By Sportswriter Wu Chen
BEIJING, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- The Paralympic closing ceremony kept the "fairy tale" style of the opening ceremony, Zhang Jigang, executive artistic director of the ceremony, said on Wednesday night.
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A LETTER TO THE FUTURE
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Red leaves of Fragrant Hill, a famous scenic spot in Beijing, are shaked off at the center of the field during the art performance "A Letter to the Future" of the closing ceremony of Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games in the National Stadium, or the Bird's Nest, Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 17, 2008. The closing ceremony kicked off at 8 p.m. sharp on Wednesday. (Xinhua/Guo Dayue)
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The art performance, named "A Letter to the Future", consisted of six parts: Red Leaves of Fragrant Hill, Sowing, Watering, Harvest, Celebration, and Mail it to the Future.
At the beginning of the performance, small yellow flowers slowly bloomed on the green lawn to form Chinese characters and English letters of this segment, making the 7,560-square-meter performance area a huge "envelope".
"All the songs and dances delivered a message that the disabled people will never give up and will go for their most beautiful dreams along with the able-bodied," Zhang said.
The "letter" was also a blessing message from Chinese people to the disabled people all over the world, encouraging them to strive for happiness, according to Zhang.
He said the mailboxes temporarily set up in the Bird's Nest echoed the theme as every spectator could write a real postcard inside the stadium to whoever he wanted to and all the postcards will be sent with specially-designed postmark on Thursday.
"It's a real letter to tomorrow," Zhang said.
"PLAN B" EXTINGUISHES THE FLAME
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An actress drops a letter into the mailbox among the red leaves of Fragrant Hill, a famous scenic spot in Beijing, which are shaked off at the center of the field during the art performance "A Letter to the Future" in the closing ceremony of Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games in the National Stadium, or the Bird's Nest, Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 17, 2008. The closing ceremony kicked off at 8 p.m. sharp on Wednesday. (Xinhua/Liao Yujie)
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The Paralympic flame went out atop the Bird's Nest as a hearing-impaired girl "talked" to the flame with gesture language.
"The Flame, do you see? You are in my heart. The Flame, do you hear? I am singing to you with my heart," Wang Yimei, 10, repeated it again and again with sign language while the flame went out slowly.
Meanwhile, 126 hearing-impaired dancers simulated the flame with their arms and hands, which implicated that the flame would burn in the people's heart forever, Zhang said.
Actually, there had been another plan to extinguish the flame, Zhang disclosed.
In the original plan, a blind child writes in Braille on a postcard, and as he closes the card, the Paralympic flame goes out. The Plan A was ruled out some 10 days ago.
"It's not only an end of the Paralympics, but also a conclusion to the 'Two Games with Equal Splendor' after seven years preparation, so the moment has a special meaning," Zhang said, adding he believed the new way would leave a deeper impression on the spectators.
