Volunteers preparing for the Paralympic Games Closing Ceremony at the Bird's Nest. (Photo credit: Li Ziheng/Xinhua)

Performance-Write the Postcard

Synopsis: With cartoon postmen as the creative theme, a passionate and humorous performance draws in the audience, creating a natural, warm, harmonious and wonderful atmosphere for the Closing Ceremony.

Composer: Chen Chunguang, Xu Lei, Chen Jun, Su Yongliang

1. With the cartoon postman as the main image, special postcards are presented to the audience in peculiar ways. The audience members write down their wishes on the postcards, which will be sent to places around the world.

2. A short video is played on the large screen in the stadium, showing the moving scene of citizens from various circles and friends from various countries writing down their wishes on postcards on the streets in Beijing over the past year.

Postmen walk in. (Photo credit: Xinhua)

Entrance of the Flags of All Delegations

Synopsis: Entrance of the flags of all delegations of these Paralympic Games.

1. The flag holders of all delegations are divided into two groups. Led by the guides, they enter from Gate 1 and Gate 4, walk along the track, and meet on the south track. They get into their positions one after another. After the guides meet on the south track, they keep walking to surround the east and west side of the lawn.

2. Chinese flag holders quickly enter the field from Gate 3 and wait to receive flags under the flagpole in the south.

Flags of different delegations enter the field. (Photo credit: Xinhua)

Entrance of the Athletes of All Delegations

Synopsis: Athletes of all delegations enter from four gates at the same time without differentiation of nationality.

1) The athletes is all delegations enter form Gate1, Gate 2, Gate 3 and Gate 4 successively and sit down at the designated positions (wheelchair area on the track and non-wheelchair area on the firat tier of the stand.)

2) Chinese flag holders enter the flag holder formation in the south of the field and receive flags from the flag holders of various countries. Then the flag holders of various countries sit down in the wheelchair area in the south of the field and on the first tier of the stand.

Entrance of the President of China and the President of the IPC

Synopsis: Entrance of Hu Jintao, the President of China, and Sir Philip Craven, the President of the IPC.

Music: Welcome Music

Entrance of the President of China and the President of the IPC

1. The Military Band of the Chinese People's Liberation Army plays welcome music.

2. Entrance of the President of China and the President of the IPC.

Countdown

Synopsis: A short video is played before the countdown.

When the countdown begins, fireworks are launched from the Bird's Nest in nine directions. As the tenth firework rises into the sky, a dazzling welcome fireworks display burst above the Bird's Nest.

Fireworks are displayed in the sky. (Photo credit: Xinhua)

Raising the National Flag of China and Playing the National Anthem of PRC

Synopsis: Raising the National Flag of PRC and playing the National Anthem of China.

1. The military band plays the National Anthem of China, and the Guard of Honor raises the National Flag of China.

2. National flag fireworks.

Whang Youn Dai Overcome Prize Ceremony

Synopsis: Whang Youn Dai Overcome Prize Ceremony is held.

Whang Youn Dai Overcome Prize winners (Photo credit: Xinhua)

Background notes

Whang Youn Dai Overcome Prize is awarded to a male athlete and a female athlete who can best represent the spirit of the Paralympic Games.

New Members of the Athletes' Commission Present Flowers to Representatives of Volunteers

Synopsis: The six new members of the Athlete's Commission present flowers to the 12 representatives of volunteers.

Representatives of volunteers (Photo credit: Xinhua)

Exit of the Flags of All Delegations

Synopsis: Chinese flag holders with the national flags of all countries exit from Gate 2 and Gate 3. The guides of guards of all counties exit from Gate 1, Gate 2, Gate 3 and Gate 4.

Art Performance -- Red Leaves of Fragrant Hill 

Synopsis: Art Performance "Red Leaves of Fragrant Hill" – Beijing sends wishes to friends from around the world.

1) A remote bell sound is heard…the lighting is adjusted with changes in the bell sound and draws the outline of a green meadow cleanly and clearly. All is calm…

The Guzheng piece Fragrant Hill Drum shakes off the red leaves at the center of the field… Small yellow flowers slowly bloom at once. Like "floating clouds and flowing water," the flowers show Chinese characters and English letters: 给未来的信 A Letter to the Future.

A letter to the future. (Photo credit: Xinhua)

2) Colorful petals in the sky dash down from the "rim" of the stadium like a waterfall, drift in the air, and fall on the athletes warmly. Red leaves of Fragrant Hill carrying strong feelings of autumn keep dancing and flying with colorful petals. This is Beijing's highest respect for the athletes of all delegations and Beijing's deepest love of the athletes who are about to leave.

In the exquisite music, 500 "color painters" full of romantic Oriental charm ceremoniously stand among the athletes. They hold plates with their hands to catch falling red leaves for a long time and convey wonderful feelings to all athletes present. Then they gather near the meadow in the stadium graciously and elegantly, decorating a huge envelope around the meadow.

Background Notes

The red leaves of Fragrant Hill, a famous scenic spot in Beijing, are famous for their beautiful shape and dazzling colors. In this chapter, the red leaves become a peculiar artistic image representing the Chinese and Beijing People and expressing sincere wishes to friends from around the world!

Red leaves of Fragrant Hill (Photo credit: Xinhua)

Artists dance among the red leaves. (Photo credit: Xinhua)

Art Performance -- Sowing

Synopsis: Sowing -- athletes with disabilities from different countries are sowing the seeds of the Paralympic Games in the spirit of striving for success with determination.

1) In tune with the rhythm of the music box, cloth dolls of different countries and different skin colors walk the steps of cartoon characters and follow an old person to the center of the lawn.

This is a group of blind children. It seems as if they have come into the universe and can see the clusters of stars in the sky. The children joyfully pick the stars from the sky and sow them into the soil. They become their eternal brightness.

2) When a blind child picks the largest and brightest star in the sky, colorful light glitters on the envelope on the meadow. The children put their dreams and hopes into a letter to the future…

Art performance Sowing (Photo credit: Xinhua)

Performance -- Sowing (Photo credit: Xinhua)

Art Performance -- Watering

Synopsis: Watering expresses the watering of the seeds of our common dream and hope

Performance – Watering (Photo credit: Xinhua)

1) With changes in the music, volunteers move the chairs around the meadow to the center of the meadow and scatter them evenly on the meadow. It seems that the "bronze statues" on the chair are thinking…

2) In the music, 168 girls wearing hair tree crowns enter slowly with elegant expressions on their faces, flow like clear spring and water the field among the well-arranged statues.

Performance – Watering (Photo credit: Xinhua)

The statues on the bench gradually move in the music and gather around a girl still absorbed in reading a letter on the bench. They focus their attention on the letter in the girl's hands around the bench. Thus "bronze statues" of different ages and positions form a spectacular group of bronze statues.

3) The girl gradually becomes active and expresses her joyous and happy feelings after reading that long letter with special vocabulary of dance…

Flowers of dazzling color all over the ground slowly bloom at once, and cover the whole green meadow…

4) The bronze statues go back and continue to read letters on the chairs in different postures… The girls wearing hair tree crowns and color painters dance around the bronze statues. The dancing bronze statues form a fairytale-like sun.

Art Performance -- Harvest

Synopsis: Harvest expresses the concept of "unity, peace and harmony."

1) The melodious sound of bamboo flutes breaks the silence and drifts across the field in morning haze…

Performance – Harvest (Photo credit: Lihan)

2) The blind shepherd wearing a hat stands in the sun shaped by the bronze statues and plays the flute. The sun on the lawn rises and falls slowly.

3) The "sun" formed by the bronze statues is dissolved. On the open green meadow, they reap the wheat and leave golden "strips of wheat stubbles," forming many golden bales of hay…

Art performance Harvest (Photo credit: Xinhua)

Art Performance -- Celebration

Synopsis: Celebration - sharing the joy and friendship of sports and share the achievements of human civilizations.

In the joyous, lively and unrestrained music, many golden straw hats rise from the meadow…

The straw hats are passed between the hands of boys and girls like sunshine…

They are passing sincere wishes and beautiful ideals. Golden straw hats fly in the sky and dance above the earth like golden dreams.

What a scene of carnival!

Artists perform. (Photo credit: Xinhua)

Art Performance -- Mail it to the future

Synopsis: Mail it to the future- gathering under the IPC flag and go to the future

1) 100 "postmen" standing on top of the "Bird's Nest" drop petals ceremoniously; another 100 "postmen" fly up and down the "rim of the Bird's Nest" like swam geese… They solemnly deliver the colorful postcards signed by Beijing people and the audience present to the athletes of all delegations one by one…

Mail it to the Future. (Photo credit: Xinhua)

The "postmen" among the audience also drop the postcards of the audience into the postbox in the stadium to send them to the places all over the world through China Post.

2) This mighty stream of people gathers into a peculiar, huge and colorful "letter to the future". The everlasting bell sound resounds in the sky, expressing Beijing's wishes to the future.

In the resounding song, colorful postcards carrying Beijing's wishes dance all over the sky and send them to the future.

In the sky, the fireworks burst into thousands of millions of postcards, which drift to the distance carrying Beijing's dream of the future of mankind…

This is -- a letter to the future!

Artists perform. (Photo credit: Xinhua)

The President of BOCOG and the President of IPC Go to the Podium

Synopsis: The President of BOCOG and the President of IPC go to the podium at the center of the lawn.

Address by the President of BOCOG and the President of IPC

1. The President of BOCOG and the President of IPC go onto the flower path from the corridor of below the VIP box, and the holders of the national flags of various countries carry out the flags to welcome them.

2. The President of BOCOG and the President of IPC get onto the 20-meter round platform.

Address by the President of BOCOG and the President of IPC

Synopsis: Mr. Liu Qi, the President of BOCOG, gives an address. Mr. Philip Craven, the President of IPC, gives an address and declares the closing of the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games.

Mr. Liu Qi, the President of BOCOG, gives an address titled "The Wishes of Red Leaves of Fragrant Hills".

Liu Qi addresses. (Photo credit: Xinhua)

Mr. Philip Craven, the President of IPC, gives an address titled "A Letter to the Future".

Philip Craven addresses. (Photo credit: Xinhua)

Raising the National Flag of Great Britain and Playing the National Anthem of Great Britain

Synopsis: Raising the National Flag of Great Britain and playing the National Anthem of Great Britain.

Lowering the IPC Flag

Synopsis: The lowering and exit of the IPC flag.

The Mayor of Beijing and the Mayor of London Walk to the Podium

Synopsis: The 20-meter round platform is lowered to the lawn. Guo Jinlong, the Mayor of Beijing, Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, and an IPC flag holder go through the flower path to the round platform at the center.

IPC Flag Handover Ceremony

Synopsis: The Mayor of Beijing and the Mayor of London hold the IPC flag handover ceremony on the round podium at the center.

The Mayor of Beijing gives the IPC flag to the President of IPC, and the President of IPC gives the IPC flag to the Mayor of London.

Mayor of London waves the IPC flag. (Photo credit: Xinhua)

London Handover Performance

Synopsis: Performance of the London handover performance team.

London 2012 flag handover presentation (Photo credit: Xinhua)

LONDON 2012 Handover summary

The show features a series of iconic visual images, innovative dance performances and memorable musical moments that introduce London as Host City for the next Summer Paralympic Games.

Artists from London perform. (Photo credit: Xinhua)

The Paralympic Handover carries on from where we left the Olympic Handover. For the first time, both segments were conceived as to halves of one story-a journey to Beijing and a journey home bearing both the Paralympic and Olympic Flags, along with the hopes and dreams of the world's best athletes.

Our show celebrates the uplifting power of music and movement and the amazing performances that the Paralympic Games will bring to the UK in 2012, as elite athletes with disabilities from around the world push the boundaries of sporting and human achievement.

Artists from London perform. (Photo credit: Xinhua)

Handover highlights include:

The return of the London bus, revealing an interior that is predominantly green with lush grass and a hedge cut into the shape of the London skyline. On the unfolded petals of the bus, dancers beat out an urgent, edgy rhythm and above the bus Lord Nelson stands poised to join the celebrations. London's combination of internationally familiar landmarks, urban art and vibrant youth culture will create new opportunities for the UK and the world to experience the Paralympic Games.

Paralympic Ade Adepitan guides the bus to the Stadium. He is accompanied by young wheelchair gymnast and winner of a competition on the UK's most famous children's television pregramme, "Blue Peter", Gareth Picken (aged 9). Ade's role in leading the bus into the Stadium symbolises the focus on sport that drives the 2012 Games and the importance of sport as a positive influence in the lives of young people.

On high-rising elevators, from with the bus a young female drummer emerges with a full drum kit changing the sound from expectant to funky, followed by a recreation of the statue of Lord Nelson, transposed from his perch in Trafalgar Square to a more contemporary column. His eye patch replaced by sungrass, his sword with a guitar. The Paralympic and Olympic Games in London in 2012 will rock the UK and the world with a party-like celebration of sport, culture and amazing human performances.

A dance changes between street and contemporary dance groups, including disabled and able-bodies performers.

On a third rising elevator, a tea lady emerges with a mountain of cakes signaling that for the British, even in the rarefied atmosphere of a Closing Ceremony, everything stops for tea.

Performers dressed as Londoners from a range of backgrounds reflect the diversity of London life and our ambition for the London 2012 Games to be for everyone-where everyone is invited to get involved in the most exciting event in the world.

The involvement the CandoCo dance group-featuring dancers with disabilities performing together with able-bodied dancers, profiles and demonstrates true integration-a key principle of the London 2012 Games.

The unfolded petals on roof of the bus close, as the bus returns to its normal shape, but not before on final transformation. The bus leaves the Stadium dressed with the vibrant London 2012 Paralympic logo, as London's own journey of transformation as a Host City for the 2012 Games continues.

23. Extinguishing the Paralympic Flame

The extinguished flame (Photo credit: Xinhua)

Synopsis: Extinguishing the Paralympic Flame.

The extinguished flame (Photo credit: Xinhua)

24. Flame Fireworks

Beautiful fireworks (Photo credit: Xinhua)

Synopsis: Flame fireworks.

Beautiful fireworks (Photo credit: Xinhua)

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