Each year at our school, they hold their annual Sports Day celebration, which includes both the international school and the bilingual school. All grades participate in both schools. Last year, it consisted of 1.5 days of sports events on the track field. This year, it was turned into a full two-day affair, complete with a grand opening ceremony. So grand, in fact, that it required constant practice out on the field (and sometimes in the school gym) at several different intervals of the day for over 3 weeks. This included the cancellation of some people’s afternoon classes, too. The amount of time dedicated to this opening ceremony was seen by many of us foreign teachers as excessive, and at times it was downright absurd and a waste of time. Combined with the fact that there was no real time spent practicing for the actual sports themselves, it made all the time spent on the opening ceremony that much more absurd. The amount of time spent on getting the lower-grade kids to run correctly in their line formations alone was enough to drive us insane.

The school decided to have each class represent something different. What the actual connection was between each class still remains a head scratcher. It looked like some classes were representing different countries (in sync with the Olympic theme), while other classes had a strange hodgepodge of mixed cultures—or just random animals.

This experience was another look into the mindset of the Chinese. To them, the way things look is quite important. Ceremonies, pomp and circumstance, flowers, balloons—everything is needed, even for things like store openings. Whether something is actually functional, relevant, or useful seems to be an afterthought. I’m sure many remember the 2008 Olympics opening ceremony in Beijing and the massive number of people involved in the performance. That was the same idea behind our school’s ceremony. In fact, that seems to be a thing in China: getting many people together to do something similar and having it look splendid, in part because so many people are all doing the same thing at the same time (see my previous post about my trip to Guilin/Yangshuo and the part about the famous Sanjie Liu river performance, and you’ll know what I mean). I guess if you live in the most populous country in the world and big crowds are a daily part of life, then something like that just makes sense, I suppose.

Part One: Practice

For the rehearsals, aside from the constant drilling of line formations, there were also many flags—many, many flags. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen so many flags at any one event for any reason before.

And, some more flags.

Naturally, it didn’t take long for some of the kids to become bored and antsy.

We also got to see a glimpse of some of the costumes that some of the older kids would be wearing while they danced (to the same music that we use to do our morning kung fu to, as well as another song).

The ceremony also included the famous Chinese dragons. They, too, needed a rest at times.

The kids also spent time practicing little performance numbers so that each class could march behind one another and have their chance to perform for the VIPs.

Part 2: The Opening Ceremony

Then, it finally came time for the big day. The weather was nice and sunny, and the parents and important higher-ups were there to watch. Most of the classes had some kind of outfit for their performance, and our class wore this.

As we went outside to gather on the sports field to make the parade formation, we finally got a chance to see what the other classes were wearing.

Of course, one can’t forget the team of moms who decided to help out by marching and holding flags. Here they gathered to pose in their fashionable ensembles.

 Did I mention there were also more flags?

No school parade is complete without its marching band.

After our group finished, we had to sit and wait for the other classes to finish. After that, our classes had a chance to go back to the classroom to change and return for the second portion, where everyone would assume their positions for the big dance number.

Earlier, I showed the image of some of the rich moms taking the time to help out (and by help out, I mean also getting the chance to strut their stuff). This next woman caught my and another co-worker’s eye. We were just fascinated or confused as to why she felt the need to get all dolled up like this. We shall see her again later on.

(Really now, what full grown woman wears a tiara outside of a beauty pageant?)

Moving along, we waited for the marching band to finish their performance while we waited at the back of the field. While there, we could see many colorful balloons.

Then, it finally came time for all the grades to make their formations for the big dance and flag show.

Here is a brief look at the main dance portion. The wind made it difficult to hear at times.

The last part of their routine was to move everyone around to form the letters “I” and “B” to show our school’s success in becoming an IB (international baccalaureate) certified school at the end of last term. There was a drone used to capture the image from higher up. This is what it showed.

After the international school was finished, the bilingual school also put on their performances. The grand finale was for the kids to all release their balloons at once. Visually, it was a sight to behold. Environmentally, it was also a sight to behold, but not in a good way. One of my co-workers, who is an avid environmentalist and vegan, was horrified because we knew that eventually this blitzkrieg of balloon waste would become more garbage after deflating. Again, the theme of looks first and consequences second is a recurrent theme in China.

When everything was finished, we sat near the playground area to wait for the field to be cleared. Here is where I snapped some more candid photos.

See? I told you she could make another cameo. Check out her bling in the right side photo.

After all the time spent on this, it was finally over. Our school will now have its own little Beijing games on record. All that was left now were the actual sports events. The next day and a half, classes were cancelled, and we sat outside with our classes all day until everyone was finished with their events. There were numerous events going on simultaneously, so it was difficult to see some of what was going on. In all honesty, us foreign teachers were quite bored since we had already been through this last year. In the midst of my boredom, I still managed to capture some quintessential moments.

Teacher Michelle had a great idea for giving the kids something to do to keep them occupied—doing push-ups and burpees.