Wenzhou Float Parade staged at Asiad Closing Ceremony

On the evening, the 19th Asian Games Hangzhou officially came to a close at“the Big Lotus”, the main stadium of the Games. At the closing ceremony, the Wenzhou float parade was one of the highlights.

The Jiangxin Islet, the Five Horses sculpture, the sculpture of Oujuhaizhong (ancient Wenzhou residing in the sea)...a parade float carrying many Wenzhouese landmarks slowly entered the venue, getting the audience a close look at the city. What came next was the king of Dong’ou Kingdom (modern-day Wenzhou city) played by a Wenzhouese opera performer Fang Rujiang, who once won the China Theatre Plum Blossom Award. Fang slowly rode a dragon boat forward as if he had led ancient Wenzhouese navy to sail forward against raging torrents, making the audience move simultaneously with the waving flags in the king’s hand. Surrounding the boat was a passionate football cheering squad, who were dancing with footballs on both sides of the paddles. Their infectious and beaming smiles were repaid by applause and cheers wherever they went.

But such an exquisite float parade was prepared in just half a month.“I was still making final preparations for the warm-up performance at the opening ceremony when I received notice from the organizing committee to prepare a float parade for the closing ceremony. With only 18 days until the closing ceremony, we were under immense pressure given such tight schedule and heavy tasks,” said Wang Peng, performance director and a youth dance choreographer from Wenzhou. After finishing their opening ceremony performance, the troupe immediately threw itself into preparations for the closing ceremony’s float parade.

Wang said that they finalized the performance design in just 5 days, but created 11 different versions of the performance. The troupe was fine-tuning the performance even two days before the closing ceremony. Moreover, the props for the parade were produced by workers during China’s Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holidays.“The entire team spent their Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holidays on rehearsing, only hoping to showcase the new aspects of Wenzhou in the new era at the Asian Games,” added Wang.

In a nutshell, Wenzhou’s performance, titled“Wenzhou, A Happy City Featuring A Millennium-old Trade Port” at the closing ceremony of the 19th Asian Games Hangzhou carried on the splendor of the opening ceremony, and once again showcased Wenzhouese elements of dragon boat and Ou Opera with new element of“football cheering squad” incorporated into the performance. Themed“dragon boat shape” and“football dream”, the performance was staged in motion, blending float, Ou Opera, martial arts, dance and other art forms using modern techniques. Students from Pingyang Martial Arts School combined traditional stick skills with paddling, presenting the scenes of one, two, and multiple flowing dragon boats. Meanwhile, the cheering squad recruited from the School of Music, Wenzhou University danced with a“big football” to welcome the guests from all over the world. Together they embodied the Wenzhouese spirit, dragon boat spirit, and the Asian Games spirit. What’s more, the performance’s executive directors Li Jiaxing and Yu Chunyan and creative team members Yu Rui, Zheng Xianggang, Tian Lei and Dai Erdi all came on stage to strengthen the carnival atmosphere and fully showcase Wenzhou’s new look as a co-host city that successfully held the dragon boat and football events.（ZhongXin）