Olympic song welcomes world united in sport

See You in Beijing, a Chinese song which was first released to mark the 100-day countdown to the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games, was performed by a number of Chinese celebrity singers, actors and athletes during a grand gala held at the Tianqiao Performing Arts Center in the capital on Thursday. The event opened the 22nd Meet in Beijing International Arts Festival and Meet in Beijing Olympic Culture Festival.

The song was first released in October last year and on Dec 26, a music video of the song was released. The video featured 55 Chinese athletes, including Ye Qiaobo, the speed skater who won China's first ever Winter Olympics medal－a silver－at the 1992 Games in Albertville, France; table tennis player Deng Yaping, China's four-time Olympic gold medalist; former world diving champion Tian Liang and Yang Qian, a gold medalist at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in the women's 10-meter air rifle event.

The ballad, with lyrics written by Wang Pingjiu and music composed by Chang Shilei, expresses greetings and a welcoming message to all the participants of the upcoming Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and the Winter Paralympics.

Chang is a pop singer-songwriter, who graduated from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, and is known for writing the theme song of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, You and Me, which was performed at the opening ceremony by Chinese singer Liu Huan and British soprano Sarah Brightman.

Wang, a veteran songwriter, led the creative team behind the song, Beijing Welcomes You, which was released in April 2008, marking the 100-day countdown of that year's Beijing Olympic Games.

"I am glad that the song, Beijing Welcomes You, is still enjoyed by many people now. When we planned to release this new song, See You in Beijing, we wanted to bring people the same warmth and pleasure as the song Beijing Welcomes You did," said Wang in an interview with Beijing Evening News.

"Like Beijing Welcomes You, this new song has a very soothing melody and is easy to catch. The lyrics are narrative, just like chatting with a friend," Wang said.

In the interview, Wang recalled that it took him a long time to give the new song a name.

"Despite the difficulties presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, people from all over the world will gather in Beijing for the Olympic Games, which are about friendship, peace and trust. The name of the song, See You in Beijing, like the song's lyrics, is very simple and sincere," Wang said.

Wang also wrote the lyrics for Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games' motto song, titled Together for a Shared Future, which was released on Nov 15.

Featuring young pop idol Yi Yangqianxi, or Jackson Yee, the music video follows people's real stories related to the Winter Olympic Games, including a Beijing resident, Gong Hubiao, 60, who has loved sports since childhood and carved patterns of 30 Winter Olympics events into a set of themed seals.

Since the song was released, it has become popular around the country, and many people have made short videos of themselves singing and dancing to the song.