| China's Olympic figure skating champions Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo will host a gala this weekend in Beijing, which will include a group of Olympic and world champion skaters in Artistry on Ice.
It will be the second time Shen and Zhao, the three-time figure skating pairs world champions and Vancouver Winter Olympics gold medalists, will join the world's best on Beijing ice.
The first Artistry on Ice performance was held in Beijing in September 2010 with the theme of "Love and Beauty", which saw the wedding of Shen and Zhao.
This year's event is themed "Art and City". The other stars who will join the tandem include Canada's men's singles world champion, Patrick Chan, and Jeffery Buttle, Russia's 2002 Winter Olympic and worlds men's singles gold medalist, Alexei Yagudin, 2006 Winter Olympic ice dancing champions Tatiana Navka and Roman Kostomarov and US men's singles champion Johnny Weir.
Representing China will be Shen and Zhao's former teammates Zhang Dan/Zhang Hao and Sui Wenjing/Hancong.
"We are very glad to work with all of these good friends," said Zhao on Thursday. "There will be a lot of communication between the skaters and the audience this time. I believe the audience will get some gifts from the skaters. The theme for this event is 'Art and City', so we will make the show feature the characteristics of modern cities."
Shen said she is happy to introduce new things to the fans each year.
"I hope to make a breakthrough each year," said Shen. "Last year we held a wedding and this time there's something different. We have combined figure skating with more artists."
After the two-day performance in Beijing this weekend, the show will go to Shanghai on July 22 and Taipei on July 24. |
