The 26th World University Games will kick off in Shenzhen Aug 12. There are five unique and distinguishing aspects of the Games opening ceremony compared to others, according to Jiang Haoyang, general director of the opening ceremony, Xinhua News reported on Wednesday.

Unique in rituals: sports gala instead of artistic performances

Emphasizing sports and rituals, the Games opening ceremony will highlight the ritual itself and athletes, with artistic performances as supplements. There will be no fireworks displays and no celebrities performing. It will be a green opening ceremony.

Unique in performers: college students instead of professional actors

Ninety percent of the performers in the opening ceremony will be college students, a distinctive feature distinguishing it from other opening ceremonies, wherein most of the performers are professional actors.

Unique in performing stage: "Gate of the World"

The unique design of the "Gate of the World" features the performing stage. It is 26 meters in height and 110 meters in length, the "Gate of the World" is in fact a huge LED wall that can open and close. Spectators can enjoy the colorful scenes on the wall when it is closed and the spectacular night scenery of Shenzhen when it is open.

Unique in ushers' dresses: 152 dresses, 152 styles

About 152 ushers will dress in different styles in the opening ceremony, a big breakthrough because all ushers have dressed similarly before. Zhang Lichuan, a teacher from Shenzhen University, along with his 20 students, designed these costumes that fully demonstrate the creativity of Shenzhen's college students.

Unique in torch tower: a new landmark in Shenzhen Bay

The torch tower for the Games will not be dismantled as before, but remain there, thus being another landmark of Shenzhen. The 26-meters high tower resembles a book mountain, carved with when and where each Universiade was held on each "book", and with "2011 Shenzhen" on top.