The closing ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics drew the two-week competition to an end. At the ceremony, willow twigs (柳条), a traditional Chinese farewell (告别) gift (exchange) between friends when parting, were used to express China's wishes to the athletes and the world.
In Chinese, the pinyin for the word "willow" (pronounce) the same as the word for "stay". In ancient China, when friends were separating, they would pick a willow twig and give it to the person who (leave) to express their wish for him/her to stay.
The closing ceremony gave life to the tradition in the (perform) — "Moment of Remembrance".
Eighty dancers held willow twig lights and walked (slow) to the center of the stadium to Farewell Song. Meanwhile, an ancient painting of weeping willows appeared on the LED screen, and 365 people appeared. They carried glowing (发光的) "willow twigs" and walked to the center of the screen.
Songbie or Farewell Song, was written in 1915, has become popular since then. Well suited to this touching send-off presentation, song was the final choice after more than 20 attempts (find) what resonated (引起共鸣) the most with the closure of the Games.
"Different (style) of music had been created for the Games, but in Director Zhang Yimou's view, it was more appropriate to choose music that is familiar everyone," Huang Hui, the program director, said.
