Cultural Highlights of Asian Games in Guangzhou

Water is an outstanding feature of the opening and closing ceremonies of 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games. In late October 2008， two months after the 2008 Beijing Olympics Games， Chen Weiya， the vice general director of the opening ceremony and the executive director of the closing ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games， subjected a general plan to the organizing committee of Guangzhou Asian Games for staging the opening and closing ceremony. Chen worked out the plan with a large group of gala professionals including Zhu Hai， a Hangzhou native and producer. The organizing committee liked the plan named the Sun of Asia and appointed Chen the general director for the two galas.

In December 2008， Chen and his team were advised to change the two ceremonies outside the stadium. The new idea was great， but it posted an unprecedented challenge: all the previous preparations must be scrapped and the team had to start from scratch.

The new venue was Haixinsha Isle in the Pearl River with the cityscape on both sides. Chen and his assistants found the new site inspiring. They thought a ship-shaped stage would be most suitable with the total city as the background as the city has been engaged in seafaring since ancient times. Moreover， a gala opener based on the river would be in delightfully sharp contrast to the opening ceremony in 2006 in Doha， the capital of the desert country Qatar. The city government would be mostly gratified to have the venue as a great legacy of the Asian Games for the future of Guangzhou City.

The team designed fireworks and laser beams made possible by the nightly cityscape; they made full use of the river so that athletes and officials could enter the venue by highly decorated boats. A company in Hangzhou was commissioned to make a large ironclad ship that imitated the ancient sail ship used by Zheng He (1371-1433) on his westward journeys into the Indian Ocean in the fifteenth century. It took engineers more than a year to come up with three modal ships and the organizing committee chose the third design.

Chinese tradition was highlighted in the flame-lighting and flame-extinguishing rituals. The torch tower stood 28 meters in height. When He Chong， a world diving champion， came to the foot of the tower holding the torch in his hand， a boy and a girl carried a 30-cm-tall firecracker to the tower. They lit the firecracker as if they were celebrating the Spring Festival in the traditional way. The firecracker sent sparkles up slowly to the top of the tower and ignited the flame. The traditional way of igniting the flame was applauded by the guests and audiences.

The flame-extinguishing stunt was equally impressive. As a little boy held a large Kapok flower in his hands and traveled in the air， the fire went out slowly whereas the red light came toward the flower in the hands of the little boy. Then all the lights and fireworks exploded into a splendor so great that all the audience cheered.

Another outstanding feature of the Guangzhou Asian Games was the fusion of the regional culture of Guangdong with the culture of Asia. Guangzhou is traditionally celebrated as a city of flowers. The Kapok flower is the city flower of Guangzhou. Artistically redesigned for the galas of the Guangzhou Asian Games， the flower appeared large and more beautiful. In the closing ceremony， Kapok flower was highlighted as the very symbol of the regional culture of Guangdong.