On December 31, jointly organized by Beijing Municipal Administration of Culture and Tourism and Cultural Activity Department of Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, the 2019 New Year countdown in Beijing and the opening ceremony of the Beijing Ice and Snow Cultural Tourism Festival were grandly held at the Olympic Park. Under the theme of “Charming Beijing, Dating with Ice and Snow”, this event vividly showcased the warm atmosphere for the public participation of ice and snow sports and expressed the eager anticipation of Beijing people for the Winter Olympic Games. Totally, over 5,000 participants gathered together to jointly usher in 2019.
As night fell, the Celebration Square of Olympic Park ignited the night with dazzling lights. The dreamlike Water Cube, the sparkling Bird’s Nest, the ever-changing Olympic Tower in the distance, and the glittering ice stadium in the center constituted a wonderful picture to ring in the New Year. Here, Beijing ushered in 2019 full of great events and joyous occasions.
At night, the traditional cultural experiencing event entitled “Charming Beijing” was first held at the Golden Hall of the National Stadium “Bird's Nest”. The gorgeous and fashionable Golden Hall corresponded with traditional Chinese red decoration. Onsite artists present “five lifestyles” of traditional Chinese culture (i.e., lyre-playing, calligraphy, incense, tea and flowers). Refosian frog button, Jiguge rubbings and other Beijing intangible cultural heritage items attracted the attention of guests from all over the world to experience the charm of Beijing traditional culture and exquisite folk craft skills. The onsite atmosphere was filled with joyful festival moments and strong cultural air.
At 23:40, the promotional video “Beijing Ice and Snow Tourism Festival” was released onsite. This Festival is a grand celebration for Beijing to introduce ice and snow cultural and tourism resources, diversify winter cultural and tourism activities for both citizens and tourists, drive the consumption in the winter cultural and tourism market, and prepare for 2022 Winter Olympics. This event was jointly hosted by the Beijing Municipal Administration of Culture and Tourism, Cultural Activity Department of Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, Beijing Municipal Commerce Bureau, Beijing Municipal Bureau of Sports, Beijing Municipal Bureau of Cultural Relics, Municipal Overseas Chinese Affairs Office, Beijing Municipal Park Administration Center and other organizations. Five themed series activities will be launched from the New Year to the Lantern Festival, including New Year celebration, temple fair, ice & snow sports games, cultural performance and shopping & food, as well as several Beijing winter tourism routes and products. Various activities will jointly create a strong winter ice and snow tourism festival atmosphere in Beijing, convey the spirit of the Winter Olympic Games, and bring fresh experience to the public and tourists.
At 23:43, with the beginning of the New Year countdown performance, the onsite atmosphere gradually reached the climax to usher in the New Year. The programs consisted of three chapters (i.e., date with ice and snow, symphony of the times and imaging 2020), which not only demonstrated Beijing's diversified winter cultural tourism resources and the citizen's healthy vitality brought by the Beijing’s sports development since the reform and opening-up 40 years ago, but also expressed Beijing people’s anticipation and best wishes for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.
As a classical program for Beijing New Year countdown, five mayors of World Tourism Cities Federation member cities (i.e., Mayor of Helsinki, Finland, Mayor of Abuja, Nigeria, Mayor of Panama City, Panama and Mayor of Sapporo, Japan) expressed their best wishes for Beijing in the year ahead through videos and convey the best wishes from all over the world for Beijing to stage both Summer and Winter Olympic Games. At 23:59, Chinese and foreign guests, winter athletes representatives, role models from Beijing cultural tourism industry and little ice hockey players jointly started up countdown 60 seconds. Snow and ice athletes galloping vigorously on the big screen took audiences to travel through Zhangjiakou of Hebei, Yanqing of Beijing, Shougang snowboarding platform, the National Speed Skating Oval, Bird's Nest and Water Cube and other Winter Olympics venues and finally to the Celebration Square of the Olympic Park. Then, the audience excitedly counted down in chorus “10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1”. 2019 New Year's bell rings filled with the echoes to the clouds at the Celebration Square. Friends from all over the world greeted and embraced each other and ring in the New Year together!
In 2019, Beijing will continuously guide to achieve the goal of “300 million people participating in ice and snow sports” and make all efforts on preparing for the Winter Olympic Games, extending a warm welcome to all guests and friends from five continents with diversified ice and snow activities, infinite charm of urban culture, a broad and inclusive mindset and ever-changing urban style!
