2008 Beijing Summer Olympics Anthem

I haven't been following the news of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics all that much, but as one can imagine, this is THE event in China, and much has been done to promote both the Olympics and the country itself. Aside from all the protests happening around the world, Chinese people in general are still very proud of their heritage and stance in the world, and aside from the politics, every day people are moving about, living their normal lives.

May 1st began the 100 day countdown until the beginning of the Olympics, and China produced an anthem sang by many celebrities to launch the countdown. Titled "Beijing Welcomes You" (北京欢迎你), the song features many actors/actresses and singers. I must confess I don't know the mainland artists at all, but I spotted several Hong Kong and Taiwan pop idols and movie stars. Among them includes Jackie Chan 成龍, Joey Yung 容祖兒, Nicholas Tse 謝霆鋒,Gigi Leung 梁詠琪, Yumiko Cheng 鄭希怡, Jolin Tsai 蔡依林, Eason Chan 陳奕迅, Richie Jen 任賢齊, and Karen Mok 莫文蔚.

I can't understand Mandarin, but the song is a very traditional sounding song, with some nice shots of Beijing landmarks in warm, saturated colors, and obviously, the anthem is meant to create pride and comfort for the country. While it might have been nice to see more of modern Beijing, in both the sound of the song and the look of the video, obviously, this is destined to attract tourism, so they knew how to film this mini-ad.

I really like this song. After listening to it several times, I couldn't get the melody out of my head! Click below to hear it for yourself.