The 2009 East Asian Games opening ceremony was held on 5 December 2009 at Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong. The opening began at 8 p.m. at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre on a floating stage set up at Victoria Harbour. The production team was the same one that ran the 2008 Beijing Olympics opening ceremony. [1] [2] The ceremony involved 44 decorated vessels and cost HK$40 million (about US$5 million) to stage, lasting 90 minutes. [3] [4] Tickets to the opening ceremony was sold at HK$1000. [2]
Special guest China's state councillor Liu Yandong was the first introduced. Chief executive of Hong Kong Donald Tsang, IOC President Jacques Rogge and East Asian Games president Timothy Fok were then introduced. [5] [6] They were seated among a panel of VIPs.
Fireworks at the harbour began. Then Ode to the Motherland was played while the Hong Kong Police Force parade in. The Hong KongSAR and PRC flag was raised to the national anthem March of the Volunteers. The theme song "Be the Legend" (創造傳奇) was played. Then the different countries entered via the harbour by boat accompanied by fireworks. They entered alphabetically by English characters. The "You are the Legend" theme song was also played.
The artistic portion was split into four different parts.
The "Fishing lights on Fragrant waters" (香江漁火) took place on a floating stage with colourful night view with dance scene. It played the popular Hong Kong song "Below the Lion Rock (獅子山下). [4] The song was performed many years ago by Cantopop singer Roman Tam. [7] These are accompanied by sailboat and wave dances. This portion represents Hong Kong history with the junk sailing ships. [7]
The (活力都會) part focused on a more modern Hong Kong. On the floating stage Joey Yung sang the song "Run Forward" (跑步機上). [7] [8] She was accompanied by dancers. The junk boats then used a more modern lighting. This part ended with five firework shots display. [7]
The "Blessings for Hong Kong" (祝福香港) section was then opened up by Andy Lau. He sings "If One Day" (如果有一天) accompanied by violin virtuoso Li Chuan Yun. [7] This part also ended with five firework shots.
The "Conglomeration of the Nine Dragons" (九龍匯聚) section celebrated the nine participating countries. Usually nine dragons represented Kowloon. Alan Tam performs the song You are the Legend. He was accompanied by Hong Kong students. Afterwards the 10 male, 14 female group Phoenix music troupe (鳳樂團) performed the "Nine nation drum beats" (九國鼓樂). Flag waving performers then came out.
The athletes of the nine nations then came out onto the stage. The host region Hong Kong marched last. Guam entered as the penultimate region, as it was a member of the Oceania National Olympic Committees and an invited team. Other countries and regions entered in English alphabetical order of their Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) designated names. Whilst most countries entered under their short names, a few entered under more formal or alternative names, sometimes due to political disputes. Taiwan (Republic of China) entered with the compromised name and flag of "Chinese Taipei" under T so that they did not enter together with conflicting "China", which entered under C. Similarly, South Korea entered as "Korea" under K while North Korea entered as "Democratic People's Republic of Korea" (shortened as DPR Korea on the placard).
| Order | Nation | Chinese name | Jyutping | Flag bearer | Sport |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  China (CHN) | 中國 | zung1 gwok3 | Liu Zige (劉子歌) | Swimming |
| 2 |  North Korea (PRK) | 朝鮮 | ciu4 sin1 | Pak Keum-chol (朴金哲) | Weightlifting |
| 3 |  Japan (JPN) | 日本 | jat6 bun2 | Hiromi Miyake | Weightlifting |
| 4 |  South Korea (KOR) | 韓國 | hon4 gwok3 | Park Jun-bum | Volleyball |
| 5 |  Macau (MAC) | 中國澳門 | zung1 gwok3 ou3 mun4 | Choi Wai-git (蔡偉傑) | Volleyball |
| 6 |  Mongolia (MGL) | 蒙古 | mung4 gu2 | Tserenjankharyn Sharavjamts (沙拉占士) | Basketball |
| 7 |  Chinese Taipei (TPE) | 中華台北 | zung1 waa4 toi4 bak1 | Hung Kun-yi (洪焜毅) | Bowling |
| 8 |  Guam (GUM) | 關島 | gwaan1 dou2 | Arman Burgos | Table tennis |
| 9 |  Hong Kong (HKG) | 中國香港 | zung1 gwok3 hoeng1 gong2 | Steven Wong (王史提芬) | Cycling |
Donald Tsang then gave a speech. It was the first large scale international games ever hosted in Hong Kong. It was also the largest East Asian Games. Timothy Fok then followed up with a speech. They both gave their speech first in English, then in Cantonese. State Councillor Liu Yandong then opened the games up with a statement in Mandarin. The firework displays began.
The flag of East Asian Games enters the stage carried by eight Hong Kong athletes.
| Flag bearer | Description |
|---|---|
| Kim Ho (何劍暉) | sailor |
| Chung Hoi-yuk (鐘海玉) | badminton |
| Li Fai (李暉) | wushu |
| Chan Mei-ling (陳美玲) | Judo fighter |
| Wong Fai (王輝) | shooter |
| Sherry Tsai (蔡曉慧) | swimmer |
| Wu Siu-hong (胡兆康) | bowler |
| Wun Gin-yi (温建儀) | |
The flag was then raised and the East Asian Games song was played. Hong Kong table tennis player Li Ching (李靜) took the athlete's oath. Gary Au Yeung Kwok-kei (歐楊國棋) then took the referee's oath. Lee Lai Shan and Wong Kam-po arrived with the torch from the 2009 East Asian Games torch relay. They joined Cheung King Wai, Hannah Wilson and Chan Hei-man (陳晞文). [7] They all lighted the cauldron.
Final major firework display was accompanied by live singing from the float performed by artists such as Yumiko Cheng, Nicholas Tse, Vincy Chan, Priscilla Chan. [7] The ceremony finished with "You are the Legend".
The 2006 Asian Games, officially known as the XV Asiad or 15th Asian Games (Arabic: دورة الألعاب الآسيوية الخامسة عشرة, and commonly known as Doha 2006, was an Asian multi-sport event held in Doha, Qatar from December 1 to 15, 2006, with 424 events in 39 sports featured in the games. Doha was the first city in its region and only the second in West Asia to host the games. The city will host the games again in 2030.
The 2009 East Asian Games, officially known as the V East Asian Games, was an international multi-sport event that hosted by Hong Kong, between 5 December and 13 December 2009. A total of 2,377 athletes from 9 East Asian national competed in 262 events in 22 sports. It was the biggest sporting event ever held in the territory.
The 2006 Asian Games opening ceremony was held on 1 December at the multi-purpose Khalifa International Stadium. The opening ceremony was described by the media to be one of the most breathtaking and technologically spectacular multi-sport event ceremonies in the history of the Asian Games at that time. It was created and produced by David Atkins and was filmed and broadcast live by International Games Broadcast Services' (IGBS) precursor Doha Asian Games Broadcast Services (DAGBS). 10 composers from Qatar, Lebanon, Egypt, Singapore, Japan, India, South Korea, Germany and Australia composed the score for the ceremonies.
Wong Kam-po SBS MH is a Hong Kong racing cyclist. A specialist in road bicycle racing, at age 34 he became a track cycling world champion in the scratch race of the 2007 World Championships, which was not his specialty.
Peter Man Pei Tak is a former Hong Kong professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder or a center back.
The 2009-10 season in Hong Kong football, starting July 2009 and ending June 2010:
The 2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony was held at the Beijing National Stadium, also known as the Bird's Nest. The ceremony was directed by Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou and began at 20:00 China Standard Time (UTC+8) on Sunday night, 24 August 2008. The number 8 is associated with prosperity and confidence in Chinese culture.
Xu Deshuai is a former Chinese-born Hong Kong professional footballer who played as a winger. Born in China, he represented Hong Kong on the international level. He was a member of the Hong Kong East Asian Games football team in 2009 who won the East Asian Games gold medal.
The football tournament at the 2009 East Asian Games was held from 2 December 2009 to 13 December 2009. Host Hong Kong defeated Japan 4–2 in a penalty shoot-out in the final after a 1–1 draw to win their first-ever international title, while South Korea beat North Korea with the same score to finish third.
You are the Legend [sic] (衝出世界) is the official theme song of the 2009 East Asian Games held in Hong Kong. The song was composed by Peter Kam (金培達) and Keith Chan (陳少琪).
The 2010 Shanghai Expo opening ceremony occurred on April 30, 2010 at the Shanghai World Expo Cultural Center in Shanghai, People's Republic of China, a day before the opening of the Expo 2010.The opening ceremony was planned and designed by ECA2's founder, Yves Pepin.
The 2009 East Asian Games torch relay was the torch relay portion prior to the opening of the East Asian Games. It took place on 29 August 2009 on the 100th day countdown to the games. About 500 local schools held torch relay activities from September 2009 to November 2009 prior to the start of the games in December. The torch pipe was designed by HK designer Kan Tai-keung (靳埭強). The relay held the theme "Light the way to the EAG".
The 2009 East Asian Games closing ceremony was an event that took place on 13 December 2009 at Kowloon Hong Kong Coliseum on the last day of the hosting of the 2009 East Asian Games. The show is 2 hours long. The ceremony cost HK$3 million, while the admission cost was HK$200, $400 or $600.
The 2010 Asian Games opening ceremony officially began at 8:00pm China Standard Time (UTC+8) on November 12, 2010. The ceremony took place along the Pearl River on Haixinsha Island, mark it the first time in history that an Asian Games ceremony was held outside the main Games stadium. In front of 30,000 spectators, it lasted four hours, featured about 6,000 performers, with at least 40,000 of fireworks. The ceremony was directed and choreographed by Chen Weiya (陈维亚), who was assistant director to Zhang Yimou in 2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony and was filmed by Guangzhou Asian Games Broadcasting (GAB).
The opening ceremony of the 2011 Asian Winter Games was held at the Astana Arena, in Astana, Kazakhstan. It began at 6:00 PM (UTC+06:00) on 30 January 2011 and lasted approximately three hours.
Tsang Kam To is a Hong Kong professional footballer who currently plays as a full back for Hong Kong Premier League club Kowloon City.
The East Asian Youth Games (EAYG) is a continental multi-sport event organised by the East Asian Olympic Committee (EAOC) and held every four years since 2023 among athletes from East Asian countries and territories of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), as well as the Pacific island of Guam, which is a member of the Oceania National Olympic Committees.
The 2018 Asian Para Games opening ceremony was held on Saturday, 6 October 2018 at the Gelora Bung Karno Main Stadium in Jakarta, Indonesia. The closing ceremony was held exactly a week later; Saturday, 13 October 2018 at the nearby, far smaller Gelora Bung Karno Madya Stadium. Both ceremonies were started on 19:00 local time (UTC+7) and ended around 22:00.
Hong Kong, a special administrative region (SAR) of the People's Republic of China, competed at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China, from 4 to 20 February 2022. The delegation competed under the formal name Hong Kong, China. This was the SAR's sixth appearance at a Winter Olympic Games, since its first appearance in 2002.
The 2025 EAFF E-1 Football Championship will be an association football tournament organized by the East Asian Football Federation. It will be the tenth edition of the men's tournament of the EAFF E-1 Football Championship, the men's football championship of East Asia. On 30 March 2024, East Asian Football Federation announced that the tournament will be held in South Korea in July 2025, and the preliminary competition will be held on 7–17 December 2024 in Hong Kong.