Putting icing on a wedding ceremony
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China is in for an ice-skating treat on Sept 4 when some of the world's greatest performers will hit the rink at the Beijing Capital Gymnasium.
Skating stars such as Evgeni Plushenko, Alexei Yagudin, Stephane Lambiel, Johnny Weir, Asada Mao, Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo, Pang Qing and Tong Jian and Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao will perform at the event.
These Olympic and world champions have come together to launch Artistry On Ice, an event similar to the United States' Stars On Ice, and also to celebrate the wedding of Vancouver pairs gold medalists Shen and Zhao.
The event, organized by the Chinese Skating Association, Shanghai Dragon TV and sponsored by Artistry, the cosmetics brand of Amway, aims to promote figure skating in China.
The Stars On Ice tour has been extremely popular in the US, Japan and South Korea. Shen and Zhao, who came out of retirement to win the gold medal at the Winter Olympics this year, after claiming bronze at the 2002 and 2006 Games, have often taken part in that tour and that spurred them to create a Chinese equivalent.
Shen and Zhao married in 2007, after dating for 18 years, but Zhao said after winning the Olympic gold that he owed his wife a proper wedding ceremony.
Skating alongside Shen and Zhao will be their former teammates and Vancouver Olympics pairs silver medalists Pang and Tong and 2006 Turin Olympic silver medalists Zhang and Zhang.
Foreign participants, include Japan's Mao, the ladies singles winner at this year's Four Continents Championships and World Figure Skating Championships, and Vancouver runner-up Plushenko of Russia, who was also the 2006 Winter Olympics men's singles champion and 2010 European Championships winner.
Other member of the star-studded cast include Yagudin of Russia, the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics men's gold medalist and four-time World Championships winner; Lambiel of Switzerland, the 2006 Winter Games men's silver medalist, World Championships winner and Vancouver fourth-place finisher; and Weir of the US, the 2008 World Championships bronze medalist and Vancouver Games' sixth-place finisher.
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