Dearest BYJ,
BYJ you should be watching Olympic opening ceremony 2008 by Zhang Yimou...
Beijing’s Gift to the World in 2008
By staff reporter: ZHANG XUEYING
Zhang Jigang is deputy director of the work team and best known for his direction of Thousand-Hand Guanyin, an award-winning dance performed at the 2005 Spring Festival Eve gala show.
One of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games“Five Friendlies” mascots.
The Zhang Yimou-directed Turandot was rapturously received by Paris audiences in 2005.
Celebrated Chinese film director Zhang Yimou was recently selected as leader of the team that will work on the Beijing 2008 Olympics opening and closing ceremonies. As the old Chinese saying goes, “A good beginning takes you halfway to success,” and a great deal is expected of the 2008 Olympics opening ceremony. Its main aim is to leave a positive and lasting impression of China’s splendid civilization on participating athletes, spectators from all over the world and the billions of TV viewers that watch it. The Beijing Olympics Organizing Committee has invited three overseas consultants to join the work team. They are world-renowned American movie director Steven Spielberg, president of French company ECA2 Yves Pepin, who staged the 2004 Olympics closing ceremony in Athens, and Australian Richard Peter Birch, chief director of four successive Olympic events since 1988.
“The Athens Olympics opening ceremony made a deep impression on us, so we are carefully considering how best to create a theme that celebrates China, its long history and splendid culture,” an official from the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) said.
Essential Teamwork
Beijing is as determined as any Olympic Games host to ensure that its opening ceremony will leave an indelible impression. The recently announced Beijing 2008 Olympics creativity team is spiced with celebrity. Film director Zhang Yimou is chief director. His right-hand men are Chen Weiya, vice director of the China National Song and Dance Ensemble and designer of the opening ceremonies of several recent major sports events, who worked with Zhang Yimou on the staging of Turandot in Beijing’s Forbidden City, and outstanding song and dance performance director Zhang Jigang, director of the Song and Dance Ensemble affiliated with the General Political Department of the Chinese People's Liberation Army. Yu Jianping, president of Beijing Special Engineering Design Institute, is technical director. The team’s production executive is Lu Jiankang, general manager of the Bei'ao Culture and Sports Co., who participated in the planning and organization of the 21st Universiade opening ceremony in Beijing and in the NGO forums at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing. The team’s cultural and artistic consultants are Ji Xianlin and Tang Yijie, eminent professors at the prestigious Peking University, Jin Shangyi, chairman of the China Artists' Association and ex-president of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Xu Xiaozhong, honorary president of the Central Academy of Drama, and movie director Chen Kaige.
Since announcement of the creativity team members, they have all, along with organizing committee officials, studiously avoided the press. World famous American director Steven Spielberg, one of the three foreign consultants on culture and art assigned to choreograph and stage the opening and closing ceremonies, is full of confidence. “I believe the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics will be one that is both grand and unforgettable,” he said.
Zhang Yimou and his three overseas consultants.
Members of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games opening and closing ceremony work team scrutinize a model of the main “bird’s nest” stadium.
Essential Chinese Elements
Finding the appropriate level of expression of the Chinese element in the opening ceremony is the creativity team’s main task. The BOCOG tendered internationally for creative input for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games opening and closing ceremonies in March 2005. Film directors that responded included Zhang Yimou, Feng Xiaogang, Chen Kaige, and Oscar winner Ang Lee. Eventually 13 creative plans were selected. “We will take the best ideas from each plan and integrate them into a design that reflects the cultural essence of five thousand years of Chinese history and civilization,” said vice chief director Zhang Jigang, adding, “But as the theme of the 2008 Olympic Games is One World One Dream, the opening ceremony should also feature contemporary Chinese characteristics in order to convey the Chinese people’s desire for friendship, harmony and peace. Our task is to incorporate Chinese elements, expressible onstage the opening ceremony stadium, that are easily interpreted by the non-Chinese audience. As a major world event, the ceremony should be grand and dignified but at the same time exude an ethos of lighthearted optimism.”
Vice chief director Zhang Jigang recalls the deep impression Hand in Hand, theme song of the 1988 Seoul Olympics, made on him. “The song title and chorus express how people everywhere in the world are equal as long as there is communication and friendship among them. This is a universal and immutable concept,” Zhang said.
Spielberg insists that an impressive visual effect will have more direct impact on viewers than audio effects or subtitles, and Zhang Yimou agrees. Having started his career as an art designer, Zhang is experienced in using color to tell stories. Steven Spielberg spoke of how he “ …. talked at length with Zhang about the use of color in getting a message across, and he is obviously an adept in this medium.”
Chinese and Western Music Mix
Music is another important aspect of the opening ceremony. Zhang Yimou’s audiences are already familiar with the Chinese folk song Jasmine Flower, as he used it in China’s bid for the 2008 Olympics. It is without doubt a beautiful melody but its repeated use might suggest a paucity of ideas. In recent years Zhang has been in frequent contact and also worked together with Chinese-American composer Tan Dun. The two are currently working on the staging of Chinese opera Emperor Qinshihuang, with Tan as composer and conductor and Zhang Yimou as director, in New York at the end of 2006. An internationally recognized musician with a Western education, Tan and his musical talent are greatly admired by chief director of the 2008 Beijing Olympics opening and closing ceremonies Zhang Yimou. The question is, will the two cooperate on this world event?
“We will invite appropriate composers to write some new songs, as various styles of music will be needed to express each nuance of the ceremony,” confirmed vice chief director Zhang Jigang. Many people suggest that the opening ceremony theme song should have both Chinese and English lyrics.
This poses the question of who the singer of the theme song will be. Zhang Yimou recently asked young Taiwanese pop singer Jay Chou to compose and sing the theme song of his latest movie The City of Golden Armor. There is consequently hope in some quarters that indy musician Jay, whose avant-garde hair and dress style make him darling of the youth, will be the main vocalist at the ceremony. There is, however, concern in others about whether or not he presents a suitable image of China at such an important event
“We will do our utmost to present an impressive, unforgettable gala to our international audience,” stated Zhang Jigang in an interview. Yet the idea of a grand opening ceremony leaves certain Chinese people cold. “The Olympic Games is a combination of sportsmanship and traditional culture,” said senior sports journalist Ma Shen, reporter on several Olympic events. “Having seen the short film Zhang Yimou directed as part of the Olympic bid, I think he should cultivate a deeper understanding of sports culture.”
Ma is not Zhang Yimou’s only critic. The eight-minute performance he directed for the Athens closing ceremony was spangled with cliché images gleaned from his earlier movies. It is feared that he may once again dig out the old props of red lanterns, Peking opera make-up, gongs and drums to evoke the Chinese essence of the 2008 games. “The creativity team has abundant materials to work with,” said Professor Nie Wei of the Chinese Film Academy. “They should edit out the more predictable images, such as Peking Opera, qipao, terra cotta warriors, gongs and drums, and concoct something that will surprise both the Chinese and international public.”
China continues to play an ever-greater role on the global stage, and the Chinese people are now ready to share their culture of tolerance and good will with the rest of the world. In a recent sina.com survey, 57 percent of participating netizens expressed the belief that the opening ceremony should, above all else, evoke the passion and spirit of contemporary Chinese people.
http://www.chinatoday.com.cn/English/e2008/e200803/p52.htm
http://www.beijingbirdnest.com/beijingbirdnest.com/beijingbirdnest/olympicnews/
많은 사랑
로부터 귀하의 누나 안에 태국합니다.
Roytavan
BYJ you should be watching Olympic opening ceremony 2008 by Zhang Yimou...
Beijing’s Gift to the World in 2008
By staff reporter: ZHANG XUEYING
Zhang Jigang is deputy director of the work team and best known for his direction of Thousand-Hand Guanyin, an award-winning dance performed at the 2005 Spring Festival Eve gala show.
One of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games“Five Friendlies” mascots.
The Zhang Yimou-directed Turandot was rapturously received by Paris audiences in 2005.
Celebrated Chinese film director Zhang Yimou was recently selected as leader of the team that will work on the Beijing 2008 Olympics opening and closing ceremonies. As the old Chinese saying goes, “A good beginning takes you halfway to success,” and a great deal is expected of the 2008 Olympics opening ceremony. Its main aim is to leave a positive and lasting impression of China’s splendid civilization on participating athletes, spectators from all over the world and the billions of TV viewers that watch it. The Beijing Olympics Organizing Committee has invited three overseas consultants to join the work team. They are world-renowned American movie director Steven Spielberg, president of French company ECA2 Yves Pepin, who staged the 2004 Olympics closing ceremony in Athens, and Australian Richard Peter Birch, chief director of four successive Olympic events since 1988.
“The Athens Olympics opening ceremony made a deep impression on us, so we are carefully considering how best to create a theme that celebrates China, its long history and splendid culture,” an official from the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) said.
Essential Teamwork
Beijing is as determined as any Olympic Games host to ensure that its opening ceremony will leave an indelible impression. The recently announced Beijing 2008 Olympics creativity team is spiced with celebrity. Film director Zhang Yimou is chief director. His right-hand men are Chen Weiya, vice director of the China National Song and Dance Ensemble and designer of the opening ceremonies of several recent major sports events, who worked with Zhang Yimou on the staging of Turandot in Beijing’s Forbidden City, and outstanding song and dance performance director Zhang Jigang, director of the Song and Dance Ensemble affiliated with the General Political Department of the Chinese People's Liberation Army. Yu Jianping, president of Beijing Special Engineering Design Institute, is technical director. The team’s production executive is Lu Jiankang, general manager of the Bei'ao Culture and Sports Co., who participated in the planning and organization of the 21st Universiade opening ceremony in Beijing and in the NGO forums at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing. The team’s cultural and artistic consultants are Ji Xianlin and Tang Yijie, eminent professors at the prestigious Peking University, Jin Shangyi, chairman of the China Artists' Association and ex-president of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Xu Xiaozhong, honorary president of the Central Academy of Drama, and movie director Chen Kaige.
Since announcement of the creativity team members, they have all, along with organizing committee officials, studiously avoided the press. World famous American director Steven Spielberg, one of the three foreign consultants on culture and art assigned to choreograph and stage the opening and closing ceremonies, is full of confidence. “I believe the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics will be one that is both grand and unforgettable,” he said.
Zhang Yimou and his three overseas consultants.
Members of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games opening and closing ceremony work team scrutinize a model of the main “bird’s nest” stadium.
Essential Chinese Elements
Finding the appropriate level of expression of the Chinese element in the opening ceremony is the creativity team’s main task. The BOCOG tendered internationally for creative input for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games opening and closing ceremonies in March 2005. Film directors that responded included Zhang Yimou, Feng Xiaogang, Chen Kaige, and Oscar winner Ang Lee. Eventually 13 creative plans were selected. “We will take the best ideas from each plan and integrate them into a design that reflects the cultural essence of five thousand years of Chinese history and civilization,” said vice chief director Zhang Jigang, adding, “But as the theme of the 2008 Olympic Games is One World One Dream, the opening ceremony should also feature contemporary Chinese characteristics in order to convey the Chinese people’s desire for friendship, harmony and peace. Our task is to incorporate Chinese elements, expressible onstage the opening ceremony stadium, that are easily interpreted by the non-Chinese audience. As a major world event, the ceremony should be grand and dignified but at the same time exude an ethos of lighthearted optimism.”
Vice chief director Zhang Jigang recalls the deep impression Hand in Hand, theme song of the 1988 Seoul Olympics, made on him. “The song title and chorus express how people everywhere in the world are equal as long as there is communication and friendship among them. This is a universal and immutable concept,” Zhang said.
Spielberg insists that an impressive visual effect will have more direct impact on viewers than audio effects or subtitles, and Zhang Yimou agrees. Having started his career as an art designer, Zhang is experienced in using color to tell stories. Steven Spielberg spoke of how he “ …. talked at length with Zhang about the use of color in getting a message across, and he is obviously an adept in this medium.”
Chinese and Western Music Mix
Music is another important aspect of the opening ceremony. Zhang Yimou’s audiences are already familiar with the Chinese folk song Jasmine Flower, as he used it in China’s bid for the 2008 Olympics. It is without doubt a beautiful melody but its repeated use might suggest a paucity of ideas. In recent years Zhang has been in frequent contact and also worked together with Chinese-American composer Tan Dun. The two are currently working on the staging of Chinese opera Emperor Qinshihuang, with Tan as composer and conductor and Zhang Yimou as director, in New York at the end of 2006. An internationally recognized musician with a Western education, Tan and his musical talent are greatly admired by chief director of the 2008 Beijing Olympics opening and closing ceremonies Zhang Yimou. The question is, will the two cooperate on this world event?
“We will invite appropriate composers to write some new songs, as various styles of music will be needed to express each nuance of the ceremony,” confirmed vice chief director Zhang Jigang. Many people suggest that the opening ceremony theme song should have both Chinese and English lyrics.
This poses the question of who the singer of the theme song will be. Zhang Yimou recently asked young Taiwanese pop singer Jay Chou to compose and sing the theme song of his latest movie The City of Golden Armor. There is consequently hope in some quarters that indy musician Jay, whose avant-garde hair and dress style make him darling of the youth, will be the main vocalist at the ceremony. There is, however, concern in others about whether or not he presents a suitable image of China at such an important event
“We will do our utmost to present an impressive, unforgettable gala to our international audience,” stated Zhang Jigang in an interview. Yet the idea of a grand opening ceremony leaves certain Chinese people cold. “The Olympic Games is a combination of sportsmanship and traditional culture,” said senior sports journalist Ma Shen, reporter on several Olympic events. “Having seen the short film Zhang Yimou directed as part of the Olympic bid, I think he should cultivate a deeper understanding of sports culture.”
Ma is not Zhang Yimou’s only critic. The eight-minute performance he directed for the Athens closing ceremony was spangled with cliché images gleaned from his earlier movies. It is feared that he may once again dig out the old props of red lanterns, Peking opera make-up, gongs and drums to evoke the Chinese essence of the 2008 games. “The creativity team has abundant materials to work with,” said Professor Nie Wei of the Chinese Film Academy. “They should edit out the more predictable images, such as Peking Opera, qipao, terra cotta warriors, gongs and drums, and concoct something that will surprise both the Chinese and international public.”
China continues to play an ever-greater role on the global stage, and the Chinese people are now ready to share their culture of tolerance and good will with the rest of the world. In a recent sina.com survey, 57 percent of participating netizens expressed the belief that the opening ceremony should, above all else, evoke the passion and spirit of contemporary Chinese people.
http://www.chinatoday.com.cn/English/e2008/e200803/p52.htm
http://www.beijingbirdnest.com/beijingbirdnest.com/beijingbirdnest/olympicnews/
많은 사랑
로부터 귀하의 누나 안에 태국합니다.
Roytavan
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