Chinese director Zhang Yimou, who staged a spectacular opening ceremony for the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, will once more be at the helm for the same ceremony at the 2022 Winter Olympics, the officials announced. organizers Friday.
KEYSTONE
Mr. Zhang, 71, promised a “totally innovative” inauguration, while conceding that the context of the pandemic and the low temperatures would prevent the exceptional dimension of the 2008 show and its 15,000 participants from reaching the exceptional dimension.
“Being simple, like in martial arts movies, is like a master’s sword,” the director told the official China New News Agency in an interview published Friday night. “It looks like a simple stab, but with lethal power.”
The author of Chinese classics like “The Red Sorghum” or “Wives and Concubines” and of martial arts films like “Hero” or “The Secrets of the Flying Daggers” has promised nearly 3000 participants in the ceremony.
Another clue distilled by Mr. Zhang: the lighting of the Olympic flame will follow a “daring idea” integrating the concepts of “environmental protection and low carbon emissions”. “I am very nervous. I think it’s completely innovative and people are going to be surprised, ”he added.
Chinese New Year
Elements of the Chinese New Year, which falls on February 1, three days before the ceremony, will also be present in the show, the director told the public broadcaster CGTN.
At the 2008 ceremony, 2008 musicians beat perfectly rhythmic ancient Chinese drums, and thousands of other participants – martial arts enthusiasts, dancers, opera singers, acrobats and trapeze artists – paraded in lavish costumes.
The show highlighted the history of China and its civilization and was to symbolize its comeback on the international stage. “It’s different now,” Zhang told New China. “The image of the Chinese, and the rise of our national status, everything is totally different now.”
“With the pandemic, the world needs a new and strengthened vision, that is, people around the world come together to face the difficulties and envision a bright future,” he added. .
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