"5, 4, 3, 2, 1, hello 2023! Happy New Year!" Following the countdown on the giant screen in front of Blast Furnace No. 1, Shougang Park was as bright as day. At 00:00 on January 1st, 2023, the New Year bell rang through the night sky and the lights of Shougang Park shone through the winter night to illuminate the future. Beijing extends its most sincere New Year greetings to the whole world!

On December 31st, 2022, sponsored by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism, the Countdown to the 2023 Beijing New Year was held in Shougang Park. Themed "Struggling On a New Journey and Writing a New Chapter", the event presented a visual feast in the form of a panoramic and immersive light and shadow show of large-scale industrial sites through the Park's multi-point linkage for the first time, showing the urban charm of Beijing's tradition and fashion, vigorous vitality of urban renewal and high-quality development in the new era, and conveying the capital's ardent yearning for a better life, as well as its strong confidence in working hard and moving forward bravely towards the next centennial goal.

At 23:50, High Line Park in Shougang Park was a corridor of colorful light and shadow, illuminating the flaming blast furnace, crystal clear Big Air and colorful drying tower one by one to kick off the 2023 New Year.

The three chapters of "Beijing Rhythm in the Ancient Capital", "Dual-Olympic City" and "New Chapter of the Capital" on the three giant drying towers presented the charm of Beijing's seven world cultural heritage sites, Yanjing Eight Musts, Peking Opera and other traditional culture through the artistic technique of light and shadow circulation, reproduced the most wonderful moments of Beijing, the only "Dual-Olympic City" in the world, and showed the vitality of the city and vivid and gorgeous scenes of people living in the capital in the post-pandemic era.

The fourth chapter, "Great Beauty of China", took the brushes in the hands of the young actors of the Angel Choir as the guide and the three drying towers as the canvas, and was accompanied by a performance by the pure and melodious children's chorus of We Sail Together, slowly unfolding beautiful Chinese landscapes, evoking the magnificence of mountains and rivers in the sky and sea, and celebrating the atmosphere of the times with great vitality.

At 23:59, the fifth chapter, "Better Tomorrow", brought the event to a climax. On the main screen of the drying tower and Blast Furnace No. 1, the camera led people's eyes along the central axis of Beijing, passing through Yongdingmen, Temple of Heaven, Zhengyang Gate, Meridian Gate, Jingshan Mountain and Bell and Drum Tower in turn, and finally returning to Shougang Park to welcome the New Year with the exciting countdown of "10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1!".

The mayors of Edinburgh (Scotland), Petra (Jordan), Port Louis (Mauritius), Punta del Este (Uruguay), Wellington (New Zealand) and other member cities of the World Tourism Cities Federation also extended their New Year greetings to Beijing via video as people from five continents welcomed the New Year and shared joy. 

In the past year, Shougang Park has created countless glories and miracles. On the last night of 2022, the lights here were bright, shining gloriously in the New Year night sky. Jiang Yan, Deputy Director of the Operation Service Department of Beijing Shougang Construction Investment Co., Ltd., said that this is the third year that Shougang Park has hosted the Countdown to the Beijing New Year after 2020 and 2021. Different from previous years, this year Shougang Park had more open spaces, more diversified scenes, more distinctive features and a more detailed service guarantee. For the first time, a spatial breakthrough from one point to multiple points was achieved. With the High Line Park as the main line, a light and shadow corridor with a total length of 3 km was built. With Blast Furnaces No. 1 and No. 3 as the light show sites, and the three giant drying towers as the light and shadow canvases, the whole park was linked with interactive light and shadow, creating a panoramic and immersive light and shadow show of large-scale industrial sites. Through the perfect integration of architecture and culture, and technology and art, the innovative vitality of industrial sites and Olympic heritage radiated, showing the unique charm of Shougang Park as a golden card of urban renewal.

"This is my first outdoor activity after the lifting of the pandemic lockdown in Beijing!" Ms. Li, a citizen, shook her national flag and said excitedly, "I’m very lucky to participate in this countdown event. The light and shadow show of Shougang Park is incredible. The images projected on the drying tower take us back to the important moments of the past year, and the visual effect is astonishing. This unique form of expression allows people to fully appreciate the rich cultural heritage and renewed vitality of Beijing. I wish you all a happy and prosperous New Year!"

Mr. Zhang's family of five celebrated New Year's Eve in Shougang Park for the first time. He said, "The year before last, we watched New Year's Eve in Shougang Park on the live webcast. Last year, we watched the Olympic athletes win the championship in Shougang Park on TV. This year, we’re very excited to come here and celebrate the New Year on the spot! This is a place for creating miracles, from mountains to seas, from fire to ice, from a century-old steel city to a new landmark of the revival of the capital city in the new era, every miracle gives people confidence. Shougang Park has special significance for the people and the city. Look how brilliant the lights are! This is the light of hope and the future. I hope more activities will be held here. Beijing will get better and better in 2023, and our country will become more and more prosperous in the New Year. Happy New Year to you all! Let’s cheer together in 2023!"

The Countdown to the New Year is an important event held in all time zones around the world on New Year's Eve and reported by international mainstream media. Since the end of 2011, New Year countdown activities in Beijing have been successfully held eleven times in the Temple of Heaven, Summer Palace, Badaling Great Wall, Olympic Park (twice), Imperial Ancestral Temple, Olympic Forest Park (twice), Yongdingmen and Shougang Park (twice). These activities have become an important part of the New Year activities in all time zones around the globe, as well as cultural tourism business cards issued by Beijing to the world. Countdown to the Beijing New Year 2023 showed the world the image of Beijing as the representative of GMT+8:00 cities and publicized its culture and tourism resources.