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Beijing Games kicks off

By Raymond Zhou (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2008-08-08 20:08

Music

This echoes the "Scrol" number, with five of China's best classic paintings as an evolving backdrop. The first is Spring Outing, from the Sui and Tang dynasties of 1,300 years ago.

Along the River during Qingming Festival, by Zhang Zeduan, was from the Song Dynasty, about 1,000 years ago. It is about a busy street scene in Kaifeng, arguably the biggest metropolis in the world then.

A dancer performs on top of a painting during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games opening ceremony on August 8, 2008 at the National Stadium in Beijing. [Agencies]

From the Yuan Dynasty, 700 years ago, we have a painting of a royal procession.

The Ming Dynasty painting, from some 600 years ago, depicts sports of the time, including arrow shooting and polo playing.

The last painting was commissioned in celebration of Emperor Qianlong's (1711-1799AD) 80^th birthday. It recreates the imperial party and its grandeur.

On top of the paintings are shown performing arts classics, such as the dance Moon Reflected in a Spring River, and Kunqu, China's oldest known opera. The majesty of the number reaches its zenith when 32 columns, each 2m in diameter and weighing 1.2 ton, ascend skyward and each shoots out a girl in full imperial regalia.

This number is about the good old days, the golden era in Chinese history, the times of singing and dancing, of painting and partying. It's about rituals and self-confidence. In a sense, it is about the ancient equivalent of the Olympics. It has a feel-good quality that infuses one with pride for the deep roots of Chinese civilization.

Starlight

Cosmic and translucent, this number provides a portal from the past to the present, even to the future. With pianist Lang Lang in the middle, group actors with light bulbs all over their bodies evoke a world of fantasy with their movements. They not just form cute objects like a dove or a smaller bird's nest, but add a touch of otherworldliness to the presentation.

Lang Lang performs during the opening ceremony of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games at the National Stadium August 8, 2008. [Agencies] Pianist Lang Lang and a little girl perform surrounded by dancers during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games opening ceremony on August 8, 2008 at the National Stadium in Beijing. [Agencies]

This is quite romantic, which is good for the pacing of the program. Thematically, it is a bit hollow, though.

Nature

You can interpret this number as a call for biological protection, but that would be reading too much pragmatism into it. It is about man's relations with nature, embodied in the movements of tai chi. It expounds on the philosophies from The Book of Changes, which contains an ancient system of cosmology intrinsic to Chinese cultural beliefs. The cosmology centers on the ideas of the dynamic balance of opposites.

The 2,008 performers doing tai chi in a circle that surrounds a rectangle is an epitome of the notion of "heaven is round and earth is square". And the boxing itself perfectly illustrates Lao Tzu's teaching -- "The soft and the pliable will defeat the hard and strong."

A total of 2,008 actors performer Tai Chi during the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games in Beijing on August 8, 2008.  [Agencies] Children wave a large drawing as the black-and-white world erupts into colors during the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games in Beijing on August 8, 2008. [Agencies]

The black-and-white world erupts into colors when ancient Taoism is given a modern spin as a teacher instructs her pupils on the importance of loving the natural world that feeds us.

This is a very Chinese interpretation of environmentalism, with inspiration from ancient philosophers. Cryptic epigrams are conveyed in color schemes, shapes and forms. I never knew a gala idea could be so enlightening.

Dream

This is the last number before the entrance of the athletes. It is a manifestation of the One World One Dream mantra. Literally, a globe 18m in diameter and weighing 16 tons rises in the middle of the arena. Circling around it are nine tracks, along which performers do the kind of weightless walk usually seen in outer space but here to simulate gravity.

Sarah Brightman and Liu Huan join to sing the theme song, titled “You and Me”, on top of the globe. Around it are 2,008 volunteers who present 2,008 smiling faces of little children. The faces are also projected on the overhead panel and even into the fireworks.

2,008 volunteers who present 2,008 smiling faces of little children are projected as Sarah Brightman and Liu Huansing the theme song during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games opening ceremony on August 8, 2008 at the National Stadium in Beijing. [Agencies]

The giant globe is a nice touch, and the simulation of weightlessness for the sake of gravity is very Taoist if you think about it – it’s about the conversion of opposites. The celebration of volunteerism and happiness of children is an apt culmination of an hour of fete and a grand beginning for the sports world’s biggest event in four years and a nation’s longing for glory.

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