Children's choir story is worth a gold medal

During the opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, a choir of 44 children from the mountainous regions of Fuping county in Hebei province sang the Olympic anthem in Greek, capturing the world's attention.

The choir's touching story is the focus of the film The Sound of Malan Flowers Blooming starring actor Ni Dahong, actress Huang Mengying and the Malan Flowers Children's Choir, which recently kicked off production with a launch ceremony in Beijing.

It features the choir's ascent from a remote mountain village to the global stage. With the help of An Ran, a staffer of the Games' ceremonies, and principal Liu of a primary school in the village, the untrained choir evolves from struggling with basic vocals to delivering a flawless Greek version of the Olympic anthem at the Olympic Games.

An's story is based on the movie's director and chief producer Ma Xiaojing, who visited Fuping in 2021 to gather children for the choir. She also became friends with Deng Xiaolan, who volunteered to teach there for 18 years and passed away in 2022 at age 79.

Ma says the film is being produced because Deng wanted to document the choir's stories, and Ma promised the choir that they would meet again in Beijing in 2032.