Salute to Volunteers at the Closing Ceremony of the Chengdu Universiade: The Story of Youth is Unfinished and to be Continued Green | Universiade | Youth
Reporter Hu Ning and Wang Xinxin from China Youth Daily and China Youth Network
A touch of youthful green has become the cool breeze in Chengdu this summer.
The closing ceremony cultural performance of the Chengdu Universiade features a chapter dedicated to paying tribute to the volunteers of the event, titled "Dreams: To Youth". The dreamy collaboration between popular girl group singers and percussion musicians in the shape of rap figurines unearthed from the Han Cliff Tomb in Tianhui Shandong, Chengdu, Sichuan, harmonizes ancient and modern times. In the midst of the melody, it reproduces the scene of volunteers providing enthusiastic and thoughtful services to friends from all over the world, from arrival to departure, from airport stations to competition venues and Universiade villages, from various venues to city stations.
The dazzling cuisine of Chengdu and the warm living scenes of the Universiade Village appeared on the "umbrella wall" set up by volunteers and the dazzling screens on the stage.
Volunteer Chen Danni watched the live broadcast of the closing ceremony with her friends in the Dayun Village. This artistic reproduction once again reminds her of the precious time serving the Universiade. After transferring from the early preparation volunteers to the Dayun Village, as a volunteer serving the volunteers, she collected information on the arrival of various positions at around 7 o'clock every day and conducted another summary late at night. In her observation, "Except for a few cases where sick leave is really beyond our control, everyone else is on time, and we all cherish this opportunity."
"If there's any regret, it's just that I feel like I want to do more!" she smiled and said, "The feeling of working together as a team is really good."
Director Jia Ding of the closing ceremony said, "In today's large-scale sports event, volunteers have become a particularly important component and one of the criteria for judging the success of the event. This special chapter of the closing ceremony is not only about paying tribute to volunteers, but we hope to pay tribute to the spirit of dedication of the times by paying tribute to volunteers."
Volunteers clean up the ground of the men's basketball preliminary match between China and Brazil at the Universiade. Wang Longhua/Photo
Precious moments related to volunteers occur in every corner of the Universiade. On the evening of August 7th, the last swimming competition of the Universiade ended at Dong'an Lake. While waiting for the final award ceremony to begin, applause and cheers echoed in the venue. The audience present cheered for the volunteers appearing on the big screen. This is also the first time many volunteers have turned around to look at the swimming pool and award podium in the presence of spectators and athletes. During the operation of the competition, they remained at their posts, with their backs facing the field, ready to serve the audience at any time.
After all the matches at the volleyball venue of Sichuan Transportation Vocational and Technical College were over, volunteers stood at the door to bid farewell to the audience. These young "hearts" have infected many people present. Volunteer Zhang Ouyun from Southwest University of Finance and Economics remembered the memories of working together with everyone here. She sighed, "This was a particularly rare and precious experience, and I will never forget these sprouting emotions. Our story is not yet finished."
In the cultural performance at the closing ceremony, people from all walks of life who provided guarantees for the Universiade appeared on the screen one after another, expressing their feelings: "We are dedicated, we are happy" and "Our common pride is the Universiade volunteers.".
"Cola Boy" Xue Xiao appeared at the closing ceremony of the Chengdu Universiade as a young volunteer. Wang Longhua/Photo
Xue Xiao, the "Cola Boy" who was rescued after being injured and trapped in the Wenchuan earthquake, also appears in this special chapter. He is a city volunteer for the Chengdu Universiade. Since 2008, volunteer service has also become a part of his life. On the stage of the closing ceremony, he shouted five words: "Volunteer, I'm here!" And below the stage, a group of "little green peppers" sat on both sides of the T-shaped stage. They are also part of the closing ceremony performance.
Those younger children made their own voices, with enthusiasm and sincerity, bidding farewell to the Universiade on the night, looking forward to opening a new future.
