2009 East Asian Games opening ceremony
Encyclopedia
The 2009 East Asian Games
opening ceremony was held on December 5, 2009 at Tsim Sha Tsui
, Hong Kong
. The opening began at 8pm at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre
on a floating stage set up at Victoria Harbour
. The production team was the same one that ran the 2008 Beijing olympics opening ceremony
. The ceremony involved 44 decorated vessels
and cost HK$40 million (about US$5 million) to stage, lasting 90 minutes. Tickets to the opening ceremony was sold at HK$1000.
State Councilor
Liu Yandong
is first introduced. Chief executive of Hong Kong
Donald Tsang
, IOC President Jacques Rogge
and East Asian games president Timothy Fok
are then introduced. They are seated among a panel of VIPs.
. The theme song "Be the Legend" (創造傳奇) is played. Then the different countries enter via the harbour by boat accompanied by fireworks. They enter alphabetically by English characters. The You are the Legend
theme song is also played.
(獅子山下). The song was performed many years ago by Cantopop
singer Roman Tam
. These are accompanied by sailboat and wave dances. This portion represents HK history
with the junk
sailing ship
s.
sang the song "Run forward" (跑步機上). She is accompanied by dancers. The junk boats then use a more modern lighting. This part ends with five firework shots display.
. He sings "If one day" (如果有一天) accompanied by violin
virtuoso
Li Chuan Yun
. This part also ends with five firework shots.
. Alan Tam
performs the song You are the Legend
. He is accompanied by HK students. Afterwards the 10 male, 14 female group Phoenix music troupe (鳳樂團) perform the "Nine nation drum beats" (九國鼓樂). Flag waving performers then come out.
, then again in Cantonese
. State Councilor Liu Yandong then opened the games up with a statement in Mandarin. The firework displays begin.
The flag is then raised and the East Asian games song is played. HK ping pong player Li Ching
(李靜) takes an oath. Gary Au Yeung Kwok-kei (歐楊國棋) then take an oath. Lee Lai-shan
and Wong Kam-po
arrives with the torch from the 2009 East Asian Games torch relay
. They join Cheung King-wai
, Hannah Wilson
and Chan Hei-man (陳晞文). They all light the wave.
, Nicholas Tse
, Vincy Chan
, Priscilla Chan
. The ceremony finishes with You are the Legend
.
2009 East Asian Games
The 2009 East Asian Games, officially known as the V East Asian Games, was an international multi-sport event that took place in Hong Kong, between 5 December and 13 December 2009. A total of 2,377 athletes from 9 East Asian national competed in 262 events in 22 sports...
opening ceremony was held on December 5, 2009 at Tsim Sha Tsui
Tsim Sha Tsui
Tsim Sha Tsui , often abbreviated as TST, is an urbanized area in southern Kowloon, Hong Kong. The area is administratively part of the Yau Tsim Mong District. Tsim Sha Tsui East is a piece of land reclaimed from the Hung Hom Bay now east of Tsim Sha Tsui...
, Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
. The opening began at 8pm at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre
Hong Kong Cultural Centre
The Hong Kong Cultural Centre is a multipurpose performance facility in the Tsim Sha Tsui area of Hong Kong. Located at Salisbury Road, it was founded by the former Urban Council and, after 2000, is administered by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department of Hong Kong Government...
on a floating stage set up at Victoria Harbour
Victoria Harbour
Victoria Harbour is a natural landform harbour situated between Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula in Hong Kong. The harbour's deep, sheltered waters and strategic location on the South China Sea were instrumental in Hong Kong's establishment as a British colony and its subsequent...
. The production team was the same one that ran the 2008 Beijing olympics opening ceremony
2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony
The 2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony was held at the Beijing National Stadium, also known as the Bird's Nest. It began at 8:00 pm China Standard Time on August 8, 2008, as 8 is considered to be a lucky number. The number 8 is associated with prosperity and confidence in Chinese culture...
. The ceremony involved 44 decorated vessels
Float (parade)
A float is a decorated platform, either built on a vehicle or towed behind one, which is a component of many festive parades, such as those of Mardi Gras in New Orleans, the Carnival of Viareggio, the Maltese Carnival, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, the Key West Fantasy Fest parade, the...
and cost HK$40 million (about US$5 million) to stage, lasting 90 minutes. Tickets to the opening ceremony was sold at HK$1000.
Leader entrances
Special guest People's Republic of ChinaPeople's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
State Councilor
State Councilor
The State Councilor is a powerful position within the State Council of the People's Republic of China, i.e. the executive organ of China's central government...
Liu Yandong
Liu Yandong
Liu Yandong is an official of the Communist Party of China currently serving on the Politburo. She also holds the post of State Councilor...
is first introduced. Chief executive of Hong Kong
Chief Executive of Hong Kong
The Chief Executive of Hong Kong is the President of the Executive Council of Hong Kong and head of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The position was created to replace the Governor of Hong Kong, who was the head of the Hong Kong government during British rule...
Donald Tsang
Donald Tsang
Sir Donald Tsang Yam-kuen, GBM, KBE is the current Chief Executive and President of the Executive Council of the Government of Hong Kong....
, IOC President Jacques Rogge
Jacques Rogge
Jacques Rogge, Count Rogge , is a Belgian sports bureaucrat. He is the eighth and current President of the International Olympic Committee .-Life and career:...
and East Asian games president Timothy Fok
Timothy Fok
Timothy Fok Tsun-ting , GBS, JP, the eldest son of Henry Fok, is a Member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, representing the Sports, Performing Arts, Culture and Publication functional constituency...
are then introduced. They are seated among a panel of VIPs.
Fireworks & entrances
Fireworks at the harbour begins. Then Ode to the Motherland is played while the Hong Kong police parade in. The HKSAR and PRC flag is raised to the national anthem March of the VolunteersMarch of the Volunteers
March of the Volunteers is the national anthem of the People's Republic of China , written by the noted poet and playwright Tian Han with music composed by Nie Er. This composition is a musical march...
. The theme song "Be the Legend" (創造傳奇) is played. Then the different countries enter via the harbour by boat accompanied by fireworks. They enter alphabetically by English characters. The You are the Legend
You are the Legend
You are the Legend is the official theme song of the 2009 East Asian Games held in Hong Kong. The song was composed by Peter Kam and Keith Chan .-Singers:...
theme song is also played.
Part 1
The "Fishing lights on Fragrant waters" (香江漁火) took place on a floating stage with colourful night view with dance scene. It plays the popular HK song "Below the Lion RockLion Rock
Lion Rock, or less formally Lion Rock Hill, is a famous hill in Hong Kong. It is located between Kowloon Tong in Kowloon and Tai Wai in the New Territories, and is 495 metres high...
(獅子山下). The song was performed many years ago by Cantopop
Cantopop
Cantopop is a colloquialism for "Cantonese popular music". It is sometimes referred to as HK-pop, short for "Hong Kong popular music". It is categorized as a subgenre of Chinese popular music within C-pop...
singer Roman Tam
Roman Tam
Roman Tam, known by the stage name Lo Man , nickname Law Kee , was a renowned Hong Kong Cantopop singer. He is regarded as the "Godfather of Cantopop".-Career:...
. These are accompanied by sailboat and wave dances. This portion represents HK history
History of Hong Kong
Hong Kong began as a coastal island geographically located off the southern coast of China. While pockets of settlements had taken place in the region with archaeological findings dating back thousands of years, regular written records were not made...
with the junk
Junk (ship)
A junk is an ancient Chinese sailing vessel design still in use today. Junks were developed during the Han Dynasty and were used as sea-going vessels as early as the 2nd century AD. They evolved in the later dynasties, and were used throughout Asia for extensive ocean voyages...
sailing ship
Sailing ship
The term sailing ship is now used to refer to any large wind-powered vessel. In technical terms, a ship was a sailing vessel with a specific rig of at least three masts, square rigged on all of them, making the sailing adjective redundant. In popular usage "ship" became associated with all large...
s.
Part 2
The (活力都會) part then focus on a more modern HK. On the floating stage Joey YungJoey Yung
Joey Yung is a Hong Kong Cantopop singer and actress from Emperor Entertainment Group. She won the prestigious JSG "Most Popular Female Singer" and "Ultimate Best Female Singer - Gold" awards a record breaking six times, thus emerging as one of the premier Cantonese singers in Hong Kong...
sang the song "Run forward" (跑步機上). She is accompanied by dancers. The junk boats then use a more modern lighting. This part ends with five firework shots display.
Part 3
The "Blessings for Hong Kong" (祝福香港) section is then opened up by Andy LauAndy Lau
Andy Lau MH, JP is a Hong Kong Cantopop singer, actor, and film producer. Lau has been one of Hong Kong's most commercially successful film actors since the mid-1980s, performing in more than 160 films while maintaining a successful singing career at the same time...
. He sings "If one day" (如果有一天) accompanied by violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
virtuoso
Virtuoso
A virtuoso is an individual who possesses outstanding technical ability in the fine arts, at singing or playing a musical instrument. The plural form is either virtuosi or the Anglicisation, virtuosos, and the feminine form sometimes used is virtuosa...
Li Chuan Yun
Li Chuan Yun
Li Chuan Yun , also known as Chanyun Li or Babeli is a Chinese violin virtuoso. He began studying violin at the age of 3 and won his first prize in Beijing when he was five. Li performed all the violin solos for the film Together...
. This part also ends with five firework shots.
Part 4
The "Conglomeration of the Nine Dragons" (九龍匯聚) section celebrate the nine participating countries. Usually nine dragons represent KowloonKowloon
Kowloon is an urban area in Hong Kong comprising the Kowloon Peninsula and New Kowloon. It is bordered by the Lei Yue Mun strait in the east, Mei Foo Sun Chuen and Stonecutter's Island in the west, Tate's Cairn and Lion Rock in the north, and Victoria Harbour in the south. It had a population of...
. Alan Tam
Alan Tam
Wing Lun Alan Tam, MH is an award-winning Hong Kong Cantopop and English pop singer and actor. During the early 1980s he played a major role in developing the cantopop scene as he was known for singing romantic ballads with modern arrangements. As of 2008, he is still active in the music...
performs the song You are the Legend
You are the Legend
You are the Legend is the official theme song of the 2009 East Asian Games held in Hong Kong. The song was composed by Peter Kam and Keith Chan .-Singers:...
. He is accompanied by HK students. Afterwards the 10 male, 14 female group Phoenix music troupe (鳳樂團) perform the "Nine nation drum beats" (九國鼓樂). Flag waving performers then come out.
National flag bearers
The athletes of the 9 nations then come out onto the stage.| Order | Nation | Flag bearer | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | China People's Republic of China China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres... |
Liu Zige Liu Zige Liu Zige is a world record holding swimmer from China. She swam for China at the 2008 Olympics, where she won the women's 200 butterfly in a new world record .... (劉子歌) |
swimmer |
| 2 | North Korea North Korea The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , , is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea... |
? | |
| 3 | Japan Japan Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south... |
? | |
| 4 | South Korea South Korea The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south... |
? | |
| 5 | Macau Macau Macau , also spelled Macao , is, along with Hong Kong, one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China... |
Choi Wai-git (蔡偉傑) | volleyball player |
| 6 | Mongolia Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest... |
(沙拉占士) | basketball player |
| 7 | Chinese Taipei Chinese Taipei Chinese Taipei is the designated name used by the Republic of China , commonly known as Taiwan, to participate in some international organizations and almost all sporting events, such as the Olympics, Paralympics, Asian Games and Asian Para Games... |
Hung Kwan-ngai (洪焜毅) | bowler |
| 8 | Guam Guam Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United... |
Aman (阿曼特) | |
| 9 | Hong Kong Hong Kong Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour... |
Steven Wong (王史提芬) | biker |
Speech
Donald Tsang then gave a speech. It was the first large scale international games ever hosted in HK. It was also the largest east asian games. Timothy Fok then followed up with a speech. They both gave their speech first in EnglishEnglish language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, then again in Cantonese
Cantonese
Cantonese is a dialect spoken primarily in south China.Cantonese may also refer to:* Yue Chinese, the Chinese language that includes Cantonese* Cantonese cuisine, the cuisine of Guangdong province...
. State Councilor Liu Yandong then opened the games up with a statement in Mandarin. The firework displays begin.
Games flag bearer
The flag of East Asian games enters the stage carried by eight HK athletes.| Flag bearer | Description |
|---|---|
| Kim Ho (何劍暉) | sailor |
| Chung Hoi-yuk (鐘海玉) | badminton |
| Li Fai (李暉) | wushu |
| Chan Mei-ling (陳美玲) | Judo fighter |
| Wong Fai (王輝) | shooter |
| Sherry Tsai (蔡曉慧) | swimmer |
| Wu Siu-hong Wu Siu Hong -External links:**... (胡兆康) |
bowler |
| Wun Gin-yi (温建儀) | |
The flag is then raised and the East Asian games song is played. HK ping pong player Li Ching
Li Ching
Li Ching is a table tennis player from Hong Kong, China. He is best known for the joint silver medal he won for Hong Kong at the Athens Olympic in 2004.-Career:...
(李靜) takes an oath. Gary Au Yeung Kwok-kei (歐楊國棋) then take an oath. Lee Lai-shan
Lee Lai Shan
Lee Lai-Shan MBE BBS is a former world champion and Olympic gold medal-winning professional windsurfer from Hong Kong. She is the first and last ever athlete to win an Olympic medal representing Hong Kong, not as part of China...
and Wong Kam-po
Wong Kam-po
Wong Kam-po BBS MH in Shatin, Hong Kong, is a world champion racing cyclist.-Biography:Wong Kam-po joined the Hong Kong cycling team in 1990. He quit the team after allegedly fighting with a team mate...
arrives with the torch from the 2009 East Asian Games torch relay
2009 East Asian Games torch relay
The 2009 East Asian Games torch relay was the torch relay portion prior to the opening of the East Asian Games. It took place on 29 August 2009 on the 100th day countdown to the games. About 500 local schools held torch relay activities from September 2009 to November 2009 prior to the start of...
. They join Cheung King-wai
Cheung King Wai
Cheung King Wai is a racing cyclist from Hong Kong, China who won a gold medal at the 2006 Asian Games in the points race.-Palmarès:20062008-References:...
, Hannah Wilson
Hannah Wilson
Hannah Wilson is a Hong Kong amateur swimmer. She is a two-time Olympic swimmer for Hong Kong, having swam at the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens and the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in the Water Cube in Beijing. She has won two career Universiade gold medals...
and Chan Hei-man (陳晞文). They all light the wave.
Fireworks
Final major firework display is accompanied by live singing from the float performed by artists such as Yumiko ChengYumiko Cheng
Yumiko Cheng is a Hong Kong-based Cantopop singer. Cheng was given the Japanese nickname "Yumiko" by her friends in secondary school, and upon signing with EEG, adopted it as her official stagename.-Career:...
, Nicholas Tse
Nicholas Tse
Nicholas Tse is a Hong Kong singer-songwriter, actor and musician, and son of actor Patrick Tse. He is a member of the Emperor Entertainment Group...
, Vincy Chan
Vincy Chan
Vincy Chan is a Hong Kong cantopop singer. Before the handover of 1997 when Hong Kong was returned from Great Britain to China, her family left Hong Kong and went to Singapore when she was a child. She was signed by Emperor Entertainment Group, and debuted with the album Vincy on 27 July 2006.She...
, Priscilla Chan
Priscilla Chan
Priscilla Chan Wai-han is a female Cantopop singer in Hong Kong.-Background:Chan has a younger brother and sister. Her father is a retired senior officer of Hong Kong Immigration Service. She attended Marymount Secondary School in Happy Valley, Hong Kong...
. The ceremony finishes with You are the Legend
You are the Legend
You are the Legend is the official theme song of the 2009 East Asian Games held in Hong Kong. The song was composed by Peter Kam and Keith Chan .-Singers:...
.
External links
See also
- 2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremonyThe 2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony was held at the Beijing National Stadium, also known as the Bird's Nest. It began at 8:00 pm China Standard Time on August 8, 2008, as 8 is considered to be a lucky number. The number 8 is associated with prosperity and confidence in Chinese culture...
- 2009 East Asian Games torch relay2009 East Asian Games torch relayThe 2009 East Asian Games torch relay was the torch relay portion prior to the opening of the East Asian Games. It took place on 29 August 2009 on the 100th day countdown to the games. About 500 local schools held torch relay activities from September 2009 to November 2009 prior to the start of...
- 2009 East Asian Games closing ceremony2009 East Asian Games closing ceremonyThe 2009 East Asian Games closing ceremony was an event that took place on 13 December 2009 at Kowloon Hong Kong Coliseum on the last day of the hosting of the 2009 East Asian Games. The show is 2 hours long...