Misr Company for Sound and Light and Tourism Development has finished recording Chinese-language sound and light shows for the temples of Philae, Edfu and Abu Simbel, making Chinese available as a live show at all five sound and light sites, which also include the Pyramids and Karnak Temple.
This came after a delegation from the Sound and Light Company, headed by Sameh Saad and accompanied by film director Sherif Mandour, vice chairman of the Chamber of Cinema Industry, and Eng. Kamal Rabie, head of the engineering sector, travelled to carry out the recordings of the Chinese-language shows, which are being made in cooperation with a team from China's official radio and with the participation of 27 Chinese acting stars.
Sameh Saad, chairman of Misr Sound and Light, said that at the start of next October, with the beginning of the winter season, the first Chinese-language sound and light shows will be launched at Edfu, Philae and Abu Simbel, so that all sound and light sites will be narrated in Chinese alongside the other languages. He added that this comes as part of supporting President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi's visits to and efforts with China and his interest in promoting Egyptian tourism, which have made Egypt one of the top 5 African destinations for Chinese tourists.
Saad explained that introducing a new language to the sound and light shows, and producing it in a manner befitting the grandeur and history of the site, involves several stages. These include translating the script into poetic Chinese with sentence timings matching the English version and the same meaning as the original text, so that the show's electronic operating system can accept it; then selecting actors able to perform at the same level of acting and emotion found in the other languages, with voice registers matching each role and performance; then the recording stage, followed by the remaining artistic and technical stages of editing and arranging the sentences to fit the original text.
He continued: "Then comes the stage of loading the recordings onto the main computer of each show, which is carried out by the international Dutch expert, one of the few experts in the world in handling sound and light systems. Finally comes the stage of importing and operating the wireless transmitters, which are produced by the only factory in England specialising in manufacturing such devices compatible with the show systems."
Saad said the recording took place at the media production city in the Chinese capital, Beijing, inside the international Universal Studios, drawing on the biggest Chinese film and radio stars, so that the Chinese shows would be no less spectacular than the other languages previously recorded with the participation of major international stars such as Anthony Quinn, Elizabeth Taylor, Omar Sharif and Sir Laurence Olivier, among others.
He noted that the company that owns the recording studio provided the recording of the Edfu show free of charge, at no additional cost, as a contribution to supporting tourism in this historic city.
It is worth noting that Chinese was introduced to the sound and light shows at the Pyramids and Karnak at the start of this year as one of the main languages in which the show is presented, in cooperation with the Chinese Cultural Center in Cairo, bringing the sound and light shows at their five sites to 9 languages: Arabic, English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Russian, Japanese and Chinese.
