Featuring Chinese festival culture and a technology-enhanced visual spectacle, a stunning ceremony took the world's breath away on the night of Feb 4 as the opening of the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games was declared.

Fourteen years after impressing the world with a grand show to open the 2008 Summer Games, Beijing delivered again, wowing an international audience with a celebration of not just the highest level of winter sports but also the traditional Spring Festival during the opening ceremony of the 24th Winter Olympics.

Following a national flag raising ceremony, a giant LED screen on the ground illuminated the floor in aqua blue to make it a huge "ice rink", thrilling the crowd. A giant ice block then rose above the ground, while 24 laser beams shot from the roof to engrave it with the names of the 23 previous Winter Games' hosts, before eventually focusing on 2022 Beijing.

The center stage within the venue comprised 11,600 square meters of HD LED screen, which imitated "a crystal-clear ice surface" throughout the ceremony. High technology was used to bring the showpiece into existence through artificial intelligence using live-motion capture technology.

The ground stage system, a key to presenting the splendid artistic performances of Beijing 2022, was supported by China Machinery Industry Construction Group (Sinoconst), a subsidiary of Sinomach.

The company undertook construction of the stage's steel structure, equipment supply and electrical installation engineering and debugging to ensure smooth opening and closing ceremonies.

The steel structure of the ground stage for the opening and closing ceremonies of Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games [Photo/Sinoconst]

"I think the most impressive parts of the Games stage system are the crystal 'Ice Cube' and the gorgeous 'Ice Cascade'," said the project manager of the ground stage system.

The giant ice block dubbed the "Ice Cube" is 22 meters long, 7 meters wide, and 14.25 meters high, and weighs about 400 tons.

Before it rose, the block was stored in an 84-meter-long and 42-meter-wide underground warehouse at a depth of 10 meters. The stage covers an area of more than 20,000 square meters, and more than 1,000 tons of performance equipment was required to be installed in the warehouse, making it the largest stage system in China.

The stage uses a multi-level lifting structure, which requires that the installation work must be rigorous and accurate. The ice block can rise and fall at a speed of 0.28 meters per second, so there is no room for error.

A LED screen called 'Ice Cascade' is set up on a large steel device about 60 meters high, made of 730 tons of steel and more than 6,000 components.

As it is a base installation, its assembly error was required to be controlled within 1.5 millimeters. In spite of the high demands and tight schedule, the company team completed all the work in only 37 days.

The ongoing Beijing Winter Olympics have become an arena where sportsmanship shines and opportunities are created to promote the pursuit of a community with a shared future for mankind. Furthermore, Beijing 2022 has been the first international sports festival that came at the appointed time since the onset of COVID-19, thus boosting the confidence of the world in prevailing over the virus.

The company said its team will continue to provide renovation and debugging services for the upcoming closing ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games and the opening and closing ceremonies of the Winter Paralympic Games.