On the evening of December 31, 2022, 2023 Beijing New Year Countdown was held by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism in Shougang Park. With the theme of ” A New Journey A New Chapter”, a panoramic and immersive visual feast was presented on the large-scale industrial site of Shougang Park in a linkage form for the first time, demonstrating the charm of Beijing integrated tradition and fashion, vitality of urban renewal and high-quality development in the new era, as well as the ardent yearning for a better life. It also expressed our firm confidence to forge ahead bravely for the next century goal.
In this event, new breakthroughs were achieved in the spatial layout and visual presentation. Firstly, a 3-km light corridor was created along High Line Park with some landmark sites – with the iconic 1st and 3rd blast furnace as the light show background. The whole park was linked and interacted with light and shadow to create a large-scale panoramic and immersive show. In terms of visual presentation, 3D Mapping technology was applied for the first time on a giant industrial building with a total area of 3000 m2 to present a highly realistic 3D light scene, which perfectly integrated the architecture with culture, science with art, radiated the innovation of industrial sites and Olympic heritage, and also highlighted the vitality of our ancient capital facing the future.
At 23:50, some landmarks were lit up one by one in High Line Park of Shougang Park, from the fiery blast furnace to crystal ski jumping platform and changeable and colorful tower, just like a flowing light-shadow corridor, which marked the prelude to the 2023 New Year. Through three chapters of “Ancient Beijing Charm”, ” Dual Olympic City ” and “New Era of Beijing”, the traditional cultures were presented on three giant towers through light-shadow art, such as seven world cultural heritages, eight wonders of Yanjing and Beijing Opera, which displayed the wonderful historic moments, and also demonstrated the vitality and colorful life of Beijing in the post epidemic era. The fourth chapter, “Magnificent China”, was introduced by a paintbrush in the hands of little actors of the Angel Chorus, a long scroll of beautiful Chinese landscapes was slowly unfolded on the three towers, and accompanied by the pure and melodious children’s chorus “We Sail Together”. You can feel the majesty of mountains and rivers in the broad and appreciate the vivid times.
At 23:59, the fifth chapter, “A Better Tomorrow”, brought the activity to a climax. On the main screen of the water drying tower and a blast furnace, the camera led people’s eyes all the way along the central axis of Beijing, passing through Yongding Gate, Temple of Heaven, Zhengyang Gate, Meridian Gate of the Forbidden City, Jingshan Mountain, Bell and Drum Tower, and finally returning to Shougang Park, ushering in the new year in the exciting countdown of “10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1”.At 12 o’clock midnight, as the New Year bell rang through the sky, whole Shougang Park was brightly lit with the joyous and warm images of “Happy New Year” and “Hello 2023”. Beijing sent its most sincere greetings to the world. Mayors from Edinburgh, Jordan Petra, Port Louis, Mauritius, Cape Este, Uruguay, and Wellington, New Zealand (Members of World Tourism Cities Federation (WTCF)) also sent their New Year greetings to Beijing via video, and people from five continents jointly welcomed the New Year and shared joys each other.
Since 2011, Beijing New Year Countdown has been successfully held for 11 sessions in the places like the Temple of Heaven, the Summer Palace, Badaling Great Wall, Olympic Green (two sessions), Imperial Ancestral Temple, the Olympic Forest Park (two sessions), Yongdingmen and Shougang Park (two sessions). This has become a component of the New Year celebrations in all time zones around the world, and also a cultural card sent out from Beijing to the world. In the new 2023, Beijing will continue to forge ahead hand in hand, forge ahead with one heart, strive for a new journey, and write a new chapter with its charming urban culture, broad and inclusive mind, and changing times!