Barco transforms the China National Games 2026 opening ceremony into a visionary spectacle

On November 9^th, the opening ceremony of the 15^th China National Games took place at the Guangdong Olympic Sports Center in Guangzhou. This audiovisual symphony, blending the beauty of technology, humanity, and sport, featured Barco projectors delivering breathtaking stage floor visuals. The projections seamlessly integrated with the stage design and lighting, creating a grand and immersive artistic presentation.

The opening ceremony unfolded across three narrative chapters: “Same Roots, Same Heart, and Same Dream”, showcasing the evolving vision of integration within the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area. Barco’s large-format floor projection played a central role throughout the ceremony, depicting the rolling blue waves of the Maritime Silk Road, the dynamic vitality of Lingnan martial arts, the thrills of dragon boat racing, and the radiance of technological progress. This project demonstrated Barco’s strengths in high brightness, superb color accuracy, and professional-grade stability and durability.

The project presented multiple levels of technical and environmental complexities. The opening ceremony centered around a 20,000 m² circular water stage, where reflections created a mirrored spatial illusion, evoking the majestic sensation of building an ocean inside a stadium. This ambitious artistic vision demanded extreme flexibility and expressive power from the projection system.

Additionally, Guangzhou’s hot, humid, and rainy climate introduced serious challenges. Persistent moisture - especially during continuous rainfall - impacted thermal dissipation and waterproofing requirements. The project also faced a tight timeline and high integration complexity, demanding exceptional coordination and system engineering expertise.

Eighty Barco UDX-4K40 projectors were deployed to craft an expansive, immersive stage canvas, painting a luminous new chapter of “Dreaming the Future” for the Greater Bay Area.

From the outset, Barco engineers actively participated in rehearsal planning, using meticulous calibration processes and pre-warming the equipment to ensure precise projection and adherence to the project timeline.

Through precise optical calculations, engineers configured the 80 UDX-4K40 projectors in clusters of two, equipped with 2.8–4.5 focal length professional lenses to achieve ultra-long throw distances of up to 100 meters, effectively overcoming ambient light interference.

The UDX-4K40’s professional laser light source, advanced thermal management, and industrial-grade stability guaranteed consistent performance throughout rehearsals and the live event.

The stage projection utilized multi-projector stacking and blending technology. Multiple projectors covered the same image area, not only enhancing brightness but also providing redundancy for reliable performance. The system supported projection onto diverse surfaces, enabling flexible, creative visual effects and expanding stage design possibilities.

The opening ceremony of the 15^th National Games became a powerful testament to Barco’s exceptional image quality and unwavering reliability. Barco continues to be a trusted visual technology partner for China’s most important national events, from the 7^th CISM Military World Games in Wuhan, to The Great Journey (the grand situational epic for the 100^th Anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China), to the Chengdu FISU World University Games, and the Asian Games in Hangzhou, demonstrating consistently outstanding projection solutions.

Looking forward, Barco will continue to advance cutting-edge, reliable projection technologies, empowering the presentation of Chinese culture and contemporary spirit, and bringing the stunning synergy of technology and art to the world.