It was a spectacular 100-minute show. China’s confidence that it’s not just the biggest country in the world, but now the best in technology, was on full display.
The opening ceremony of the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games took place at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center Stadium in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China, on the afternoon of the 23rd. After several days of rain leading up to the ceremony, there was 메이저사이트 talk of a change of venue and the possibility of scaling back the event, but thankfully the rain eased off in the afternoon.
8 p.m. local time. The event kicked off with the entrance of Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife. Hundreds of female dancers, who were the first to enter the stadium, greeted the arrival of the country’s head of state with a flourish. The blue-clad dancers waved flags, while the yellow-clad dancers waved their arms. The seated crowd cheered loudly. The cheers grew louder as Xi raised his right arm.
The stadium floor was covered with a giant circular LED display, and 35 rectangular vertical LEDs were suspended in the air. The LED displays in the sky were connected together to form a single screen. Performances of as few as two people and as many as several hundred took place on the floor and on the screens in the air. The broadcast screen also incorporated augmented reality technology. Sometimes hundreds of lanterns filled the sky, sometimes endless fireworks exploded with no smoke and no sound. It was hard to tell what was real and what was virtual.
The performance began with a dance symbolizing the waves of the Qiantang River, which runs through Hangzhou. A wave-like painting spread out in concentric circles in the middle of the stadium floor, with dancers dancing on top of it. The waves of the Qiantang River were meant to represent “Asia’s wave to the world,” the organizers explained.
The blue waves then turned green and then golden. In the vertical display, lights flashed, evoking the image of a farmer plowing with his oxen. The performance represented Hangzhou’s fall harvest. The opening ceremony was held on the day of the autumn equinox, the time of harvest, in the 24th year of the Chinese calendar. Hangzhou is the center of China’s Liangzhu civilization, which began rice farming more than 5,000 years ago.
Following the performance, the Chinese flag, the Five Stars and Stripes, was hoisted into the stadium, and then the athletes from each country entered in alphabetical order. South Korea, co-flagged by Koo Bon-gil (fencing) and Kim Se-young (swimming), was the 16th country to enter the stadium. North Korea came in seventh, ahead of them. There was a loud cheer as the North Korean athletes entered, marking their return to the international sports scene after a five-year absence, but an even louder cheer erupted as the Hong Kong athletes entered next, followed by the Taiwanese athletes. As the teams from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau entered the stadium, a large screen on the stadium wall showed a large image of President Xi waving.
After the team entrance, speeches, and player oaths, the real show began.
The Grand Canal, which connects Beijing to Hangzhou, opened up inside the stadium. Boats floated on the canal, and women carrying orange lanterns filled the floor. Pairs of men and women dangling from ropes flew over the blue waves.
Hangzhou’s most famous tourist attraction, the West Lake, was projected on screens, and the Games mascots Tian Tian, Chong Chong, and Lian Lian appeared alongside giant 3D soccer and basketball graphics.
The torch relay was the final highlight of the huge show.
Tokyo Olympic swimming gold medalist Wang Shun was the last torchbearer to hand over the flame. At that moment, a giant virtual reality torchbearer also jumped into the stadium from the Chentan River on the screen. The real Wang Shun and 메이저토토사이트 the virtual torchbearer ran together and stood in front of the torch together. The real flame and the virtual flame were simultaneously directed at the torch, and the torch was lit in an instant. The virtual torchbearer waved and disappeared. China’s technological prowess was most dramatically displayed in the final torch relay.