Rehearsal of opening ceremony of 2009 East Asian Games

The

2009 East Asian Games ) , Host city = Hong Kong , Teams participating = 9 , Athletes participating = 2,377 , Events = 262 events in 22 sports , Opening ceremony = December 5, 2009 , Closing ceremony = December 13, 2009 , Officially opened by = State Councilor L ...

opening ceremony was held on 5 December 2009 at Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong. The opening began at 8 p.m. at the

Hong Kong Cultural Centre The Hong Kong Cultural Centre () is a multipurpose performance facility in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong. Located at Salisbury Road, it was built by the former Urban Council and, since 2000, has been administered by the Leisure and Cultural Servi ...

on a floating stage set up at Victoria Harbour. The production team was the same one that ran the 2008 Beijing Olympics opening ceremony.News.gov.Hong Kong.
Kong/en/category/healthandcommunity/090824/html/090824en05002.htm News.gov.Hong Kong
." ''East Asian Games ticket go on sale.'' Retrieved on 2010-05-23. The ceremony involved 44 decorated

vessels Vessel(s) or The Vessel may refer to: Biology *Blood vessel, a part of the circulatory system and function to transport blood throughout the body *Lymphatic vessel, a thin walled, valved structure that carries lymph *Vessel element, a narrow wat ...

and cost

HK$ The Hong Kong dollar (, sign: HK$; code: HKD) is the official currency of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. It is subdivided into 100 cents or 1000 mils. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority is the monetary authority of Hong Kong and ...

40 million (about

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

5 million) to stage, lasting 90 minutes.Aappac.net.
Kongcceag.html Aappac.net
" ''Launch of East Asian Games at Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong.'' Retrieved on 2010-05-23. Tickets to the opening ceremony was sold at HK$1000.

Leader entrances

Special guest

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

's state councillor

Liu Yandong Liu Yandong (; is a retired Chinese politician. She recently served as the Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China, and was a member of the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party from 2007 to 2017, a State Councilor between 2007 and ...

was the first introduced. Chief executive of Hong Kong Donald Tsang,

IOC President The president of the International Olympic Committee is head of the executive board that assumes the general overall responsibility for the administration of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the management of its affairs. The IOC E ...

Jacques Rogge and East Asian Games president Timothy Fok were then introduced.News.gov.Hong Kong.
Kong/en/category/healthandcommunity/091205/html/091205en05012.htm News.gov.Hong Kong
." ''EAG a new chapter in Hong Kong's sporting history.'' Retrieved on 2010-05-23. They were seated among a panel of VIPs.

Fireworks & entrances

Fireworks at the harbour began. Then

Ode to the Motherland "Ode to the Motherland" () is a patriotic song of the People's Republic of China, written and music composed by Wang Shen (; 26 October 1918–October 15, 2007) during the period immediately after the founding of the People's Republic of China ( ...

was played while the Hong Kong Police Force parade in. The Hong KongSAR and PRC flag was raised to the national anthem

March of the Volunteers The "March of the Volunteers" (), originally titled the "March of the Anti-Manchukuo Counter-Japan Volunteers", has been the official national anthem of the People's Republic of China since 1978. Unlike previous Chinese state anthems, it was ...

. The theme song "Be the Legend" (創造傳奇) was played. Then the different countries entered via the harbour by boat accompanied by fireworks. They entered alphabetically by English characters. The " You are the Legend" theme song was also played.

Performances

The artistic portion was 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 played the popular Hong Kong song "Below the Lion Rock (獅子山下). The song was performed many years ago by Cantopop singer Roman Tam.Yahoo.com.
Kong.news.yahoo.com/article/091205/3/fib4.html Yahoo.com
" ''20萬人賞煙花看表演.'' Retrieved on 2010-05-23. These are accompanied by sailboat and wave dances. This portion represents Hong Kong history with the junk sailing ships.

Part 2

The (活力都會) part focused on a more modern Hong Kong. On the floating stage Joey Yung sang the song "Run Forward" (跑步機上).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. She was accompanied by dancers. The junk boats then used a more modern lighting. This part ended with five firework shots display.

Part 3

The "Blessings for Hong Kong" (祝福香港) section was then opened up by Andy Lau. He sings "If One Day" (如果有一天) accompanied by violin

virtuoso A virtuoso (from Italian ''virtuoso'' or , "virtuous", Late Latin ''virtuosus'', Latin ''virtus'', "virtue", "excellence" or "skill") is an individual who possesses outstanding talent and technical ability in a particular art or field such as ...

Li Chuan Yun Li Chuan Yun (李傳韻; born 1980), also known as Chanyun Li or Babeli, is a Chinese violin virtuoso. He began studying violin at the age of three and won his first prize in Beijing when he was five. Li performed all the violin solos for the 20 ...

. This part also ended with five firework shots.

Part 4

The "Conglomeration of the Nine Dragons" (九龍匯聚) section celebrated the nine participating countries. Usually nine dragons represented

Kowloon Kowloon () is an urban area in Hong Kong comprising the Kowloon Peninsula and New Kowloon. With a population of 2,019,533 and a population density of in 2006, it is the most populous area in Hong Kong, compared with Hong Kong Island and t ...

. Alan Tam performs the song You are the Legend. He was accompanied by Hong Kong students. Afterwards the 10 male, 14 female group Phoenix music troupe (鳳樂團) performed the "Nine nation drum beats" (九國鼓樂). Flag waving performers then came out.

National flag bearers

The athletes of the nine nations then came out onto the stage. The host region Hong Kong marched last. Guam entered as the penultimate region, as it was a member of the Oceania National Olympic Committees and an invited 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 A flag is a piece of fabric (most often rectangular or quadrilateral) with a distinctive design and colours. It is used as a symbol, a signalling device, or for decoration. The term ''flag'' is also used to refer to the graphic design empl ...

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" (shortened as DPR Korea on the placard).

Speech

Donald Tsang then gave a speech. It was the first large scale international games ever hosted in Hong Kong. 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 in Cantonese. State Councillor Liu Yandong then opened the games up with a statement in

Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...

. The firework displays began.

Games flag bearer

The flag of East Asian Games enters the stage carried by eight Hong Kong athletes. The flag was then raised and the East Asian Games song was played. Hong Kong table tennis player Li Ching (李靜) took the athlete's oath. Gary Au Yeung Kwok-kei (歐楊國棋) then took the referee's oath.

Lee Lai Shan Lee Lai Shan () (born in Cheung Chau, Hong Kong, 5 September 1970) is a former world champion and Olympic gold medal-winning professional windsurfer from Hong Kong. She was the first athlete to win an Olympic medal representing Hong Kong. ...

and

Wong Kam-po Wong Kam-po SBS MH (, born 13 March 1973) is a Hong Kong racing cyclist. A specialist in road bicycle racing, at age 34 he became a track cycling world champion in the scratch race of the 2007 World Championships, which was not his special ...

arrived with the torch from the 2009 East Asian Games torch relay. They joined

Cheung King Wai Cheung King Wai MH (; born 3 September 1985) is a Hong Kong former professional racing cyclist, who won a gold medal at the 2006 Asian Games in the points race. Cheung currently works as a directeur sportif for UCI Continental team. His young ...

Hannah Wilson Hannah Jane Arnett Wilson (; born 10 March 1989) is a Hong Kong retired amateur swimmer. She is a three-time Olympic swimmer for Hong Kong, having swum at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, and 2012 Summer O ...

and Chan Hei-man (陳晞文). They all lighted the cauldron.

Fireworks

Final major firework display was accompanied by live singing from the float performed by artists such as Yumiko Cheng,

Nicholas Tse Nicholas Tse Ting-fung (born 29 August 1980) is a Hong Kong actor, martial artist, singer, songwriter, entrepreneur and chef.EEGmusic.EEGmusic." ''Nicolas Tse profile.'' Retrieved on 22 April 2008. As multi talented celebrity, he became a TV ch ...

, Vincy Chan, Priscilla Chan. The ceremony finished with " You are the Legend".

External links

Kong/en/index.html East Asian Games official site archive

References

{{Reflist Opening Ceremony, 2009 East Asian Games Opening ceremonies at multi-sport events Ceremonies in China