While waiting for their performance, Han, the 6-year-old, sat reading picture books with her fellow choristers.

She said she was eager to sing the anthem and return home with her parents.

The Winter Olympics opened during Spring Festival, a traditional time for Chinese to be with family members.

Liu said, "The opening ceremony gave many of these children the chance to perform on such a large stage."

The idea to invite children from a mountainous area came from Zhang, the director.

"China has helped many of its people out of poverty in the past few years. These children from the mountains are our future generation. We should introduce them to the world," he said.

Those aged from 5 to 25 accounted for more than 90 percent of the cast of 3,000 on Friday.

They are students from schools and universities in Beijing and Hebei, who began their musical and dance training in the autumn.

Zhang said that in 2008, when China was eager to show itself to the world, he dare not invite children who knew little about music to sing at the opening ceremony.

"Now, we don't care so much about whether they're the best singers, have good looks, or are in good shape," he said.

"We want the world to see ordinary young people and a modern China represented by them," he said.