A scene from the opening ceremony of the 6th Beach Games in Sanya, Hainan Province Photo: VCG

On April 30, the 6th Asian Beach Games in Sanya, South China's Hainan Province, will come to a close. Over the past nine competition days, athletes from 45 countries and regions have gone through fierce competitions. Finally, once the Games is over, it can unwind. But for Zhang Dongxin and Huang Peiling, their moment of tension is just starting to build. As the chief directors of the closing ceremony, they are the ones tasked with putting the final touch on the Games.

Though the closing ceremony lasts just 60 minutes, Huang and Zhang have practically lived in the details. From the show's structure to the props on stage, they have led their team through countless rounds of polishing. "At any rehearsal, there's always a chance that everything we've built could be torn down and rebuilt from nothing," Zhang told the Global Times. But amid that change, the two directors have held on to one unchanging intention: to ensure that the closing ceremony tells not just the story of sports, but rather to show the humanistic and local spirit that makes the Asian Beach Games about far more than competition.

'The closing ceremony is a beginning'  

The upcoming closing ceremony is built around the theme "Starlit Night." To the two directors, however, the "starlight" of the Games means more than the glitter of medals - it is also the glow of athletes from different nations and regions truly seeing and reaching out to one another.

That is why, Zhang disclosed to the Global Times, the ceremony will include a segment: a digital montage on screen that captures the easily missed moments between athletes. Moments like a fallen athlete being helped across the finish line by an opponent, or a volunteer and an athlete whose relationship grew from service into sincere friendship, will be showcased.

"These glimpses may be the tiniest 'slivers' of the sports gala, but they are precisely what best tell the story of Asian athletes coming together as one family here," Huang remarked.

Beyond the heartwarming montage segment called "Eternal Memories," the two directors have also found creative ways to spotlight the Hainan Province's local cultures. 

"Spring breeze is warm on the Hainan Island; the blossoms bring joy to your heart…" These lines, drawn from a local nursery rhyme, will merge on stage with folk tunes of Southeast Asia and the mystery-laced rhythms of West Asia, all flowing across a DJ set sculpted like an ocean wave. 

Unlike the formal, solemn tone often expected of Olympic-like events, the Sanya Games will unfold like a "beach concert" with Sanya's open-air seaside setting as its backdrop, Zhang noted. 

"We don't want people to see the closing ceremony as an 'end,'" the director noted. "It should be a beginning where understandings and links among people from different countries and regions grow closer and through relaxed interactions." At the "beach concert," the two directors also revealed that intelligent robots will join in, dancing and interacting with the crowd. 

Fun, heartfelt and creative - this atmosphere, the two directors said, has much to do with the background of their directing crew and the performers on stage. Most of them are staff members born in the 1990s and the 2000s. "Beyond the title of 'chief directors,' our team includes many behind-the-scenes personnel across various expertise - every single one of them is indispensable," said Huang.

Wire-suspended performers in fluorescent diving suits perform at the Games' opening ceremony. Photo: Courtesy of the directing team

'Investing in hidden stories' 

Led by Huang and Zhang, the directing team also includes staff working on lighting, props, music, visuals and more. Together, they have crafted both the closing and opening ceremonies of the Games.

Recalling the scene of the opening ceremony, Gu Yingtang, a prop designer of the team, told the Global Times that on a stage illuminated by dynamic performances, props are not the most eye-catching element - but they are far from unimportant. "Visually, they need to feel 'real.' Each prop needs to carry the cultural narrative behind it," Gu said.

"Shenhai Zhumeng," meaning "chasing the dream in the deep sea," was a centerpiece performance of the opening ceremony. The stage became a silent underwater world, with wire-suspended performers in fluorescent diving suits "swimming" through the air alongside a drifting jellyfish. It conveys a poetic nod to the "harmony between humans and the ocean," the visual designer Zhang Xiaozheng, told the Global Times. 

But getting that jellyfish to drift just right once drove Zhang's colleague, the prop designer Gu, to his wits' end. 

The first air-filled version looked stiff and "robotic," Gu said. But after repeated experiments, Gu found that pairing the air-filled jellyfish with tentacles made of gauze can create a far more fluid motion. "When the wind hits it, the tentacles need to move - freely, yet with a kind of order." 

Surrounded by the jellyfish, there were also 14 inflatable sea-creature props. Among them were familiar animals like sea turtles and dolphins - but one of them looked unusual. It was a deliberately designed "dugong," a nationally protected wild animal and the very prototype of "mermaid" in ancient Chinese legends. 

Behind the decision to stage it lies a meaningful story. In 2022, the species was declared functionally extinct in the Chinese mainland's coastal areas. However, following years of marine environmental protection and ecological restoration, the creature reappeared in 2025 near Yongshu Jiao in Hainan Province. 

"We invested in these hidden stories to reveal the soul of our local culture. To see the Games as just a sports stage would not be enough -it's a place to share a city's heart and spirit," said Gu.

Looking back, whether it was the relief at the moment the cauldron was successfully lit during the opening ceremony, or the tension just before the closing ceremony countdown, Huang, Zhang, and the whole team have surely experienced a sort of emotional rollercoaster during the Games. 

Noting the Games' ceremonies are particularly impressive to him due to the fact that they were held after the Hainan Free Trade Port began full island-wide independent customs operations, Zhang Dongxin told the Global Times that through providing good stages, he wants the world to see not just Hainan's "sun and beach," but also its potential to connect with the world through culture, trade and sport.