WHO TO SHOW UP ON THE STAGE?

British reporter: I have two questions for Mr. Zhang Yimou. First of all, I would like to know whether, as in previous opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games, the Beijing Games will invite celebrities to give performances.

Zhang Yimou: Certainly some celebrities are going to participate in the opening and closing ceremonies. Besides China's stars, many foreign stars will also be invited.

Hong Kong Wen Wei Po: My question is for Mr. Zhang Yimou. Days ago I saw a report saying that anyone who participated in the opening and closing ceremony of the Olympics will have to sign a confidential agreement. I wonder if you have signed this kind of agreement?

At today's gathering, how many details can you reveal? For example, how much money has been invested in rehearsals to date? How many preludes will be arranged? Will Faye Wong perform at the opening ceremony? We all have great interest in those issues.

Zhang Yimou: It is true that everyone who participates in the opening ceremony will have to sign a confidential agreement. Two years ago when I first took this job, I signed a similar agreement. This is the regulation of the International Olympic Committee. All the confidential rules derive from the IOC's text and we also added and reorganized some. Sign the agreement: this is mandatory. This agreement implies responsibility.

Regarding the confidentiality, I feel that this is meant to give all the audience members a big surprise on that day. It's not really a big deal. It's just simple common sense: if I'm shooting a motion picture, if I tell you everything in advance, you would have no interest in watching it. So all of this is kept secret for the attention of the world and the media on that day, especially the core elements, like how to light the fire, and what will the torch be like, all of these things should be kept confidential.

There are many other details that concern us all but I really can't say any more. I just want to say that Chinese culture has a very long history, and is so abundant. Chinese people in our society have so many expectations of all different kinds. If you go to the Internet, you will see plenty of discussions. I receive lots of mail every day, offering suggestions and ideas, so much. So how can we convey tons of cultural information to the whole world? Our performance will only be a little more than 50 minutes. The whole three and half hours will have other important processes, especially the athletes' march-in ceremony, which will takes up nearly 2 hours. It is completely impossible to convey all of China's cultural codes in 50 minutes. We can only add in several crucial points. For me, I hope these points will greatly zoom in on humanity and sensibility. I feel this focus is universal.

For example, we'd like to first ask, who are we? This is first sentence. The second is, you and we are a family. "One World, One Dream" will be a sensible and humane explanation as I interpret it in my way.