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Riyadh Season 2023: Fresh Identity, Global Entertainment Experiences

Riyadh Season 2023: Fresh Identity, Global Entertainment Experiences
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Riyadh Season 2023: Fresh Identity, Global Entertainment Experiences

Riyadh Season 2023: Fresh Identity, Global Entertainment Experiences

Turki Al-Sheikh, the head of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority (GEA), revealed an innovative and fresh identity for the fourth edition of “Riyadh Season,” set to launch on October 28 under the banner of “BigTime.”

Al-Sheikh expressed deep appreciation for the boundless support that the entertainment sector has received from King Salman bin Abdulaziz and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

“This year’s season opening ceremony will be organized by the world’s finest event planners, featuring renowned celebrities and will be accompanied by the ‘Riyadh Season Championship Belt Fight,’ which is the first and largest event of its kind, marking one of the heavyweight boxing’s biggest showdowns,” said Al-Sheikh on Sunday.

Riyadh Season, in its fourth edition, aims to create more than 200,000 direct and indirect jobs and enable nearly 2,000 local and international companies covering an area of more than 7 million square meters of entertainment experiences around the world.

Al-Sheikh announced a new zone, called ‘Boulevard Hall,’ which was built, within 60 days by adopting international artistic and technical standards, on an area spreading over 200,000 square meters, and can accommodate more than 40,000 visitors at a time.

“The ‘Boulevard City’ has completely changed from what it was in the past seasons, as it will embrace global experiences, of which 60% are new,” revealed the GEA head.

The most prominent of which are the centenary celebrations of Disney through “Disney Castle”, which will be presented in the season for the first time and ‘House of Hype,’ which is the largest experience linking the real world and virtual reality.

Moreover, around 30 different interactive experiences, and many other activities will be featured this season.

The GEA chief also announced the establishment of the Legend Museum, the first and largest museum for football legends, as it showcases more than 30,000 rare artifacts and various interactive experiences.

It is considered as the second branch in the world after the Madrid branch. It will feature the CR7 Experience, an exclusive museum designed around Cristiano Ronaldo, featuring his experiences and showcasing Ronaldo’s signature and life story.

It will display all his trophies, personal memorabilia as well as interactive experiences.

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Varieties

China Marks Muted 5th Anniversary of First Covid Death

This photo taken on February 18, 2020 shows medical personnel walking among patients with mild symptoms of the Covid-19 coronavirus resting at night in the temporary Hospital set up in a sports stadium in Wuhan, in China's central Hubei province. (AFP)
This photo taken on February 18, 2020 shows medical personnel walking among patients with mild symptoms of the Covid-19 coronavirus resting at night in the temporary Hospital set up in a sports stadium in Wuhan, in China's central Hubei province. (AFP)
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China Marks Muted 5th Anniversary of First Covid Death

This photo taken on February 18, 2020 shows medical personnel walking among patients with mild symptoms of the Covid-19 coronavirus resting at night in the temporary Hospital set up in a sports stadium in Wuhan, in China's central Hubei province. (AFP)
This photo taken on February 18, 2020 shows medical personnel walking among patients with mild symptoms of the Covid-19 coronavirus resting at night in the temporary Hospital set up in a sports stadium in Wuhan, in China's central Hubei province. (AFP)

The fifth anniversary of the first known death from Covid-19 passed seemingly unnoticed in China Saturday, with no official remembrances in a country where the pandemic is a taboo subject.

On January 11, 2020, health officials in the central Chinese city of Wuhan announced that a 61-year-old man had died from complications of pneumonia caused by a previously unknown virus.

The disclosure came after authorities had reported dozens of infections over several weeks by the pathogen later named SARS-CoV-2 and understood as the cause of Covid-19.

It went on to spark a global pandemic that has so far killed over seven million people and profoundly altered ways of life around the world, including in China.

On Saturday, however, there appeared to be no official memorials in Beijing's tightly controlled official media.

The ruling Communist Party kept a tight leash on public discussion throughout its zero-Covid policy, and has eschewed reflections on the hardline curbs since dramatically ditching them at the end of 2022.

On social media, too, many users seemed unaware of the anniversary.

A few videos circulating on Douyin -- the Chinese version of TikTok -- noted the date but repeated the official version of events.

- 'Time passes' -

And on the popular Weibo platform, users who gravitated to the former account of Li Wenliang -- the whistleblower doctor who was investigated by police for spreading early information about the virus -- did not directly reference the anniversary.

"Dr. Li, another year has gone by," read one comment on Saturday. "How quickly time passes."

There was also little online commemoration in Hong Kong, where Beijing largely snuffed out opposition voices when it imposed a sweeping national security law on the semi-autonomous city in 2020.

Little is known about the identity of the first Covid casualty except that he was a frequent visitor to a Wuhan seafood market where the virus is thought to have circulated during the initial outbreak.

Within days of his death, other countries reported their first cases of the disease.

China was later criticized by Western governments for allegedly covering up the early transmission of the virus and effacing evidence of its origins, though Beijing has vehemently maintained it acted decisively and with full transparency.

According to the WHO, China has officially reported nearly 100 million Covid cases and 122,000 deaths to date, although the true number will likely never be known.

In 2023, Beijing declared a "decisive victory" over Covid, calling its response a "miracle in human history".