The Tower of Memory in the closing ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. (dayoo.com)

   
The Beijing Olympics came to a grand close on Aug. 24. Both the slowly rising "Earth" accompanied with the song You and Me in the opening ceremony and the "Tower of Memory" featured in the closing left deep impression to the audiences.

However, few people knew that the over 400 electric bulbs which made the "Earth" and the "Tower of Memory" brilliant were all made in Guangzhou¡ªthey were all made by a newly-developing private enterprise Caiyi Company which is located in the Science Park in Guangzhou's Baiyun District.

On the evening of 24th August, the lighting designer Sha Xiaolan said during the interview, there were totally more than 2700 stage light bulbs in the opening ceremony. Though the number of domestic-made bulbs was smaller than the imported ones, our light bulbs showed the philosophy of the design well, and the quality was close to those from the outlands.

The "Earth" featured in the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. (dayoo.com)

"The earth was vivid, it needs bulbs with different lighting horizons", Sha Xiaolan said. As the highlight of the ceremony, the brilliant and vivid effect of the "earth" which was only a grey globe made of aluminium alloy was all created by lighting from various horizons. There were 324 LED lights on the "earth" which can simultaneously create various lighting effects in the globe.

In the closing ceremony, it appeared that the flaming fire was burning in the Tower of Memory. 396 performers showed the audience a 3-D performance with their own bodies¡ªthe huge peony blossomed and then a Chinese dragon entwined on the tower, which overwhelmed all the audiences.

According to the director of the project Wang Huijun, the computer lights made by Caiyi Company were mainly applied in the Tower of Memory and the Trees of Propitious Cloud. "Especially at the moment of the peony's blossom, the vivid effects were all created by the lighting which reflected on the performers." "And the golden and soft effect of the 16 propitious clouds which extended to the sky over the 'Bird's Nest was also created by the computer lights".