Chongqing – Friday evening witnessed a shining moment for a group of children, unable to see but seen by the rest of the world, as they played the Paralympic anthem at the opening ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games.

On the evening of March 4 and at the National Stadium, 47 special children from the Yangfan Orchestra of the Chongqing Special Education Center played the Paralympic anthem, Hymn of the Future.

As the Paralympic flag raised and the solemn and majestic melody echoed over the gymnasium, the Olympic sportsmanship and the unremitting power of the differently-abled were on display for the world.

The group photo before the official performance (Photo provided to iChongqing)

The Yangfan Orchestra was established in 2011 and originally consisted of 34 teachers and 36 blind children. After more than ten years of development, the orchestra now has 32 teachers and more than 70 blind children and has developed into the world's largest orchestra for the blind. Chongqing Special Education Center wants to show the world their special children, including their unique advantages and efforts to make the world have a more comprehensive understanding of the disabled group, helping them better integrate into this mainstream society.

The orchestra performance at the opening ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games (iChongqing/ Yiling Wang)

The performance task was from Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. When the education center received the task, they were absolutely very excited because it met their original intention of establishing the orchestra. Also, the students felt fevered because they could have this chance to take part in such a high-level performance in front of the world. At first, they were a little afraid to be confident, but later they felt proud after confirming this was a piece of definite news. At the same time, their parents are also very enthusiastic that their children can have the opportunity to participate in such a noteworthy performance.

Children's training of the performance  (Photo provided to iChongqing)

116 days' preparation for 118 seconds' performance

However, after the excitement and happiness, the pressure of the center and students also came. Most of the players in the orchestra were born in rural areas, and the youngest one is only ten years old.

It's only 116 days from receiving the task in November last year until participating in the official performance of 118 seconds. Yangfan Orchestra stepped up basic skills training and finally selected 47 outstanding members from more than 100 candidates to participate in the final performance. But it was only 49 days from getting the score in mid-January to start the show.

The orchestra cannot rely on external professional teachers due to the need for confidentiality. The teachers and students for the performance gave up the winter break and carried out a high-intensity training camp for reading and recording musical scores. They worked together to overcome difficulties and completed the first music rehearsal within five days. It takes one minute and fifty-eight seconds to perform the adapted anthem Hymn of the Future, and the rehearsal is the only first step to perfectly complete the final show. The larger difficulty was after coming to Beijing for training.

The orchestra performance at the opening ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games (iChongqing/ Yiling Wang)

On February 8, a group of 63 teachers and students set off for Beijing and entered closed management to start training. In the first few days, the children fell ill one after another due to the cold, dry climate, and unfamiliar diet. At the same time, difficulties came, including standing posture, walking in line, the posture of holding a musical instrument, and the management of facial expressions. All players have no visual experience, which is a very simple movement to ordinary people, so they must receive one-on-one instruction more than hundreds of times, basically achieving the same rhythm and uniformity. Children had to train with chopsticks and even touched the teacher's smiling face to realize how sighted people smile naturally.

The group photo when players arrived at the National Stadium (Photo provided to iChongqing)

Another difficulty was to adapt to playing in an open environment with low temperature, which the night temperature of the National Stadium was around 0°C. Children had to adapt to standing for a long time in a cold environment. Meanwhile, brass instruments were easily frozen after being exposed to the cold air for too long, so the first sound is likely to be out of tune or out of tune. For this reason, players braved the cold to train outdoors for more than half an hour every day to learn to play in the frozen outdoor environment.

Children's training of the performance  (Photo provided to iChongqing)

In addition, during the closed training period, the children's physical strength will have been severely tested. The daily rehearsal ended almost in the early hours of the morning. Since entering the National Stadium, everyday rehearsal almost ended in the early morning. During the period, the players were not allowed to bring their mobile phones, and there was no place to lie down and rest. Finally, all children overcame difficulties, such as the closed living environment, hard training, high-intensity training, and rehearsals.

As this anthem, Hymn of the Future, brings us - positive, hopeful, and powerful, the school hopes that all special children can stand on the stage of the world, starting with the 2022 Paralympic Winter Games in the best state. In this way, people worldwide can see those different children - their efforts, power, and self-improvement. "For those special children, we certainly wish them a brighter and better future," said Li Longmei, the principal for Chongqing Special Education Center.