The first competitions of the Olympic Games are already underway, on Friday (February 4th, 2022) from 1 p.m CET The Winter Games in Beijing will officially start – traditionally with a grand opening ceremony, at the end of which and as the climax the Olympic flame will be lit.
Beijing first city with summer and winter games
Historical events then also happen in Beijing’s “Bird’s Nest”: With the opening, Beijing is officially the first city after the Summer Games in 2008 to be able to hold Winter and Summer Games. At the opening ceremony 14 years ago in the then newly built National Stadium, the organizer presented a one-hour show with a tour de force through 5,000 years of Chinese history.
“Back then we wanted to show the world our civilization, our history, and the path we had traveled”, Zhang Yimou looks back. Zhang was the master of ceremonies for the opening ceremony in 2008 – he will be again in 2022.
How will Beijing present itself this time? Will the opening ceremony be a big propaganda show for China’s rising power? “The times have changed”Zhang explains ambiguously. “China’s situation in the world is completely different. We now have a lot of self-confidence in a new world order. China’s role in the world has changed.”, says the 71-year-old star director. How exactly this will show up in the 100-minute opening ceremony is still unclear.
Concern about Corona: fewer participants
It is known that the show will be much smaller. Instead of the 15,000 performers of the 2008 show spectacle, only 3,000 people will be there this time. What is leaking out in detail suggests plenty of visual effects, projections, high-definition TV screens, and technologically-enhanced art.
And that too is certain: the parade of athletes from the 91 participating countries will not be as pompous and expansive as in 2008 – because of the corona pandemic and to protect against possible infection, many athletes will not take part. Speed skater Claudia Pechstein and bobsleigh pilot Francesco Friedrich will be there, among others, and will carry the German flag into the stadium.