clock in the morning of April 26, under the beautiful Jiangxi River Ecological Green Corridor in the eastern new area of Chengdu, under the ferris wheel "Tianfu Eye", the 2024 Chengdu World Horticultural Expo kicked off, and Chengdu and the world went to the "Green Appointment".
With the wonderful opening performance, the Chengdu World Horticultural Exhibition will open its doors to the world. Over the next six months, this horticultural event will welcome guests from all over the world who love nature and cherish ecology.
The Chengdu World Horticultural Expo is not only a wonderful dialogue between the world's horticultural art and a park city, but also a beautiful platform for exchanges and mutual learning among world civilizations. For exhibitors, the opening ceremony is not only the most ceremonial part, but also a window to experience the myriad atmospheres of Chinese modernization.
How to present a high-quality horticultural event with "characteristics of the times, international level, Chinese elements, and Chengdu characteristics" to the world through a short 10-minute theatrical performance at the opening ceremony? How to achieve "simplicity, safety, wonderfulness, and professionalism"? Red Star News reporter interviewed Yan Lei, the chief director of the opening ceremony of the 2024 Chengdu World Horticultural Expo, to reveal the story behind it.
▲The opening ceremony of the 2024 Chengdu World Horticultural Expo
How to be simple and exciting?
2024 · EXPO
90% of the cast and crew are students, and the narrative is interlocking
The theme of this year's EXPO is "Park City, Beautiful Habitat", the opening ceremony is based on "Flowers Bloom in Heaven, Thousands of Weather", the overall duration is about 40 minutes, and two cultural programs are designed, one is the opening welcome ceremony "Flowers Bloom in Heaven", and the other is "Beauty and Beauty" before the opening, with a total duration of about 10 minutes.
How can we be simple and wonderful in such a short time?" we paid great attention to the ceremonial sense of the opening ceremony, and designed the music for all the guests to be on the stage and seated. Yan Lei said that in order to make the opening ceremony more "silky", the director team even carefully designed the aisle according to the number of steps taken by the guests.
In order to fully display the achievements of the construction and exchange of international horticultural disciplines in ten minutes, and at the same time focus on the achievements of China's ecological civilization, so that guests at home and abroad can experience the biodiversity of Sichuan, the characteristics of Chengdu's park city, and the green development concept of China, it is necessary to make precise arrangements for theatrical performances. Based on this logic, the opening ceremony theatrical performance is narrated in the progressive relationship between Chengdu, Sichuan, China and the world.
▲Jinyun Building, the main venue of the 2024 Chengdu World Horticultural Expo, according to Visual China
"We also invited local artists from Chengdu to participate in the opening ceremony of the EXPO, just to fully demonstrate the vibrant spirit of Chengdu citizens. Yan Lei said that the cast and crew of the opening ceremony were all from Sichuan. Among them, about 90% are students, including teachers and classmates from universities in Sichuan, as well as children from the Eastern New District, Longquanyi District and Chengdu Children's Choir.
The theatrical performances also take into account the artistry and mass nature, inviting artists from Beijing Modern Ballet, Chengdu Art Theater and Chengdu Peking Opera Research Institute to integrate song and dance, opera, chorus and other forms to integrate traditional charm, Tianfu culture and national spirit into nature, into the world garden and into the world, and to create a beautiful atmosphere of harmonious coexistence between man and nature.
The sustainable development concept of "green and low-carbon, economical and sustainable, sharing and inclusiveness" has also been integrated into the stage design.
For example, the opening ceremony was composed of petals, using the technique of "borrowing scenery to compose scenery", integrating the stage art with the surrounding landscape gardens, reflecting that "Tianfu Eye is rooted in the landscape garden", allowing the audience to feel the vitality and vitality of the Chengdu World Horticultural Expo. At the same time, the left and right sides of the stage are designed with ingenious flower waterfalls, all decorated with real flowers. After the performance, the flowers will be transplanted to other suitable places to continue to bloom beautifully, conveying the green concept of respecting nature of the EXPO.
▲The opening ceremony of the 2024 Chengdu World Horticultural Expo
In addition, the stage structure design also includes real bamboo, and the bamboo leaves are environmentally friendly and degradable materials. After the stage is dismantled, the bamboo will also be recycled for reuse.
The concept of sustainability is also reflected in the subsequent use of the stage of the opening ceremony - with the goal of "holding the meeting, operating the city, developing the industry, and benefiting the people", the stage will be retained until the end of the closing ceremony. In the course of up to half a year, in addition to the opening and closing ceremonies, more activities will be hosted here, such as theatrical performances during the May Day period, cultural tourism recommendations and other activities.
How to show the taste of Chengdu?
2024· EXPO
The sun god bird, hibiscus flower, giant panda, egret are all here
In previous World Horticultural Exhibitions, the opening ceremony is also considered to be a display that can best reflect the cultural characteristics of the host country. How to reflect the Chinese flavor, Sichuan characteristics, and Chengdu flavor in the 10-minute cultural program?
"We use pigeon flowers and hibiscus flowers as a medium to highlight the thousand-year-old romance of Tianfu and show the unique charm of the park city. Yan Lei said that the dove tree, also known as the "pigeon flower tree", not only conveys peace and friendship, but also represents the warm and tolerant character of Sichuan people, and the tenacious and enterprising attitude. The hibiscus flower gave birth to the legend of Chengdu's "turtle painting hibiscus", which carries the beautiful meaning of blessing the prosperity of the country. On both sides of the stage, there are pillars of dove trees, and at the opening ceremony, hibiscus flowers also bloom in the pillars of dove trees.
▲The opening ceremony of the 2024 Chengdu World Horticultural Expo
"From the perspective of theatrical performances, the theme of the welcome ceremony "Flowers Blooming Tianfu" is more 'Chengdu' and more 'Sichuan'. Yan Lei said that the theme song of "Flowers Blooming Tianfu" was adapted from the Sichuan folk song "The Sun Comes Out and Beaming", and incorporated symphonic and folk music elements. As the music of the welcome ceremony, it expresses the concept of Sichuan people's hospitality. At the same time, through the cast and crew's interpretation of the sun god bird, hibiscus flower, peach blossom fairy, giant panda, egret, etc., the rare ecological resources of Sichuan and Chengdu are displayed.
"The egret is considered a 'monitoring bird' and 'environmental bird' of the state of the atmosphere and water quality. Through the display of rare ecological resources such as egrets, we hope to convey that the Chengdu World Horticultural Exhibition is not only about flowers and trees, but also contains the concept of harmonious coexistence between man and nature in the land of abundance. Yan Lei said.
How to interpret "the beauty of the world, each beautiful"?
2024 · EXPO
Integrate the common feelings of human beings from five continents to praise nature and love their hometown
The Chengdu World Horticultural Fair is an international event integrating horticulture, culture, science and technology and art, in addition to displaying rich horticultural flowers, it is also a blend of culture and art.
"We hope that through this event, we can explore the harmonious coexistence between man and nature, and convey Chengdu's beautiful vision of inviting the world to seek common development and create a better future through the World Horticultural Expo. Therefore, great attention was paid to the international, communicative and professional nature of the opening ceremony. Yan Lei said that in the opening ceremony pilot film, the director team interviewed foreign horticultural experts. Famous world landmarks were also selected for the countdown screen, and many foreign student representatives and environmental protection volunteers were invited to present the program.
From the perspective of narrative logic, "Beauty and Beauty" is connected by three programs, which respectively use excerpts from the dance drama "Giant Panda" green-tailed rainbow pheasant, quintessential Peking Opera, and "Wuzhou Choir" to show the integration of Sichuan, China, and international culture and art, expressing "beauty and beauty" and "beauty in each".
The green-tailed rainbow pheasant is a rare bird endemic to the mainland and is known as the "giant panda among birds". In recent years, its traces have been captured in many places in Sichuan, which is a manifestation of Sichuan's protection of biodiversity and excellent ecology.
"Peking Opera is a more 'Chinese' embodiment, and we use Peking Opera to sing the myriad of Chinese atmosphere. It is worth mentioning that the Peking Opera performance has also been innovatively set up, and the costumes of the actors are based on the color of the emblem of this World Horticultural Expo, and the colors are constantly changed during the performance.
Horticultural crops can not only meet people's needs for a better life, but also promote the harmonious coexistence of man and nature. The progress and development of horticulture has a profound impact on human health, rural revitalization and sustainable environmental development. In the third chapter of "Beauty and Beauty", more than 60 children from Sanchahu Primary School in Chengdu Eastern New Area formed the "Giant Panda Choir", singing in multiple Chinese languages the newly adapted Asian "Jasmine", Australia's "Sheep Shearing", America's "Country Road Take Me Home", European "Waltz of Spring" and other classic songs, each piece of music is accompanied by Chinese traditional dance, African inspiration, waltz and other live dances corresponding to local customs, conveying the common feelings of human beings on the five continents to love their hometown and praise nature.
▲The opening ceremony of the 2024 Chengdu World Horticultural Expo
At the end of the program, four singers brought the theme song of the Chengdu World Horticultural Exhibition "Let's Look at the Hibiscus Flowers" on the stage, and 30 groups of young volunteers from five continents at home and abroad appeared on the stage wearing iconic flowers from various countries, showing the beauty of the world.
The director team tells the story behind it
▲The opening ceremony of the 2024 Chengdu World Horticultural Expo
"The qualities that these children exhibit,
It is also the quality of the city of Chengdu."
From receiving the task in November last year to the official opening, there was less than half a year left for the director team to prepare. What are the stories behind it? The following is the self-description of Yan Lei, the chief director of the opening ceremony——
This year's EXPO has set a number of historical records, and the importance of the opening ceremony is self-evident.
In fact, the shorter the time of the show, the more difficult it is to do, because there are many things to express, and there have been several changes in the process, and we have made difficult trade-offs between programs and elements. For example, from Sichuan Opera and Peking Opera, we finally chose Peking Opera, which is more representative of China.
There are many differences in this opening ceremony, the biggest difference is that the opening ceremony is in the daytime, and it is an outdoor open stage, which is also the most difficult. Because everything on the stage is unobstructed during the day, it is difficult to use lighting and visual effects to bless it. In order to make the stage look neat and clean, we streamlined the cast and crew, minimized cast transitions, and used bamboo to cover the decorations.
Another difficulty was the construction of the stage. The stage was built on a stepped slope with soft soil, and the main stage was about 33 meters high and 60 meters wide, and it had to be used for half a year, which posed a challenge to the construction of the stage. We invited relevant experts in the field of housing and construction to plan together, and basically set up the stage in accordance with the safety requirements of building houses.
The World Horticultural Exposition is the "Olympics" of horticulture and is a very professional expo. In fact, most of the directors are from literature and journalism, and in order to hold the opening ceremony, we also learned from the experience of the opening ceremonies of the previous World Horticultural Exhibitions at home and abroad, and had a dialogue with leading figures in the horticultural industry at home and abroad, which is also a very interesting thing, because in the process, we will constantly change our professional identities.
During the rehearsal, I also saw the perseverance and tenacity of the children. I think the quality of these children is also the quality of the city of Chengdu.
Source: Red Star News