'
Airbus A330-200 (B-6057) wearing the Guangzhou 2010 Asian Games special livery taking off from
Baiyun Airport to
Chengdu in 2017.
Costs On March 11, 2005,
Lin Shusen, then party secretary of the Guangzhou Municipal Committee of the
Chinese Communist Party (CCP) said the Games "will not cost more than
¥2 billion", in stark contrast to an earlier report, which had claimed that the cost could exceed ¥200 billion. In March 2009, the director of the marketing department of the Games, Fang Da'er, claimed that the Games were short of funds, due to the lack of sponsorship and the
2008 financial crisis. An informal estimate put the Games' expenditure at about US$420 million and revenue at US$450 million. On October 13, 2010,
Wan Qingliang, mayor of Guangzhou at the time, officially revealed in a press conference that the total cost of staging the Asian Games and
Asian Para Games was about ¥122.6 billion (
$18.37 billion), with ¥109 billion spent on the city's infrastructure, ¥6.3 billion on the venues and some ¥7.3 billion spent on the Games' operations. The full spending details would be released before 2013, according to the city's finance chief Zhang Jieming. It was later reported that Guangzhou accumulated US$32 billion (¥210 billion) in debt after staging the Games.
Volunteers The volunteer recruitment program for the 2010 Asian Games began at 9 pm on April 21, 2009, with a target of 60,000 games-time volunteers. The volunteers were given a green short-sleeve t-shirt, a green long-sleeve t-shirt, a sport jacket, a pair of trousers, a hat, a water bottle, a pair of sport shoes and a waist bag.
Torch relay Two torch designs were shortlisted in September 2009 for the 2010 Asian Games. The organizers chose a design named "The Tide" over one named "Exploit" as the torch of the Games. "The Tide" weighed 98 g and was 70 cm long. It was tall and straight in shape, while dynamic in terms of image. The torch relay route was unveiled on March 4, 2010, and due to budgetary issues and the problems related to
2008 Summer Olympics torch relay, the organizers decided to carry it out on a smaller scale than those carried out previously. The torch was lit at the
Great Wall of China on October 9, 2010, and traveled around the
Temple of Heaven in
Beijing. As originally scheduled, 21 cities were present on the relay route, with 2,010 torchbearers expected to carry it from October 12 to November 12, 2010. Two more cities —
Changchun in
Jilin and
Haiyang in
Shandong, the host cities of
2007 Asian Winter Games and
2012 Asian Beach Games respectively, were also later added to the route for a single day on October 15, 2010, increasing the number of torchbearers to 2,068 people.
Marketing Emblem The official emblem of the Games was unveiled at
Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall on November 26, 2006, to prepare the city to succeed
Doha 2006 as Asian Games host city. It was a stylized representation of Guangzhou's "Statue of the Five Goats" () fused with a running track. In Chinese tradition, the
goat is a blessing and brings people luck, and the host city Guangzhou is known as the "City of Goats". The orange and yellow emblem also resembles a
flame.
Mascots The mascots of the Games were five goat rams. They were unveiled on April 28, 2008, at the Guangzhou Baiyun International Convention and Exhibition Center. The five goat rams, four small and one large, were named A Xiang (), A He (), A Ru (), A Yi () and Le Yangyang (). The Chinese character "yang" (羊), "ram" or "goat" is an auspicious symbol and Guangzhou is known as "City of Rams". When read together, the Chinese names of the five rams are a message of blessing, literally meaning "Peace, Harmony and Great Happiness, with everything going as you wish." () This represents the hopes that the Games will bring peace, auspiciousness, and happiness to the people of Asia. A Xiang is characterized as a "handsome, stylish, sincere and brave" goat. A Xiang wears a blue outfit that resembles the blue ring of the Olympic emblem. The designers stated that this design symbolizes the ever-running
Pearl River and the gentle and kind character and broad and welcoming heart of the people of Guangzhou.
Motto The official motto of the 2010 Asian Games was "Thrilling Games, Harmonious Asia" (). It was chosen to represent the goal of the Asian Games which is based on Olympic ideals and values. The Games aimed to create a competitive atmosphere for participating athletes while promoting unity, peace and friendship among Asian people regardless of differences in race, nationality, religious beliefs and language.
Promotion Two years before the games, the "Road of Asia" tour was launched at Tianhe Sports Center to promote the games throughout the region. A ceremony was held on November 12, 2009, at the Guangzhou Gymnasium to mark the one-year milestone before the Games.
Merchandising Organizers started selling licensed Asian Games products with introduction of first batch in January 2008. On May 7, 2009, the
Southern Metropolis Daily newspaper signed a contract with the Guangzhou Asian Games Organizing Committee (GAGOC) and became the exclusive online retailer of licensed products.
Music The official theme song was released on September 30, 2010, and was called "
Reunion" (). It was composed by Wu Liqun, with lyrics written by
Xu Rongkai. The English version was translated by
Chen Ning Yang, a Chinese-American physicist, and his wife, Weng Fan. The song was performed by
Sun Nan and the late
Yao Beina. Sun Nan also performed it again with
Mao Amin for a
music video. The song was selected based from a solicitation campaign for Asian Games songs which received more than 1,600 entries. 36 of them were released as selected songs for the Games. Organizers revealed that the total investment was over ¥15 billion. On April 19, 2009, organizers announced that they had chosen Haixinsha Island on the Pearl River as the venues for the opening and closing ceremonies. This was the first time in the history of the Games that the ceremonies were held outside the Games' main venues. The villages at the Asian Games Town was built on a 329,024-square-meter land space which had 3,598 apartments in 49 buildings.
Transport decorated to promote the Games. Guangzhou's public transportation infrastructure was expanded significantly as a part of the preparation for the Games.
Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport was upgraded, in contracted with Crisplant (formerly FKI Logistex), to support massive volume of passengers. A new
Wuhan–Guangzhou High-Speed Railway was opened on December 26, 2009, to shorten the travel time between two destinations. In order to ease traffic congestion and air pollution, the government ordered a 40% reduction of vehicles and offered 1,000 buses for use during the Games and
Para Games. The government also had a free-ride offer for public transportation during the month of Games, but it was cancelled one week prior to the Games due to an overwhelming response from the citizens. Instead, the government offered ¥150 () cash subsidies to each household with permanent residence for commuting purposes. ==The Games==