ASIA GAMES 2010 VI PEARL RIVER PAGEANT
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http://english.cntv.cn/english/special/01/20101112/108889.shtml
…….By absorbing the creams of varied folk arts,Cantonese Opera has integrated them with the best of other operas to create an artform that uses realistic performance and song based on people’s own lives over decades and decades of local history to continually enrich the lives of those watching and performing today.
At the fourth waypoint, from Dayuanshuaifu Dock to Zhongda Memorial Arch, 20 children painted a long scroll depicting life in the “City of Five Goats” as the boats passed by while under the Arch area, residents kicked shuttlecocks, demonstrated their ballroom dancing skills and shadow-boxed to underline the pride Guangzhou citizens take in their free time as well as in their work time.
At Dashtou Dock, modern Guangzhou greeted the boats with a flower festival and fashion show that highlighted the city’s hospitality as host city of the Games and emphasised the vigour of its younger residents as they move into the second decade of the 21st century.
With a riot of colourful flowers as a backdrop, dancers and models showed off modern Guangzhou fashion and dance to reveal an energetic, happy and harmonious outlook for the future.
At Xinghai Concert Hall Square a folk variety show and percussion performance wrapped the athletes and officials, in their brightly lit boats, in the culture and traditions of the Lingnan region of the mighty Pearl River.
Dances of lions, dragons and “qilin” legendary animals, combined with martial arts performances, percussion and opera, all merged into a rollicking, unforgettable celebration of the Asian Games, the athletes and the people of Guangzhou.
An hour and 17 minutes after embarking at White Swan Bay, the boats’ passengers arrived at Haixinsha Island, greeted with joyous music and dance.
All the passengers then prepared to join the nearly 30,000 spectators in the “ship” “Harmony” for the artistic performances or for the Parade of Athletes.
http://www.newser.com/article/d9jeltf81/ready-set-go-asian-games-open-with-fireworks-and-pearl-river-pageant.html
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China promised another spectacular opening event and delivered it Friday in a festival of fireworks and Pearl River pageantry to mark the start of the Asian Games.
Two years after the Beijing Olympics in the Chinese capital, the southern city of Guangzhou _ which for a long time served as China’s window to the world _ opened the world’s second-biggest multi-sports event with an aqua-themed ceremony.
Athletes were ferried on 45 boats to an island venue shaped like the bow of a ship for an extravaganza of light, water and flames. More than 10,000 athletes from 45 countries or territories are competing in 42 sports starting Saturday and finishing Nov. 27.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao declared the games open toward the end of the nearly four-hour ceremony, also attended by other Asian dignitaries and International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge.
CLOSER AND MORE COLORFUL VIEWS
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Pageant along the Pearl River – Final countdown to 16th Asian Games_CCTV-International
http://english.cntv.cn//photo/album/20101112/108675_0.shtml
Asian Games Begin Amid Light, Water and Flames – ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireStory?id=12133319&tqkw=&tqshow=