Spectacular ceremony opens Olympics
The Beijing Olympic Games are being opened this afternoon with a dramatic opening ceremony featuring a cast of thousands directed by acclaimed Chinese movie director Zhang Yimou.
The performance, which began with thunderous drumming, celebrated the arts and achievements of imperial China but skipped the fraught 20th century altogether.
A chanting troupe intoned the Confucian proverb "Friends have come from afar, how happy we are".
Flying acrobats and a lone beribboned female dancer recalled the grottos of Dunhuang, painted in the Wei and Tang dynasties when camel caravans plied the Silk Road. Many view the Tang dynasty as the golden age of China, when it was wealthy and open to the world.
Blue-robed oarsman enacted seafarers travelling between Southeast Asia and the coast of Fujian, in southern China. Their oars became sails, painted with the "treasure ships" of the eunuch admiral Zheng He who reached Africa in the Ming Dynasty.
Dancers clacking bamboo props represented some of the oldest Chinese records, whose delicate brushstrokes are preserved on bamboo strips over 2,000 years old.
Undulating grey blocks symbolised the printing blocks of ancient China, which invented moveable type.They morphed into the Great Wall, a frontier defence whose Badaling section near Beijing is an instantly recognized symbol of China.
Landscape paintings and scenes of court life were projected on a giant scroll that unfurled on the stadium floor, while musicians performed traditional airs.
Absent were references to the Qing Dynasty, when Western powers made inroads on the disintegrating empire, or the divisive 20th century, when civil war, the Japanese invasion and Mao Zedong's absolute rule drove China into deep poverty.
Children clad in the outfits of China's 56 ethnic groups carried the flag into the stadium. A male and female representative of each ethnic group sang the national anthem as the Chinese flag was raised, illustrating China's claim to unite its diverse population under one nation and party.
Three astronauts "flew" through the stadium. China has sent three men into space and plans another manned mission later this year.
The ceremony concluded with an ode to regreening the Earth and a celebration of water, both important issues in China which is struggling with choking pollution and loss of farmland after nearly three decades of economic reform. A glowing globe recalled the Olympic ideal of international harmony and China's growing role as a world power.
The ceremony is being followed by the parade of athletes after which the Olympic torch will be lit.
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Joseph W. Galea
Aug 9th 2008, 07:19
Does anyone know what the Maltese athletes are entered in ?? And who designed their drab outfit?
Pauline Barbara
Aug 9th 2008, 00:37
@ Adrian Camilleri - Totally agree however its not the fault of those participating in the opening ceremony and the millions of Chinese who aren't too keen on their countries' politics either.
If anyone is to blame its the Olympic Committee that gave the games to China in the first place, believing the Chinese when they said they would improve their track record in human rights violations.
Yeah right, they resolved the problem of any potential protests by threatening dissidents and jailing those who posed the greater threat.
China will never change and IOC have just given them a massive present allowing them to host these games. China think these games will put them in a good light, but they seem to forget there is no ban on media in the rest of the world and Sky, Cnn etc. are doing a good job letting us know the exact goings on behind the scenes.
D fenech
Aug 8th 2008, 22:10
Impressive opening ceremony! Very artistic!
However I watched a documentary on Sky News yesterday which described at what price this level has been reached!
Unfortunately the pictures shown and interviews held with ordinary workmen still haunt my soul!
Robert Zammit
Aug 8th 2008, 19:10
True, we should keep politics and religion out of the Olympics.
Assuming, however, that we can speak of politics and religion in the first place. In some places in China, you simply can't. And a nation that prides itself on its ancient past has little to say for the present.
What a pity.
Eman Pulis
Aug 8th 2008, 18:52
@ Mr. Angelo Micallef - you make a correct observation about religion as being a matter of faith - hence, you are discussing the subject from a religious point of view. In contrast, I was shedding light on the role of religion and sport in international relations and from a sociological point of view.
@ Mr. Alex Ellul - Whilst thanking you for your feedback, I didn't quite understand sections from your counter arguments. Whilst agreeing that participation in sport should be free from any political influence, free from gender, racial, religious or other inequalities, it would be inaccurate not to acknowledge that there can be a strong relationship between sport and politics. Sport has been used by politicians in the past to re-unite – the China-US ping-pong diplomacy is a case par excellence! Jesse Owens' gold medal at the Berlin '36 Games was a blow to Hitler's Nazi propaganda, Maria Isabel Urrutia and Cathy Freeman both saw sport as an opportunity to break free from either political oppression or ethnic inequalities... the list is endless.
Alex Ellul
Aug 8th 2008, 17:55
Dear Eman Pulis, your comment on religion is totally out of place and contradictory. This is a great sports event, organised by a great nation. While as you said, there are fewer political and cultural obstacles in the development of sport, it is a fact that there are no religious obstacles whatsover and there have never been. We do have the occasional political outburst prior and during the olympic games, especialy this time being organised by The Chinese (communists? or plain capitalist dictators?) who are not exactly human-rights-friendly. (See what the Chinese authorities are doing to the Falun-Gong and the Buddhists.) Religion cannot be replaced by sports or politics. All the three activities are completely independent from each other, although one can argue that human rights may take precendence over all. Lets keep the Olympics free of politics and religion.
China, though still not democratic, has taken a real great leap forward in its quality of life since it shed the extreme communist image of Mao Ze Dong and the infamous Gang of Four. I am sure that this great nation will soon experience a total democratic rehabilitation avoiding unrest and bloodshed. Everything is pointing that way.
Adrian Camilleri
Aug 8th 2008, 17:50
How I hate hypocrites! These games should have been banned from China.
Jesus, give me a break.
People must boycott this games not talking about ''spectacular ceremony'', when people in Tibet and other parts of China are brutally beaten just because they have the RIGHT to oppose the Chinese GM.
Kevin C. Borg
Aug 8th 2008, 17:45
Lets not start with religon. Whats with this nation? One cannot mention the word religon that someone those not start and question why the word was used. Olympics are the expression of sport and peace. What has got religon to do with olympics?
Angelo Micallef
Aug 8th 2008, 17:29
@Eman Pulis- Whats religion got to do with it?? Religion is not some "opium of the people" but its a matter of faith and its aim is not to excite and create passion.
sarah magrin
Aug 8th 2008, 17:19
Are those army uniforms??? I expected a more colourful uniform than that ' boring'.
Eman Pulis
Aug 8th 2008, 16:44
What an opening – well done to the organizing committee! This is what the Games should be like – a manifestation of friendship and peace between different nations – these international sport manifestations have such a huge potential in IR possibly because there are fewer political and cultural obstacles to the development of sport than there are in other fields. It arguably replaces religion in its power to excite passion and provide emotional escape.
A.Dalli
Aug 8th 2008, 16:27
Very good photo of the Maltese flag...we are proud of it including the Geroge Cross which distinguishes it elegantly.
Sean Mangion
Aug 8th 2008, 16:15
A spectacular ceremony!!!! Good luck to our Maltese representatives!!!! hope we will have postive results and maybe win a medal. Good luck.
Philip Paris
Aug 8th 2008, 16:05
Great to see Malta is Beijing.
Malta's heros should be outfited in more colourful outfits for the opening.
Good luck to our athletes.