China Beijing Olympic Games

Heading to the office

I am a literary director for television. Maybe it’s because I studied the Erhu (two-stringed Chinese fiddle) since childhood, and on top of that, there’s the influence from my work, but my favorite hobby is doodling on music staff paper. Whether I am happy, or feeling sad, I like to string these feelings together using musical notes. It is this hobby that has connected me in a special way with the Olympics — taking part in the song search for the Olympic theme song. Although I won’t know until the evening of April 30 whether my song has been selected, it has been my feeling all along that the outcome isn’t what’s most important; the important thing is that I have done something for the Olympics through my own hard work and dedication. Even if my song is not selected, participating in the process was extremely fulfilling. I will never forget my experience with the Olympics.

To tell the truth, when Beijing first bid for the Olympic Games, I felt joy and I felt inspiration; never did I think that an ordinary guy like me would have anything major to do with the Olympics. But as the big event drew nearer and the atmosphere around me was filled with Olympic spirit, an idea began to stir in my mind: I wanted to write a song for the Olympics to express my wishes and my dreams.

Perhaps my job had something to do with it. Before the search for the Olympic theme song began, I was really curious about the theme song for the Beijing 2008 Olympics — What kind of song would it be? How would it sound? Who will sing it? How will the song incorporate Chinese character? — I had so many questions.

 

The birthplace of an Olympic song

Before I knew it, March 7, 2008, had arrived. It was three days before the deadline for submitting songs to the Olympic song search. At around 10 p.m., I was browsing the songs that had been collected by the official website of the Beijing Olympic Games. None of them particularly stood out, however. Disappointed, I stopped surfing the web and was organizing my computer files when I came across an audio file called “Tianshi” (”Angel”). I opened it and heard a familiar tune; it was a song I had written back in 2003 for nurses during the SARS outbreak. At the time, however, I set the song aside because it did not reflect what I originally had in mind. But five years later, the song sounded fresh to my ears, even though it was a familiar tune.

As I listened to the song, my heart raced and I got very excited: that kind of tune, that kind of rhythm, that kind of quality — the Olympics! It was meant to be. Whether or not it could become the theme song didn’t matter, but I though it was a perfect fit. As I thought about this, I jumped out of my chair.

I glanced at the calendar, then, and realized that there were only 66 hours left to submit the song. I thought, how am I going to finish it in time? So many wonderful musicians spent so much more time putting their songs together, but I only had two or three days to fit new lyrics to the music. I had yet to find a singer; the score needed editing; the song had to be recorded and mixed. I blamed myself for not getting into gear sooner

“I just won’t think about it. It’s set. For the Olympics, I’m going to give it my best shot!”

 

Seeking new inspirations

That same night, I got to work and finished the lyrics for a portion of the song, and I changed the song’s name to “Fei Xiang” (”Flying”). Even without having slept a wink, I was completely wired the next day. I called the producer and asked him to put down what he was working on to help me produce this song. I then contacted former Lingdian lead singer Zhou Xiao’ou, whom I thought would be the ideal person to perform the song. As he had just left his band for a solo career, I knew that he would be extremely careful about choosing his first solo song. I was prepared for rejection

It must have just been meant to be, though. I later found out that before “Fei Xiang,” Xiao’ou had screened hundreds of songs trying to find the right tune for his first solo single, but nothing had appealed to him. Then, on March 8, at 3 a.m., he heard “Flying” and said, OK! It was meant to bet. An Olympic destiny! From then on, all that was left to do was to “rush.” We nervously rushed, exhaustedly rushed, excitedly rushed. It was an enjoyable rush. And finally, on March 10 at 5 p.m., we delivered our song to the BOCOG song search office.

Right now, my state of mind is just as my song describes. I feel the radiance of the torch, as it lights up ever corner of the earth and warms every heart that is passionate about the Olympics and peace. Because of the Olympics, mankind has equality; because of the Olympics, we can be closer.