2009 East Asian Games opening ceremony

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.[1][2] The ceremony involved 44 decorated vessels and cost HK$40 million (about US$5 million) to stage, lasting 90 minutes.[3][4] Tickets to the opening ceremony was sold at HK$1000.[2]

Rehearsal of the Opening ceremony lights and fountains

Leader entrances

Special guest People's Republic of China 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.[5][6] 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 Volunteers. 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.

Performances

The artistic portion is split into four different parts.

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 Rock (獅子山下).[4] The song was performed many years ago by Cantopop singer Roman Tam.[7] These are accompanied by sailboat and wave dances. This portion represents HK history with the junk sailing ships.[7]

Part 2

The (活力都會) part then focus on a more modern HK. On the floating stage Joey Yung sang the song "Run forward" (跑步機上).[7][8] She is accompanied by dancers. The junk boats then use a more modern lighting. This part ends with five firework shots display.[7]

Part 3

The "Blessings for Hong Kong" (祝福香港) section is then opened up by Andy Lau. He sings "If one day" (如果有一天) accompanied by violin virtuoso Li Chuan Yun.[7] 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 Kowloon. 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.

National flag bearers

The athletes of the 9 nations then come out onto the stage. The host region Hong Kong marched last. Guam entered as the penultimate region, as it is a member of the Oceania National Olympic Committees and an invitation team. Other countries and regions entered in English alphabetical order of their Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) designated names. Whilst most countries entered under their short names, a few entered under more formal or alternative names, sometimes due to political disputes. Taiwan (Republic of China) entered with the compromised name and flag of "Chinese Taipei" under T so that they did not enter together with conflicting "China", which entered under C. Similarly, South Korea entered as "Korea" under K while North Korea entered as "Democratic People's Republic of Korea" (DPR Korea).

Order Nation Chinese name Jyutping Flag bearer Sport
1 China (CHN)中國zung1 gwok3Liu Zige (劉子歌)Swimming
2 North Korea (PRK)朝鮮ciu4 sin1Pak Keum-chol (朴金哲)Weightlifting
3 Japan (JPN)日本jat6 bun2Hiromi MiyakeWeightlifting
4 South Korea (KOR)韓國hon4 gwok3Park Jun-bumVolleyball
5 Macau (MAC)中國澳門zung1 gwok3 ou3 mun4Choi Wai-git (蔡偉傑)Volleyball
6 Mongolia (MGL)蒙古mung4 gu2Tserenjankharyn Sharavjamts (沙拉占士)Basketball
7 Chinese Taipei (TPE)中華台北zung1 waa4 toi4 bak1Hung Kun Yi (洪焜毅)Bowling
8 Guam (GUM)關島gwaan1 dou2Arman BurgosTable tennis
9 Hong Kong (HKG)中國香港zung1 gwok3 hoeng1 gong2Steven Wong (王史提芬)Cycling

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 English, then again in Cantonese. 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 (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 (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).[7] They all light the wave.

Fireworks

Final major firework display is accompanied by live singing from the float performed by artists such as Yumiko Cheng, Nicholas Tse, Vincy Chan, Priscilla Chan.[7] The ceremony finishes with You are the Legend.

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See also

References
  1. Chindaily.com. "Chinadaily.com." East asian games ready to go. Retrieved on 2010-05-23.
  2. News.gov.hk. "News.gov.hk Archived 2010-02-19 at the Wayback Machine." East Asian games ticket go on sale. Retrieved on 2010-05-23.
  3. OCAsia.org. "OCAsia.org Archived 2010-06-17 at the Wayback Machine." Hong Kong government ready to support Asian Games bid. Retrieved on 2010-05-23.
  4. Aappac.net. "Aappac.net." Launch of East Asian Games at Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong. Retrieved on 2010-05-23.
  5. Chinanews.com.cn. "Chinanews.com.cn." 劉延東在香港出席東亞運動會開幕式. Retrieved on 2010-05-23.
  6. News.gov.hk. "News.gov.hk Archived 2010-03-14 at the Wayback Machine." EAG a new chapter in HK's sporting history. Retrieved on 2010-05-23.
  7. Yahoo.com. "Yahoo.com." 20萬人賞煙花看表演. Retrieved on 2010-05-23.
  8. Chinareviewnews.com. "Chinareviewnews.com." 東亞運正式揭幕　香港同心創造傳奇一刻. Retrieved on 2010-05-23.
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