The closing ceremony of the 2018 Asian Games has just ended, and Hangzhou has taken over the flag. As the event's next host in 2022, the Chinese city put on a dazzling eight-minute show to conclude the festivities in Jakarta. Earlier we talked to the creative team, who elaborated on the hard work required to pull together this remarkable performance. Damion Jones has more.

As the 2018 Asian Games came to an end, there was no more fitting way to wrap up the proceedings in Jakarta, than with a taste of 'Hangzhou Time'.

CHEN WEIYA GENERAL ART DIRECTOR "We want to tell the world, 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 people want to come and visit this exciting city."

The creative team for the eight-minute introductory performance by the next host city of the Asian Games is headed by Chen Weiya, a renowned choreographer and major event orchestrator, who was also the Chief Associate Director for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics. He and the staff came up with an innovative plan to unite the content of this performance with its manner of presentation, and at the center of that idea, is technology.

"The entire creative process is very hard, because it needs to be completely original. At the beginning, we had absolutely no idea how to achieve our goal. But then our art designers had an idea to build intelligent dancing screens. To state it more simply, we created five intelligent dancing robots."

CHEN YAN SCENIC DESIGN DIRECTOR "The idea is actually very simple. It focuses on the birth and change of energy. I think everybody has seen a satellite, and when it goes into orbit, the solar panels open up because it needs energy. This is the source of my idea, because our show is also trying to depict energy, so I created five dancing robots. The size of each is no smaller than a transformer, as the height is 13 meters, and they are composed of 54 axes, similar to human joints, operating at the same time, and flexible like our fingers. They are very difficult to operate, because we need the movements to be very precise, and now we can actually apply for a number of patents for our projects, because we honestly made several breakthroughs."

The team's unique blueprint was aimed at serving one purpose -- creating a moment that represents the beauty of Chinese culture, and showing the audience both an ancient and modern civilization, all in the same instant.

"Because the robots are comprised of multiple rotating screens, they can interact with the dancers and the crowd, so that the content of the performance is more clearly presented to and understood by the audience. If you can imagine the scene, thousands of athletes are standing on the stage, and then all of a sudden, five magnificent intelligent robots rise up from nowhere, like a sapling suddenly growing into a tree. And on top of the robots sits a child from Hangzhou, holding a drop of water from West Lake, which he slowly pours into the screen, and then a famous scene from Hangzhou pops up – with three pools mirroring the moon. All of these traditional elements can bring the audience into sync with China, with Hangzhou, and with Chinese culture in an instant. So this kind of high-tech scenario is very efficient in creating such a moment."

"The entire movement is already coded into the system to prevent any errors. The panels can dance without hitting each other, while also reflecting and interacting with the human dancers on the stage. The entire process is very difficult. From some filming angles, I think it looks exactly like dancing in outer space, and since Hangzhou is nicknamed 'Heaven on Earth', that's also part of the idea."

High tech scenarios often come with risks, but the creative staff felt they had a handle on any possible dangers, long before taking the stage.

CHEN YAN SCENIC DESIGN DIRECTOR "In our line of work, we never think about risks. The first objective is always creativity, because there will always be risks. The important thing is how to control those risks, and that is a rigorous and precise process, but once you initiate the procedure, everything else simply follows along."

Despite the team's technological breakthroughs, the show also incorporated plenty of human touch, making sure to bring in an ideal trio of individuals, for the role of beckoning the continent and world to the next edition of the Asian Games -- an international business magnate, and a swimming superstar, who both happen to be natives of Hangzhou -- along with a multi-talented young entertainer on the rise.

CHEN WEIYA GENERAL ART DIRECTOR "The final invitation must be down to earth, so we met with Jack Ma and asked him to do the honor, to send the invitation to Hangzhou from the stage, and he was very happy to do it. And Sun Yang, who just finished his events here, his role is to invite the top athletes to compete in China, and that represents a warm welcome from a star athlete. And Jackson Yee, he is a very popular singer and dancer, representing the young energy of China, so he was chosen to perform the theme song for our show."

JACKSON YEE CHINESE SINGER & DANCER "I'm very happy, because being able to represent China, and perform with some of the top dancers from Hangzhou is very exciting."

And now that the eight-minute introductory show dubbed 'Hangzhou Time' has wrapped up this year's Closing Ceremony, the Chinese city's era can truly begin, as this site of ancient wonder and modern technology looks forward to welcoming athletes and visitors from all over the globe to the 2022 Asian Games. DJ. CGTN.