Hebei children show true Olympic spirit

ATHENS－The 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics are ongoing, and three artists in Greece are recalling how the Olympic anthem was sung in Greek by a choir of Chinese schoolchildren at the opening ceremony.

The image of 44 children singing the anthem was particularly moving and a great honor for Greece, says Evangelos Kokkoris, artistic director of the Philippos Nakas Conservatory in Athens, one of the best known conservatories in Greece.

"Undoubtedly the host country had taken care of even the smallest detail. It was expected, after all. However, what surprised me was the performance of the Olympic anthem. What was impressive was that a choir of young Chinese, with great stability in their voices, sang it in Greek and with clarity of speech," Kokkoris says.

Kokkoris, a fan of winter sports, watched on TV the opening ceremony held at the National Stadium in Beijing on Feb 4, which included a singing of the Olympic anthem by children from Malan Primary School in Fuping county, Hebei province.

"The performance of the Olympic anthem by the young Chinese was amazing. Many congratulations to China for the achievement of these children to learn this anthem within three months. It was not easy at all," he says.

Based on his experience with Chinese artists and students at the conservatory in recent years, Kokkoris was not surprised with the result. He says he admires the persistence of Chinese people and, as a Greek, he feels a special connection with the representatives of another ancient civilization.

Foteini Baxevani studies piano at the Philippos Nakas Conservatory. She watched the choir's performance on the internet. "It was a very nice gesture and it definitely moved people. They sang it clearly, so beautifully," she says.

She was moved after hearing that these children live in a mountainous, disadvantaged region and managed to perform so well once given the opportunity to show their capabilities through music.

Aggeliki Toubanaki, a vocalist and educator at the conservatory, says: "It is really moving, because as we learned these children are not members of a (seasoned) choir, but they were united through their voices and the Greek language.… They really were like angels. They were like stars. It was as if all these voices were joined together and the heavens opened."

For Toubanaki, the performance of the Chinese children's choir highlighted what she tells parents, that children should be encouraged to embrace music and sports, to build a strong axis in their personalities regarding discipline, organization of thought and evolution of their imagination.

Xinhua