A Splendid Start

Hu Jintao, President of People's Republic of China, declares the XXIX Olympic Games open. Xinhua

International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Jacques Rogge makes a speech at the opening ceremony. cfp

Legendary gymnast Li Ning rises into the air to ignite the giant Olympic torch. cfp

The grand opening ceremony in the Bird's Nest on the night of August 8. cfp

A good beginning is a job half done. So it was for the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

On the night of August 8, thousands of performers entertained an audience of 91,000 in the National Stadium (Bird’s Nest) with highlights from China’s brilliant history and splendid culture.

At the start of the evening, 2,008 drummers welcomed the audience with a saying from Confucius: “Friends have come from afar, how happy we are!” Similar uniquely Chinese elements appeared throughout the performance as a vast scroll unfolded across the stadium’s floor. Projections of cliff paintings, pottery and bronze work dissolved into an ink-and-wash painting as a performing group dressed in black to represent ink on paper moved across the giant scroll. The ceremony combined state-of-the-art technology with strong images from Chinese myths, history and civilization, ranging from ancient Chinese characters and ink paintings to computer keyboards and astronauts.

Three-thousand performers representing Confucius’ disciples chanted a line from The Analects of Confucius: “All men under heaven are brothers.” In the meantime, 897 performers shrouded in Chinese characters weaved words across the stadium, creating the Chinese character “he”, representing peace and harmony.

To bring the various scenes to life, artistic director Zhang Yimou used a total of 14,000 performers. “I had never led such a huge team, with so many performers, staff and volunteers,” says Zhang. “You may not be able to see their faces clearly in this grand stadium…but I know how hard every person has worked for tonight.”

There were also stunning fireworks let off across the capital throughout the ceremony. The pyrotechnics helped represent one of the ceremony’s main themes: the four great inventions of ancient China. Gunpowder, papermaking, movable type printing and the compass all made an appearance during the show.

From the quietness of paper and painting, the ceremony moved on to a depiction of the Silk Road, the conduit of China’s first links with the Western world.

The story then moved into the modern age, with Chinese pianist Lang Lang taking the audience into a world of fantasy. One of the central pieces of this segment was a globe with a diameter of 18 meters and nine rings. Standing on top of this huge globe, singer Liu Huan from China and Sarah Brightman from the U.K. performed the show-stopper of the night, a rendition of the 2008 Olympic Games theme song You and Me.

This calm interlude was interrupted by a vigorous display of taijiquan, which saw 2,008 practitioners form a circle across the arena to perform jumps, slashes and cuts.
The show tied together China’s rich past with modern spectacle, touching repeatedly upon China’s history without resorting to clichés.

More than 80 foreign leaders and international dignitaries were in attendance, including U.S. President George W. Bush, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and IOC Honorary President Juan Antonio Samaranch. And of course all China’s top leaders were there to watch.

When the parade of the athletes began, the Bird’s Nest was turned into a sea of joy and ecstasy by the enthusiastic home crowd. As the host nation, the large Chinese delegation arrived at the end of the parade to rousing cheers. The team of 639 athletes was led by 7-foot-6 basketball star Yao Ming, the look on his face showing how proud he was to be the flag bearer.

The climax of the night came with the arrival of the Olympic torch, carried by China's first gold medallist Xu Haifeng. After being carried around the stadium by a series of notable athletes from China’s Olympic past, it was finally handed to legendary gymnast Li Ning. At the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984, Li collected three gold, two silver and one bronze medal, making him the most decorated athlete of those Games. He has since become a successful entrepreneur with Li Ning athletic apparel. After taking the torch, Li rose into the air and “ran” around the 500-meter-long rim of the Bird’s Nest. Upon reaching the bottom of the giant Olympic torch, he ignited flame to a roar from the crowd.

After seven years preparation, Beijing has conquered challenges and difficulties to bring the world a superb visual and aural feast. The Games have also greatly spurred Beijing’s modernization, creating benefits that will last well beyond the next fortnight.

The opening ceremony was a unique opportunity for China to share its joy, its dreams and proud history with the rest of the world.