China News Service, Zhangjiakou, February 4th, title: The first anniversary of the Beijing Winter Olympics: These "flowers" grew up in singing

  Reporter Chen Lin Li Xiaowei Xiao Guangming

  On February 4, 2022, at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics, the children of the Hebei Fuping Malanhua Children's Choir sang "Olympic Ode" in Greek and "amazing" the world.

A year later, they were invited to enter the National Ski Jumping Center "Xue Ruyi" in Chongli, Zhangjiakou, and sang at the opening ceremony of the 4th Hebei Ice and Snow Games.

  Although there have been many rehearsals before, when this group of elementary school children walked into the backstage to wait for the scene, they still attracted the attention of other actors.

Faced with photo requests, they smiled and even made a "V" gesture to the camera.

After taking the photo, Li Yingfei, a member of the choir who is in the fourth grade, will tiptoe to look at the photo just taken by someone else's mobile phone, and ask the other person with a smile, "Did it look good?"

  This is a girl who loves to laugh and speaks with a loud voice.

Recalling the scene of performing at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics a year ago, she said with a smile that she was "very excited": "That was the first time I went to Beijing, and I was on such a big stage."

The picture shows the children of the choir taking photos with other performers in the background.

Photo by Chen Lin

  Li Yingfei said that since then, she and her partners have performed in Beijing, Shijiazhuang and other cities.

When the reporter asked if she was nervous, she first smiled, and then replied: "Actually, I am also nervous, but you have to relax."

  Li Yingfei, who has become more confident and cheerful in the past year, looks a little serious when talking about her dream. She said that she hopes to be a doctor to help more patients get out of the painful world.

  On the stage, the children of the Malanhua Children's Choir sometimes sang, and sometimes "transformed" to assist in other programs.

When they left after the ceremony, they didn't care about the cold wind outside, and didn't go back to the lounge directly, but ran to watch the balloons fly.

The picture shows that after the performance, the children who walked off the stage looked up at the flying balloons.

Photo by Chen Lin

  Gu Zhanhao, a member of the chorus, not only participated in the opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing Winter Olympics in one year, but also participated in the 2023 Spring Festival Gala of China Central Radio and Television and many other evening performances.

Because of this, he has not spent the Spring Festival with his family for two consecutive years.

He said that when his mother misses him, he will play the video of his show over and over again.

  This fifth-grade boy also began to have his own dream—to be a short-track speed skater.

He said that both children in the mountains and children in the city should have dreams and "work hard to realize them."

He likes ice and snow sports, and can even name more than ten Winter Olympic events in one breath.

When there was a pause, the friends on the side hurriedly approached his ear and whispered something.

  Gu Zhanhao said that now he hopes to help more people, "this is from the heart."

  The dream of 13-year-old chorus member Zhao Yixuan is to become an astronaut.

During the year, she and her companions were invited to participate in activities many times.

The experience of watching the launch of the Shenzhou 15 manned spacecraft left a deep impression on her. Her idol is astronaut Deng Qingming, whose spirit of preparing for her dream for 25 years encouraged her to grow up.

The picture shows that after the performance, the children of the choir and the teacher took a group photo at "Xue Ruyi".

Photo by Chen Lin

  There are gatherings and separations in life, and this group of children has also experienced the most unwilling parting.

On March 21, 2022, teacher Deng Xiaolan, who had been teaching music to mountain village children in Malan Village, Fuping County for 18 years, passed away due to illness.

After the children heard the news, they played "Malan's Nursery Rhymes" to bid farewell to "Grandma Deng".

In that interview, a child burst into tears when he said to a reporter from China News Agency that "I miss Grandma Deng very much, and I will never see her again".

  "Look, the children now have light in their eyes, confidence on their faces, and they are not as afraid to speak when communicating with strangers as in the past." Talking about the changes in the children of the Malanhua Children's Choir, Fuping County Education And Wang Jinshan, deputy director of the Sports Bureau, said with emotion.

  Wang Jinshan said that in the future, he hopes that through more professional learning and training, the singing level of these children in the Taihang Mountains will be further improved.

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