Ng Han Guan/Associated Press
The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics are less than a week away, with the opening ceremonies set for Friday, February 4. Olympic competition actually gets underway two days earlier, with curling and luge events on February 2.
Like at the Summer Games in Tokyo, the opening ceremonies in Beijing will look far different than what we normally expect. Once again, due to COVID-19, there will be no spectators in the stands.
China had announced that no visitors outside the mainland would be admitted to the Games back in November, with the option open to sell tickets to mainland China residents.
However, on January 17 organizers confirmed no tickets would be sold at all but rather the Olympics would take on an “adapted programme that will invite groups of spectators to be present on site during the Games,” with those spectators following COVID-19 protocols closely.
Even without fans in the stands, however, technology has allowed for some memorable televised opening ceremonies. In Tokyo, more than 1,800 drones lit up the sky as part of a light show. Expect China to have similar technological feats in its show.
But not everything needs to be done with technology; Japanese organizers had a delightful live pictogram show with costumed performers acting out all the symbols for each Olympic sport.
Below we’ll break down when, where and how to watch the opening ceremonies, as well as more details on what to expect.
You can check out the full schedule of events at Olympics.com.
Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremonies
Date: Friday, February 4
Time: 6:30 a.m. ET (7:30 p.m. local time in China)
TV: NBC
Live Stream: NBC Sports app, NBCOlympics.com and Peacock
The Beijing 2022 opening ceremonies will be held at the National Stadium, referred to as the “Bird’s Nest,” where the 2008 Beijing Summer Games ceremonies were also held. Indeed, Beijing is the first city to play host to both a Summer and Winter Olympics.
The motto of this year’s Games is “faster, higher, stronger—together” and the official slogan is “together for a shared future.”
The program will include the traditional hoisting of the flags and the parade of athletes, with an artistic spectacle meant to showcase China’s culture and modern history.
Zhang Yimou, who directed the 2008 Beijing opening ceremonies as well, used 15,000 performers then. This time around, it’s a smaller group of 3,000, and 95 percent of those are teenagers, per MNA International.
“For the first time in Olympic history, teenagers are invited on such a large scale to perform at the opening ceremony,” said Wang Jun, deputy director of the National Stadium operation team and director of the Performance and Ceremony Division of the organizing committee’s Department of Opening and Closing Ceremonies, per MNA International.
The Tokyo Olympics incorporated appearances by celebrities virtually, such as with John Legend, Keith Urban, Angélique Kidjo and Alejandro Sanz’s performance of “Imagine.” The Beijing Olympics may also use pre-filmed moments to accomplish the star power factor.
According to Zhao Weidong of the Beijing organizing committee’s media department in the South China Morning Post, the Opening Ceremony will revolve around three themes meant to show China’s willingness to pursue world peace.
Of course, that tone may be difficult to land for an international audience that has been closely following reports of human rights abuses by the Chinese government against its citizens.
There were demonstrations held outside Tokyo’s New National Stadium during the opening ceremonies of the Summer Games as residents protested the decision to hold the Games during COVID-19.
With no international spectators being allowed into the country, it’s less clear if Chinese citizens will put on their own protests concerning COVID-19 or the government’s known genocide against the Uyghur people in Xinjiang at the Beijing opening ceremonies.
While the opening ceremony is historically an opportunity for the host nation to show off its modern technological achievements and culture, old and new, to the world, China will be most successful if it focuses its opening and closing ceremonies on the one aspect of the Olympics that truly does have the power to unite the world: the athletes.
The closing ceremonies will take place on Sunday, February 20, also at the National Stadium.
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