Hangzhou is ready for the 2022 Asian Games

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02:24

With the Asian Games coming to an end on Sunday night in Jakarta, the final section of the closing ceremony will feature an eight-minute performance to introduce the host of the next edition in 2022, Hangzhou.

"Hangzhou Time" has a limited window to introduce the unique characteristics of the Chinese city hosting the 2022 Asian Games, which means that a lot of creative effort has gone into telling the story.

The Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center is under construction construction, in Hangzhou, China, August 30, 2018. /VCG Photo

"We want to tell the world that China has entered a new era, and Hangzhou is here to welcome the world in its most beautiful state. We want to impress the world with the city's beauty, its passion, and its attractiveness entering a new era, to make them want to come and visit this exciting city," Chen Weiya, general art director of the segment, told CGTN.

The creative team has a clear view of what they want to achieve, but difficulties are inescapable. The stage for the closing ceremony will mostly be occupied by athletes, leaving just a little bit of space for the introductory performance.

"Time is limited, and the stage that is given us to perform is also very limited, so the content of the show must not be overwhelming. Facing these problems, we have to approach the task skillfully, so the most important thing is creativity," Chen added.

Screens installed on five huge dancing robot arms play the trailer of Hangzhou Asian Games 2022 in front of the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, Jakarta, Indonesia, August 30, 2018. /VCG Photo

After a lot of discussions and brainstorming sessions, the staff came up with an innovative idea to pull together the content of the performance, and the way they're presenting their idea. At the center of it all is technology.

"The entire creative process is very hard, because it is completely original. At the start, we had absolutely no idea how to achieve it, but then our art designers thought of building intelligent dancing screens. Basically we've created five intelligent dancing robots," said Chen.

Meanwhile, Chen Yan, the scenic design director, told CGTN, "The entire process is very, very difficult. To be honest, we took a chance, and we were very brave. Now that I think about it, I might look very calm, but we really took a risk. But in the end we did it, and it's a perfect combination of art and technology."

High technology often comes with risks, and although the closing segment's creative team had impeccable final rehearsals in Hangzhou, the hardest step was disassembling the robots, and transporting them to Jakarta.

But they say the move went well, and now hope Sunday night's performance will be the same.