Peking University, February 11, 2022: There are few opportunities for one to experience historic moments first-hand, even in a long and fulfilled life. Yet on the evening of February 4th,   I  was fortunate enough to witness the advent of a miracle myself.

Back in 1964, when I was only 6 years old, the Olympics were held in Tokyo, which was also the first time it was held in Asia. A new highway was built, and Shinkansen was put into use in Japan. When the Sapporo Winter Olympics opened in 1974, I became a middle school student. The Japanese athletes won all the medals of the 70-metre platform ski jumping that year, the whole nation was mesmerized by them, and they were called the lovable nickname of ‘Hinomaru Flying Team’. It was by then that I began to realize the charm of winter sports. Thanks to the Olympics, Sapporo has also become known to more people around the globe as a beautiful sporting city. In 1998, the Winter Game was held in my hometown Nagano; then just last year, Tokyo held the Olympics for the second time under the crisis of the roaring pandemic.

For the Winter Olympics this year, Beijing faces similar difficulties as Tokyo due to the pandemic. As the organizer, China needs to bring the spectators a memorable experience no less exciting than the events of previous years, while ensuring safety throughout the whole process. Apart from the Winter Game, 2022 also marks the 50th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between China and Japan. Thus, I watched the opening ceremony with strong sentiment.

 The countdown before the ceremony adopts China’s 24 solar terms. Perhaps a coincidence of destiny, the Game this year is the 24th Winter Olympics, and the date of the opening is the beginning of spring. During the matrix performance of the lighting pole, the scene of rice seedlings blowing in the wind made the Japanese, a nation that’s also bred in farming culture, feel the reviving vibe of nature. After that, the white dandelion seeds scattering from children’s hands reminded people of the vitality of early spring.

I was curious about how the entrance sequence of each national representative team was decided. After asking a friend who works as a journalist, I found out that the sequence was based on the number of strokes of the nation’s name in Chinese characters. Amid the blending of light, color and music, Cai Guoqiang’s firework performance brought a real visual feast to the audience. Though people at the scene may not be able to enjoy the whole visual effect, and the audience who are at home in front of the TV cannot feel the vigorous atmosphere entirely, they can both experience the excitement in the venue created by the high enthusiasm and warming cheers.

Among all the performances in the opening, the one that particularly touches me is the ‘Salute to the People’ section. As the song “Make the World Full of Love” plays, youngsters in different costumes walk in side by side. Colorful scenes of life images around the world splicing out by the floor screen flow gently under their steps like a river. Later, it was learned that 15 of those young people are students from Peking University. Following the melody of Imagine, skaters came out and drew beautiful geometric patterns on the field. Last year’s Tokyo Olympics featured the theme of diversity, specifically saying, the emphasis of each distinctive personality; while this winter in Beijing, the attention shifts to ‘the unification of diversity’, or to say, ‘a more orderly diversity’.
The slogan of the Beijing Winter Olympics is full of profound meaning. The English version, ‘Together for a Shared Future’, stresses the article before ‘future’ as ‘a’ instead of ‘the’, indicating that the future that we strive for is not a fixed nor self-righteous one, rather a shared one that contains a vision that is acceptable and accessible to everyone.

The ignition ceremony, as the climax of the opening, is unexpected and different from the usual ceremony. At the scene, I did not quite understand why the torch was not lit in the end, it was only after watching the interview of Zhang Yimou, the chief director of the opening show,  that I realized the undertone of ‘to know the advent of autumn through one fallen leaf’（一叶知秋）. With no torch platform set up in the venue, the torch which is engraved with names of various countries rose in the center of the stadium, carried in hand by torchbearers on a giant snowflake. By igniting a tiny, almost invisible fire, China is conveying a common theme of mankind: to build a low-carbon society.

Back in 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, I was deeply moved by a spectacular opera performance that condensed China’s history of 5000 years. The fireworks that night seemed to illuminate the entire city of Beijing. In comparison to 2008 opening’s gorgeous grandiosity, this year’s ceremony impressed me as neat, modest, and heart-warming. The foreign teachers from Peking University including myself experienced a sense of cordiality beyond national and racial borders. Even till today, that serene sentiment from the opening night still enchants me, carrying with it a glimmer of hope, just like the snowflake and the ignited fire.

Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to Xia Hongwei, director of the Office of International Relations at Peking University, Zhu Jieyuan from the Division of Foreign Experts and other staff members who made my experience at the Beijing Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony possible.

Written by: Zhang Yihe Estelle
Edited by: June Tan Rui Min
Source: PKU News