The choir of Ain Shams University represents Egypt and the Arab world in the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Winter Olympics

Under the patronage of Prof. Dr. Mahmoud El-Metini, President of the University, and Prof. Dr. Abdel Fattah Saoud, Vice President for Education and Student Affairs, the Ain Shams University choir team participated with its counterpart students from the Nanjing Chinese Academy of Arts in cooperation with the Chinese Organizing Committee for the Beijing Winter Olympics and the Chinese Embassy in Cairo in producing a joint song For the two teams in Chinese, English and Arabic to participate in the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics.

Prof. Dr. Esraa Abdel Sayed, director of the Confucius Institute at the university, had suggested to the Chinese side in November of last year that Ain Shams University be a representative of Egypt and the Arab world with a work of art at the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Beijing, given the popularity and achievements of the university choir team The Chinese Embassy in Cairo welcomed the idea officially in a letter to the President of the University, and as soon as Prof. Dr. Mahmoud El-Metini, President of the University agreed to cooperate, Prof. Dr. Abdel Fattah Saoud, Vice President for Education and Student Affairs, held the first organizational meeting with senior officials from the Chinese Embassy in Cairo on 17/11/2021 With the participation of officials from the Olympic Organizing Committee for the Olympics and officials from the Nanjing Chinese Academy of Arts and in the presence of Prof. Dr. Esraa Abdel Sayed, Director of the Confucius Institute at Ain Shams University, and Prof. Dr. Tamer Abdel Moneim Rady, Advisor to the Vice President for Student Activities, where it was agreed to present a joint artwork on the occasion of the opening of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics and to distribute roles on the Egyptian and Chinese sides.

The Vice President of the University formed a working group to follow up the project, consisting of Prof. Dr. Esraa Abdel Sayed, Director of the Confucius Institute at Ain Shams University, and Prof. Dr. Tamer Abdel Moneim Rady, Advisor to the Vice President for Student Activities.

The Department of Technical Activity in the General Administration sponsored the youth at Ain Shams University, represented by Mr. Mustafa Essa, Director of the Technical Activity Department, and Ms. Hind Hamed, Head of the Expressive Arts Department, with the assistance of Mr. Abdel-Fadil Zaki and Ahmed Adel from the Department of Artistic Activity to implement the plan set for the production of the artwork, which consisted of three stages:

First: the stage of composing and composing a purely Egyptian artwork suitable for the opening of the Winter Olympics and training the choir team on its performance, in addition to training the team to perform the song prepared by the Chinese side and accompanying it in both English and Arabic.

Second: The stage of filming the team in Egypt in places that reflect the Egyptian civilization and Ain Shams University.

Third, the stage of merging the works performed by the Egyptian side with those performed by the Chinese side, to produce a single form prepared for publication and participation in the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics.

In this regard, the Department of Artistic Activity under the auspices of the youth commissioned the Egyptian poet Ahmed Hassan Raoul, the son of the university and one of the graduates of the Artistic Activity Department from previous generations, to write the lyrics of the song. The recording was recorded in one of the studios with the voices of the university’s members, members of the choir team led by Maestro Mahmoud Mohsen, and what was recorded was sent to those responsible for the ceremony from the Chinese side, who praised the melody and the lyrics of the song were highly admired by all the participants, as the words say “With some shoulder to shoulder despite the difference in color We always complete each other, you and I are the origin of the universe,” which came expressing this unique event that includes the peoples of the world despite the different cultures and races.

Then came the implementation of the second phase of the work, which is the filming of the video for the song, where the filming took place at the foot of the Pyramids of Giza, with the full support of Prof. Dr. Mahmoud El-Metini, President of the University, where his Excellency contacted directly with His Excellency Prof. Dr. Khaled Anani, Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, who Kindly authorize the university to film for free in this majestic archaeological area, as well as the support of Prof. Dr. Abdel Fattah Saud, who personally communicated with Mrs. Naela Farouk, head of Egyptian TV and agreed with her Excellency to provide an external filming unit from the Egyptian TV to film the song under the pyramid and also film inside The university campus, with the participation of about 150 male and female students from the university’s choir team, the follow-up work was carried out by Mr. Walid Hassan, head of the first channel of the Egyptian TV, and directed by the artist, Wael Mounir from the Egyptian TV.

Then came the implementation of the third phase, which was carried out by the Chinese side by completing the installation of what was sent from Ain Shams University with what was implemented in China to produce the final video and promotional advertisements for the tournament and send it in its final form to the university after the approval of the Olympic Committee responsible for the Olympics on the content.

Today, 27/1/2022, the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Winter Olympic Games presented the joint artwork on the website of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Winter Olympics in Beijing, and on the website of the Chinese People's Newspaper, in addition to the website "Bili bili" (the Chinese equivalent of Twitter).

All works will be broadcasted at the opening ceremonies of the Olympics, which is expected to gain more than 4 billion views.