The 2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony was held at the Beijing National Stadium, also known as the Bird's Nest . It began at 8:00 pm China Standard Time (UTC+8) on August 8, 2008, as 8 is considered to be a lucky number. The number 8 is associated with prosperity and confidence in Chinese culture. The stadium was full to its 91,000 capacity according to organizers.
The ceremony was directed by Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou, who was the chief director and was assisted by Chinese choreographers Zhang Jigang and Chen Weiya. The director of music for the ceremony was composer Chen Qigang. It was noted for its focus on ancient Chinese culture, and for its creativity, as well as being the first to use weather modification technology to prevent rainfall. The final ascent to the torch featured Olympic gymnast Li Ning, who appeared to run through air around the membrane of the stadium. Featuring more than 15,000 performers, the ceremony lasted over four hours and was reported to have cost over US$100 million to produce. The opening ceremony was lauded by spectators and various international presses as spectacular and spellbinding and by many accounts "the greatest ever".
Attending heads of state
More than 100 heads of state, heads of government and sovereigns attended the opening ceremony. The number of heads of state who attended the opening ceremony was by far the largest in Olympic history.
Sequence of events
Welcoming ceremony
The opening ceremony proper began with a contemporary drum sequence by 2,008 Fou drummers. The LED-embedded Fou drums and their glowing drumsticks were lit up by the drummers. In formation, the drummers lit their drums to form giant digits (in both Arabic and Chinese numerals) to countdown the final seconds to the Games and herald the start of the opening time of 8:00 p.m. local time, in continuation of the 8/08/08 opening date.
A trail of 29 fireworks, another of the great Chinese inventions, in the shape of footprints were let off marching along Beijing city's central axis into the national stadium. The firework footprints were set off at the rate of 1 every second, each represented one of the 29 Olympiads, signifying the Beijing Olympics as the XXIX Olympiad of the modern era.
Next, twenty "fairies" (Buddhist apsaras of the Mogao Caves) were suspended in midair as they hovered near giant Olympic rings which seemed to float in the stadium, each holding 45,000 beads. The Olympics rings were then lifted up high vertically to show the complete Olympics emblem.
Attention was then turned to 56 young children representing the 56 ethnic groups of modern China, each donning an ethnic costume. They marched in the flag of the People's Republic of China as a young girl in red, 9-year-old Lin Miaoke (林妙可), was seen performing Ode to the Motherland while listeners heard the voice of Yang Peiyi (楊沛宜), a seven-year-old. Only one-third of Ode to the Motherland was sung to save time. The vast majority who watched the broadcast did not know of Yang Peiyi's role until several days later when music director Chen Qigang acknowledged that a member of the Chinese politburo had requested the swap at the last minute as he/she had deemed Peiyi unsuitable for the role due to her teeth. A similar controversy played out when it was revealed that the Sydney Symphonic Orchestra mimed its entire performance during the opening ceremony of the 2000 Olympic games and that some of the nights performance had been performed by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. The original claims that a sizeable portion of the nights performance had been performed by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra was later discounted by Miss Christie, Sydney Orchestra's Managing Director and backed up by Mr Trevor Green, the Managing Director of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. According to Mr Green, The reasoning behind the use of a pre-recording was that it was purely a workload issue and that it had nothing to do with priorities or which Orchestra was better
The flag of the People's Republic of China was then handed over to eight well-dressed People's Liberation Army soldiers who carried the flag in a slow, goose-stepping march over to the flag podium and the Chinese national anthem March of the Volunteers was sung by a 224-member choir while the flag was raised.
Artistic section
At the prelude to the section, "Beautiful Olympics", a short film was screened depicting the making of paper, another of the Four Great Inventions. Ceramics, porcelain vessels and other Chinese fine arts artifacts were beamed on a giant LED paper scroll, representing the first great Chinese inventions, paper, and displaying animated graphics, slowly unfurling. At its center was a piece of white canvas paper, which then ushered in a performance of black-costumed dancers whose hands hid brushes that had been dipped in ink. They performed a dance while leaving their trails on the block of white paper, reminiscent of Chinese ink and wash art. This was accompanied by the sounds of the guqin, China's ancient 7-string zither, as played by Chen Leiji (陳雷激).
The giant scroll was then moved aside to show a fluid array of 897 movable type blocks that formed three variations of the character 和 (harmony), representing the third great Chinese invention: the movable type press. The character was shown, consecutively, in Bronze inscription, Seal script and Kai Script (Modern Chinese Script). 810 Han Dynasty-era performers representing the 3000 Disciples of Confucius, wearing feathered headgears and carrying bamboo slips, recited excerpts from the Analects : "Isn't it great to have friends coming from afar?" and "All men are brothers within the four seas." The blocks changed swiftly into a small-sized version of the Great Wall, which then sprouted plum blossoms, the Chinese symbol for openness. At the end of the sequence the tops of the movable type blocks came off to reveal 897 performers, who waved vigorously to the crowds.
The next segment saw ancient terracotta soldiers and Chinese opera, followed by a Beijing opera puppetry performance. The Wusheng type of Beijing opera performers was also enacted.
Next, a troupe of female dancers dressed in Tang-era clothing entered, suspended by a rectangular extension held by hundreds of performers. On the ground was the map of the Silk Road. Another procession of men, in blue dress, with oars forming pictures of junks, symbolized the voyages of Zheng He. There was a celebration of the next great Chinese invention, the compass. A performer portraying Zheng He danced in the center of the open scroll (which contained images of sailing junks, and a map of Zheng He's seven voyages) while holding a compass in its ancient form, a metal spoon floating in a fluid suspensible vessel.
The next segment featured Kunqu, one of the oldest extant Chinese operas, with two opera artistes, a male singing and a female accompanying on a guzheng. Another male performer then painted on the scroll painting with a Chinese brush in front of several guzheng players.
At this point, two rows of royal dragon pillars called huabiao (华表) emerged as pink and orange fireworks were set off overhead, followed by a segment where pianists Lang Lang and five-year-old Li Muzi performed a melody from the Yellow River Cantata. Around the pianists a sea of rainbow-coloured luminescent performers swayed in wave-like unison to symbolize the flow of the Yellow River. The illuminated dancers, symbolizing modern-day China, then arranged themselves in the shape of the Dove of Peace, whose wings were then set into motion as the performers moved about.
Next, one thousand performers in green costume formed the bird nest shape of the Beijing National Stadium. A young girl flew a kite at mid-air, suspended from wires, as performers flickered light in an intricate pattern.
A Taijiquan performance by 2,008 Tai Chi Chuan masters in white showed the fluid movements achieved when in harmony with nature.
Next came a skit with schoolchildren drawing and colouring on the giant scroll and
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