Uplifting opening

Back in 2008 when Beijing hosted the Summer Games, the opening ceremony showcased to the world China's history and traditional cultural elements, but this time a more modern and forward-looking China took center stage.

"The opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics was a story of ice and snow, but for the Beijing Winter Paralympics opening ceremony, we used every color we could see to melt this block of ice, because we wanted to portray the most beautiful, glorious moment of people with disabilities," Shen said.

A striking segment of the opening ceremony was an original dance called the Winter Paralympics Waltz, performed by 90 female dancers, around half of whom were hearing-impaired dancers from the China Disabled People's Performing Arts Troupe.

Shen said that the dance was proposed by Zhang Haidi, president of the China Disabled Persons' Federation and executive president of the Beijing 2022 Organizing Committee, and was the first piece of music finalized for the opening ceremony.