Authors¡G Go Chengdu

Follow our lens to take a close look at the highlights of the opening ceremony.

On August 8, the opening ceremony of the 2019 World Police and Fire Games (WPFG) was staged at the Shuangliu Sports Center, Chengdu, followed by a variety of wonderful competitions among police officers and firefighters from around the world in the next nine days.

As the largest-ever sports extravaganza with the most foreign participants in Chengdu, the event, held in Asia for the first time, attracted over 10,000 police officers and firefighters from 79 countries and regions across the globe, who will compete in a total of 9 venues in the city from August 9 to 18.

Now, follow our lens to take a close look at the highlights of the opening ceremony.

The ceremony started just after 18:00 with My Motherland and I, a Chinese song familiar to almost all Chinese people, sung by Mr. Peter Chen, a popular singer from Taiwan, China. Ignited by the strong passion of the song and the singer, the audience sang together along the beat.

The Shuangliu Sports Center was decorated with distinct local cultural elements, such as the giant panda and sunbird, a 4000-year-old gold foil unearthed from the Chengdu Jinsha Site Museum, which was adopted as the symbol of Chinese cultural heritage.

During the opening ceremony parade, when the delegation of China, as the host of the event, showed up with each member holding high a five-starred red flag, thunderous applause broke out, pushing the ceremony to a climactic moment.

Mr. Larry Collins, WPFG Federation President, delivered a speech at the ceremony. He expressed great satisfaction with all the preparations made by Chengdu for the event.

Amid a stunning display of fireworks, international superstar Jackie Chan sang with Chengdu native singer Tan Weiwei the theme song of the 18th WPFG Joy and Glory, climaxing once again the ceremony.

In the end, all the spectators enjoyed a wonderful show of Chengdu's folk song and dance, as well as stunts of Sichuan Opera, including face changing and fire spitting.