With just 11 days until the opening ceremony of the 15th National Games, performers and staff have commenced intensive sprint rehearsals at the Guangdong Olympic Sports Center. Seizing this opportunity, Wen Wei Po reporters conducted an exclusive visit to the core creative team behind the ceremony, engaging in in-depth discussions with Performance Directors Wu Xian and Mo Ziyan, Ceremony Chief Director Wang Liyuan, and Executive Performance Director Zhang Weilin.
The focus was on these female creators behind the opening ceremony—women who navigate various stages from creative conception and execution to coordination. They employ wisdom reminiscent of the "Thirty-Six Stratagems" to dismantle complex coordination challenges, while also infusing the entire production with a unique artistic tension through their soft yet penetrating creativity. For them, a grand opening ceremony is both a vast stage to showcase individual talent and an advanced classroom for growth through the rigors of the event. The youthful creativity and vibrant productivity evident in their conversations offer a direct glimpse into the fresh vitality and professional competence of this female team.
"I'll always remember the nationwide jubilation during the 2008 Beijing Olympics," recalled Zhang, a post-95s executive performance director. The moment on August 8, 2008, at 8 PM, when her whole family gathered around the TV awaiting the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony, planted a seed in her heart for event production. She considers herself fortunate that subsequent international events and large-scale cultural performances hosted by the nation have allowed many young people like her to witness the beauty of inheriting and innovating Chinese culture proudly.
"Global exchange and integration are the greatest sources of cultural confidence for our generation," she said.
This confidence translates into meticulousness and dedication in her executive work. "Stage execution isn't just about 'doing the job well'; it's about quantifying the creative ideas from the director team into actionable lists," Zhang explained.
She admitted that the processes, projects, and industries involved are far too complex to count on two hands. Her solution is to break down challenges into ten or even a hundred smaller tasks to tackle one by one. When handling specific matters, she explores "the aesthetics of ancestors"—"As Chinese people, what is the romance inherent in our bones? What have our forebears believed in?"
This line of thinking leads her to draw inspiration from traditional culture: extracting nourishment from the craftsmanship and colors of museum artifacts, integrating them into the costume and makeup designs for the opening ceremony performers. Those wondrous "new Chinese style" integrations often elicit spontaneous praise from the team. Addressing doubts about whether someone so young can handle significant responsibilities, she stated firmly: "Professional maturity is measured by how much responsibility one can shoulder and how many problems one can solve."
Ceremony Chief Director Wang seeks emotional resonance across Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao through both the grand and subtle aspects of "ceremonial feeling."
"Each Games expresses different content, but nowadays, we are becoming increasingly confident and inclusive."
She noted that the 15th National Games is the first to be jointly hosted by the three regions, arranging the concept of "togetherness" through "ceremonial feeling", the greatest challenge. "What's special this time is that the three regions will synchronously raise the national flag and sing the national anthem, and their delegations will enter simultaneously—this is the 'macro' ceremonial framework," Wang explained. "Within the 'micro' details, 'togetherness' is the familiar call of Cantonese and Cantonese opera, the recognizable beats of Hong Kong music and lion dance drums, and the nostalgic taste of Cantonese cuisine on the tongue." Through these designs, she hopes the audience will feel the emotional connection of people from the three regions "striving under the same sky, innovating along the same blue waters, and setting sail with the same dream."
In her view, the "perfectly synchronized" performances in large-scale events represent a romance embedded in the Chinese DNA: "Thousands of people moving and sounding as one—that cohesion is a spirit etched in our bones." However, breakthrough is also essential—"It's not about disrupting order, but about making this unity more accessible and conveying the emotions we wish to express."
Reflecting on the evolution from "telling Chinese stories with rich colors" after the Beijing Olympics to today's "simply conveying the spirit of sports well," Wang remarked that the era continually raises the bar for creators. The core of the 15th NG opening ceremony is "to let everyone feel the spirit of sports through artistic presentation, making national fitness a footnote to 'China's strength through sports strength'."
"From the preliminary preparations and execution to the current countdown rehearsals, the entire process has been running remarkably smoothly," said Performance Director Wu. She believes that "smooth" does not mean "mundane," but rather demonstrates the team's professionalism: "It means we have the foresight for various details and can seamlessly adapt with alternative designs when variables arise. This is truly valuable."
Also serving as the Performance Director for the National Para Games & Special Olympics, she focuses not only on the presentation of the opening ceremony but also on the people-centric care behind the events: "The significance of major events extends beyond the performance itself; they can drive urban development upgrades. For instance, after the National Para Games & Special Olympics, societal attention towards special needs groups will deepen, and urban infrastructure will become more humanely designed—such progress represents the long-term value of organizing major events."
(Source: Wen Wei Po; Journalist: Hu Ruozhang, Huang Baoyi; English Editor: Darius)
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