Music flash mob brings together Chinese and Finnish voices for the 2022 Winter Olympics

A music flash mob popped up in Beijing on Nov. 30 to celebrate the upcoming 70th anniversary of China’s participation in the 1952 Helsinki Summer Olympics—the first Olympics that the People’s Republic of China partook in upon its founding in 1949—along with the approaching Independence Day of Finland.

The event was organized by the Embassy of Finland in Beijing, the Shijingshan District People’s Government of Beijing Municipality, the Team Finland network, and the Shougang Group and was held at the Shougang Park, the only snow event venue located in the downtown area of the city for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. Apart from the music flash mob, participants also cut out paper snowflakes with a message of hope for the forthcoming 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics.

Students from the Shijingshan Philharmonic Experimental Primary School sing the song ‘You and Me’ at Shougang Park in Beijing, Nov. 30, 2021. (People’s Daily Online/Peng Yukai)

Students from the Shijingshan Philharmonic Experimental Primary School came out to perform the Chinese song ‘You and Me.’ “It was the theme song during the 2008 Beijing Olympics. It is a very meaningful song as Beijing will soon become the host city for two Olympics in 2022,” explained Qi Chunli, Executive Deputy District Mayor of Shijingshan District of Beijing Municipality.

“The flash mob uses music as a vehicle for exchanges. Holding it at the Shougang Park also showcases the fresh outlook of the industrial transformation and the willingness for the open development of the Shijingshan District,” said Qi.

Musicians from the International Master Philharmonic Orchestra play Jean Sibelius’s Finlandia at Shougang Park in Beijing, Nov. 30, 2021. (People’s Daily Online/Peng Yukai)

Dec. 6 is the Independence Day of Finland. As such, musicians from the International Master Philharmonic Orchestra also played Jean Sibelius’s Finlandia. “(The song) depicts our national revival as a nation, and also the rise of Finland as an independent country in the early 1900s. Also, it is actually music-wise a very beautiful and very powerful piece of music,” said Timo Sysiö, Press and Cultural Counsellor at the Embassy of Finland in Beijing.

According to Sysiö, holding such an event before the 2022 Winter Olympics is of cultural significance for the two countries, “The (Winter) Olympic will be organized during the (COVID-19) pandemic, so we can’t do what we will normally do during the Olympic Games, having big physical receptions. But we wanted to still celebrate and do something big, and that’s why we chose this kind of safer option by taking people outdoors and bringing together Finnish and Chinese voices through this performance.”

Timo Sysiö, Press Counsellor at the Embassy of Finland in Beijing, cuts out paper snowflakes with a Chinese student at Shougang Park in Beijing, Nov. 30, 2021. (People’s Daily Online/Peng Yukai)

China and Finland share a long cultural relation that lasts to this day, especially in the area of sports. “Now, there are some national-level athletes in Finland, in Vuokatti, for training. Many Finnish companies have been here (in China) to help construct sports venues. These are probably the two biggest kinds of cooperation at the moment.”

“The event is a nice continuation. Music and sports are the two things that we can share even if we don’t have a common language,” said Sysiö. “This is also something that we try to focus on in our future work to promote Finnish culture through things that people can touch, people can see, people can feel, and people can hear.”