The song, entitled "Dreams Never End", was chosen from a competition that went on for six months and involved more than 5,000 participants.

The song, initially entitled "Endless Dreams", was written by Bian Liu-nian, a composer and musical director for the Closing Ceremony of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

Born in Nanjing, Bian explained that it was an "honour" to create the theme song for the upcoming Games taking birth in his hometown.

The song, according to Nanjing 2014 organisers, "embodies the spirit of the Games and the city of Nanjing itself," with "lyrics such as "Wake up, fly in the sky, because our dreams never die" creatively express[ing] the Games' focus on the dreams of young people.

Nanjing-born Bian Liu-nian wrote the music for the official Youth Olympic Games theme song ©Nanjing 2014



Over a three-month period, from December 20, 2013, to March 10, 2014, a total of 5,131 entries were received from around the world, including from China, Canada and Malaysia.

Nanjing 2014 organisers then held four rounds of judging - preliminary evaluation, re-evaluation, online evaluation and final evaluation - to narrow down the entries to a top-50 shortlist, and finally a top-10.

In order to ensure the song's appeal to youth, young people were invited to serve as the judges during the theme song competition.

The final decision was made at the Experimental Theatre in the Nanjing University of the Arts.

Young people from around the world will now be encouraged to create their own versions of the theme song in order to learn from each other and share musical cultures by uploading the songs on Facebook and YouTube.

The official theme song for the Youth Olympic Games virtual torch relay was also announced at the ceremony in Nanjing, with the song entitled "YOG Hugs".

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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