The Official Website of the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games September 6-17, 2008
The Official Website of the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games September 6-17, 2008
Date/Time: 12:00 p.m., Saturday, September 6
Venue: Main Press Conference (MPC)
Wang Hui
Ladies and gentlemen, good evening. Welcome to today's press conference. Today to the world is another exciting sleepless night. Just now, the Opening Ceremony of 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games is just over. The torch was lit in the stadium. The Opening Ceremony must have left you with great impression.
In order to introduce to the press the situation within and behind this, I have invited the core members of the operation team of the Opening Ceremony. Attending today's press conference are Mr. Zhang Heping, director of the Opening & Closing Department of BOCOG; Mr. Wang Ning, executive deputy director of the Opening & Closing Ceremonies Department of BOCOG, director of the Opening & Closing Ceremonies Operation Center; Mr. Zhang Yimou, chief director of the Opening & Closing Ceremonies of Beijing Paralympic Games; Mr. Zhang Jigang, deputy chief director of Opening & Closing Ceremonies of Beijing Paralympic Games, executive chief director of the Opening Ceremony of the Beijing Paralympic Games; and Mr. Chen Weiya, deputy chief director of Opening & Closing Ceremonies of Beijing Paralympic Games. You can see all three artistic directors are in red. Maybe there are some meanings behind that.
First of all, I would like to invite Mr. Zhang Heping to say a few words about the overall situation of the Opening Ceremony.
Zhang Heping
Ladies and Gentlemen, it is my great pleasure to see you again. I am very grateful to you for your support and your interest in the press conference tonight. The opening ceremony on August 8 and the closing on August 24 are both successful events. In the press conferences, I said the team headed by Zhang Yimou, Zhang Jigang, Chen Weiya as well as Yu Jianping, Lu Jiankang and the others, they are not only the designers of the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. It is really something to take care of the two opening ceremonies and two closing ceremonies.
Tonight this team showed you the third successful result. I would like to say that Mr. Zhang Jigang as the executive director for today's Opening Ceremony has made more contributions for this excellent ceremony for 3 years. They have done a lot of efforts in their work. The spirit of dedication and team spirit and progressiveness is worthwhile for the above praise. We stick to the policy of 'Two Games Equals Splendor' and four ceremonies of high quality. We have a same feeling and we should surprise the world with our work. As you have seen recently there is an example at 7:58 p.m. until 8:00 p.m., there is a very splendid performance. The idea comes from something happened on September 4. On the very early morning of that day and the evening, there was a rehearsal. During the rehearsals, we wanted to show it to the leaders of BOCOG. We reported to the BOCOG leaders and they agreed. Yesterday on September 5, we spent only one day to make a lot of material preparation and coordinated work of more than ten organization units. Today, this Opening Ceremony is a huge success in one goal. That shows the perseverance and spirit of that team. From the reactions of the spectators, you are very satisfied with tonight's Opening Ceremony. The performers in the Opening Ceremony are 4,813 in number from the China Handicapped Dance & Singing Troupe and including some of the performance of the military troupes and some of the amateur performers.
Among them, 423 are people with disability, there are some deaf and mute people and more than 500 interactive volunteers and 3,000 supporters. Altogether there are 12,000 people participating in the ceremony. So I would like here to express my gratitude to all the people working on the stage and behind the curtain. A lot of people are still preparing for the Closing Ceremony.
In 12 days' time, on September 17, you are the best judge to see the Closing Ceremony. If the opening ceremony is a success, we are determined that the Closing Ceremony will be equally splendid. Ladies and gentlemen, at this moment, the National Stadium is busy switching the venue. Within 31 hours, over 2,000 tons of equipment which was being set up in the past four days will be removed and we are going to prepare for the closing and for the sports venues in the stadium. This is a heavy task for us. I would like to thank all of them. Thank you very much.
Wang Hui
Thank you, Mr. Zhang. Let's invite the chief director Mr. Zhang Yimou to share with you the general situation and idea of this Opening Ceremony.
Zhang Yimou
I don't have much to say. You have already seen it. I will be very brief. The general plan is born at the same time when the Olympic Games Opening & Closing Ceremonies were designed. To speak actually, that was born two years ago, spontaneously with the Olympic Games. Mr. Zhang Jigang is responsible for the Opening & Closing Ceremonies. They are doing a lot of preparation on the one hand and not to interfere with the first Opening & Closing Ceremonies. So I would like to say I give full mark to my team for the work. I would like to thank them very much. Thank you.
Wang Hui
Thank you Mr. Zhang. Let's invite Mr. Zhang Jigang to introduce the overall operation of the Opening Ceremony tonight.
Zhang Jigang
Mr. Zhang said very correctly. I have the same feeling with him. In the past three years, all three of us coordinated very smoothly. We never have quarrels. We do have different opinions. But we are in good terms in the past few years. I felt I have learned a lot from Mr. Zhang and Mr. Chen. Particularly when we were met with difficulties and major problems, we could always united as one and overcome the difficulties. Mr. Zhang Yimou could always give us very good ideas of the Paralympic Games. Also I would like to say here, the Paralympics ceremony designing team is very good, also Mr. Wang Jianjun, Gong Xiaoqi, Huang Minna, Li Chengshu, Zhang Xianmin and etc, all are outstanding staff.
In the operating center, maybe this Paralympic team is very united. Everybody is united with others. We went through a lot of hardships, all the time we feel that two years ago, we were very clear that we know that the Opening Ceremony will be very successful. They are also sure the Closing Ceremony will be equally successful. At the same stadium, the 'Bird's Nest', to have the Opening Ceremony of the Paralympic Games, the pressure is tremendous. We want to realize we are united each other that we should be confident. It is a very difficult task. Also in a few days, another team in chairing of the Closing Ceremony of Paralympic Games, they will also present you with a lot of surprises and successes. Another team is also working day and night. They are with all the great efforts. When I think them as artist, I feel a lot of feelings. Today, you saw a lot of interesting things.
The Opening Ceremony is scroll of a traditional Chinese painting and gives you a lot of element of contemporary Chinese culture and the Opening Ceremony of the Paralympic Games is like a home garden. It is the earth that the human being rely on for their survival. Because of this reason, we are using a unique and artistic way to tell you about the journey of space and time and life. We wanted to demonstrate to everybody the great humanism, humanity and the brilliance of the human being. We tried to realize that within the framework of beauty to move, touch everybody and make it more romantic, beautiful, warm and joyful.
We wanted to show that all lives enjoy dignity and value. All lives have dreams. This is the fundamental concept of this. Just know Mr. Zhang Heping touch about this point. In the past 2 years, I have also learned a lot from many artists, people with or without disability. I have learned a lot of valuable spirit and quality characteristics from them, the blind people and those with hearing impairment or other disabilities in the process of rehearsals. I was touched at every moment. All the time, I was reminded that I have to provide a satisfactory answer to all the people. Today you have already seen the best results of our efforts. Art is nothing perfect. There is no totally perfect art in today's work. We can try to get close to perfection but we can never realize that. One thing is for sure. We have done our best. This is something I would like to share with you. Thank you very much.
Wang Hui
Thank you, Mr. Zhang Jigang. Now the floor is open.
Sichuan Daily
Today's Opening Ceremony, we saw a ballet dance. We saw Miss. Li Yue from Sichuan, an 11-year-old girl. But I think this idea emerge a few years ago. So this episode was added recently or you already had that a few years ago and you just find the person to play in the episode?
Zhang Jigang
Frankly speaking, we already prepared this episode a long time ago. As you all know, this is performed by all people with hearing disability, I worked with them for a long time. I created the dance for them. We also provided them with the stage to demonstrate themselves from the very beginning. We wanted to give them the chance to show the uniform dance. In the earthquake in Sichuan, I read about the press report about the story of Li Yue, an 11-year-old girl. She learned about the ballet for less than two years. She was a new student in ballet and she lost her left leg during the earthquake.
In that report, I saw that she is someone who will never give up her dream as a ballerina. I cried seeing that and at the very moment it came to me that I shall invite Miss Li Yue to join the performance but I was not sure whether she can fully recover her legs. At that time, we did not know that she did not have her leg anymore. When she has to have a surgery and then we contact the people in Sichuan. A ballet dancer without a leg would mean she would loss an important part in doing ballet. However, we asked all the people with hearing impairment to use their two hands and arms to play in the dance. If you understand the art of dance and ballet, you can see that if Li Yue was in the air to do this kind of the action, all the other people using their two legs will do the right leg. Li Yue is using her upper bodies. All the other performers never stop even if they fall. Good enough, we invited the best ballet dancer who won Varna International Ballet Competition. We invited him and asked him as the ballet prince to hold and support this Sichuan girl in the air, to swing her in the air and to realize her very dream. That is the process of our creation. We call it never stopping dance. Thank you.
Jinghua Daily
What about the plan of lighting the torch? You asked the person in the wheelchair to light the final one. Will that be dangerous for him to do that at the very end?
Zhang Yimou
I think we have many plans in doing this last part. Finally we nailed down on how to light the Paralympic cauldron. So we asked Mr. Hou Bin to do that. At first he found it very difficult. For the first time, he could only hold himself for dozens or 10 meters and could not move on. Then he will be using 5 minutes for 10 meters high. Then we gave him further training. We have a B player and 2 athletes to be trained together for 20 days for the lighting of the Paralympic cauldron. They made tremendous progress and then we were more and more confident. If they could not make it to climb the 30 meters high, maybe we can make a taller foundation to nail down in space. We have two plans going hand in hand. But he was marvelous. He made it and persisted. Finally we saw about 2-3 days when we done the last attempt for the lighting, he gave us a very good result. This is what you saw today. Thank you.
Zhang Jigang
Let me add something. Roughly, for 7 to 8 days during our training, the back up training ground is in Daxing in order to keep that a secret. We did that in the middle of the night. In Daxing, there are a lot of performers who are living there. They are a lot of trainings there. We have special medical team, doctors and nurses there. About 7 to 8 days ago, Daxing venue is not as high as the stadium. The best time is 2 minutes and 47 seconds. You have seen the cauldron stand, its 30 meters. The elevator is a backup. If there is a problem, the 30 meter elevator will help the athletes along with the improve performance of holding it in the training. He is 33 years old and very confident that he can make it himself. So we decided for him to do it himself. I discussed with the 2 athletes, I said there is no choice for both of you. You must climb up to the top even if you can take a short break in the middle of the air, although it is risky.
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