The performance of the Thousand-hand Bodhisattva will not be featured in the opening ceremony of the Beijing Paralympic Games although it has shone on other stages home and abroad.

Before the opening ceremony started, every performance detail remained a secret but some artistic experts revealed that Thousand-hand Bodhisattva will not appear in the "Bird's Nest" National Stadium Saturday night.

"Sure it has become a well-known performance since China put it on stage in Athens, which is part of the reason for its absence this time," said Wang Yue, deputy head of China Disabled People's Performaing Art Troupe.

The Thousand-hand Bodhisattva made its first major international debut in Athens for the closing ceremony of the 2004 Paralympic Games where the next host Beijing had eight minutes to give the world a taste of Chinese flavor.

But it had long been in the repertoire of the Troupe since its creation in 2000.

In the performance, ballet dancer-choreographer Tai Lihua leads 20 hearing-impaired girls and boys in ornate golden costumes in the routine in tribute to an eastern Bodhisattva of compassion and mercy. Seen head-on, the arms of the in-line performers move in synchronicity with amazing precision and elegance.

Despite its huge success in Athens, the Beijing Paralympics organizers decided to stage a new routine, also performed by hearing-impaired and mute dancers but in a modern style and at a larger scale.

"I think China would rather create a new one than just repeat the same performance again and again. The new one includes more performers and is more suitable for square performance," she said.

All dancers in the Thousand-hand Bodhisattva will line up on a lotus-shaped stage of 5.6 meters long while the center stage of the opening ceremony is expected to be a plate-shaped one with 72 meters in diameter.

"Compared with the vastness of the stadium, the Thousand-hand Bodhisattva dance will look so insignificant," she explained. "It is more of a theater performance type."

The Troupe, however, will not feel frustrated as a large part of their over 150 members will sing, or dance or play musical instruments at the ceremony.

And their hearing-impaired sign language hostess Jiang Xintian already brought the Troupe a nice surprise when she was chosen to ignite the Paralympics holy flame at Beijing's Temple of Heaven on August 28.

"I felt so excited and honored to be selected. I represented all the disabled people in China," said the former Miss Universe contestant, 23. She lost her hearing from over-dosed medicine when she was an infant.

Actually, the Troupe hardly have time to pause during the Olympics and Paralympics.

"We are kept busy during the two Games. We are going to have more than 40 performances in different theaters in Beijing," said Liu Xiaocheng, who played a major role in setting up the troupe in 1987. The Troupe, with an average age of 18, features dancers who have visual impairment or blindness. There are singers and musicians who have other disabilities: a vocalist with spina bifida. A dancer without arms.

In the past 21 years, the Troupe traveled to some 50 countries and regions and often received a standing ovation for their stunning performances.

A musical dance performance My Dream has been put on show in theaters including the National Grand Theater close to the Tian'anmen Square since early August.

"They have an extremely tight schedule these two months. They have to rehearse late into the night, and received so many interview requests," said a tired but happy Troupe media communications official Wei Shuang.

That is the public recognition the Troupe has always wanted from the country of 83 million disabled people and the world.

But Liu decided to try harder for the benefits of "his kids", which would eventually extend to all disabled people in China.

"These kids are disabled but every one of them has such a pure heart. They grew up with so much struggles. I am often moved by them," he said.

So the Troupe worked with Beijing Film Academy, one of China's top film schools, to produce a documentary and hit the American film market in late 2007.

"I don't think I am unfortunate. I just often meet with inconvenience. My friends and I have dreams and bravely pursue them, like all the other people," said Jiang, who told the world in sign language at the Athens closing ceremony that "Thank you Athens and Welcome to Beijing".

(Xinhua News Agency September 6, 2008)