The 2022 Winter Olympics kicked off with an opening ceremony on Feb. 4 that took place in the “Bird’s Nest” -- Beijing National Stadium -- that was first built for the 2008 Summer Games.
The 2022 opening ceremony was a wintery snowflake-themed show that emphasized youth and “ordinary people.” The overarching theme of "one world, one family" permeated throughout the ceremonies from beginning to end.
There were four key features that were seen in the opening ceremony that continued throughout today's closing ceremony:
The two-time Olympic Stadium
Beijing is the first city in the world to host both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games.
As athletes gathered once again in the Bird's Nest, the closing ceremony will celebrate the one-of-a-kind venue -- the only stadium in the world that has hosted the opening and closing ceremonies of the Summer and Olympic Winter Games.
Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics
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The two-time Olympic Director
Chinese film director Zhang Yimou became the world's first director to helm opening and closing ceremonies at two different Olympic games.
Fortunate for Yimou, both Olympics took place in the same city -- Beijing, home of the Summer Olympics in 2008 and the Winter Olympics this year.
The giant "ice" surface
The center stage, which is comprised of 11,600 square meters of HD LED screen, is being utilized in both the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2022 Olympics.
In the closing ceremony, the floor will display visual trails of “the weeping willow” that symbolizes a "bidding farewell."
Ordinary people
The opening and closing ceremonies are often star-studded performances, but Beijing took a different approach in 2022.
One of the themes throughout the 2022 Winter Games was the importance of the celebrating regular people from the surrounding and nearby cities, not international celebrities.
As regular people with regular jobs, these hometown entertainers took time to rehearse for their performances that would welcome their own family and friends to this year's Games.