Beijing's Perfect Opening? The Reviews Are In

New York Times' David Barboza:

An ecstatic China, an ancient nation so determined to be a modern power, finally got its Olympic moment on Friday night.

With world leaders watching from inside the latticed shell of the National Stadium, the 2008 Beijing Olympics began with an opening ceremony of soaring fireworks, lavish spectacle and a celebration of Chinese culture and international good will.

At 8 p.m. on the eighth day of the eighth month in the year 2008 -- eight being a lucky number in China -- the world looked toward Beijing and the 91,000 people inside the National Stadium, known as the Bird's Nest.

Sydney Morning Herald's Alex Brown and Mitchell Murphy on "Beijing's Perfect Opening":

An eight became a perfect 10 in Beijing tonight.

The opening ceremony of the 29th Olympics Games began at precisely 8pm on the eighth day of the eighth month, 2008.

A Chinese opera performance, surrounded by 3000 disciples of Confucius, was a parochial and fitting moment during the first half of the performance.

The demonstration of Taijiquan, the most representative shadow boxing in Chinese martial arts, brought the crowd to its feet in warm applause one hour into the ceremony.

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The Wall Street Journal China Journal's Christopher Rhoads on the U.S. team's entrance:

It's a very subdued US team, particularly compared with past years when they've jumped around excitedly, taken photos and videos of each other, etc. They seemed very respectful and low-key (or maybe still jet-lagged), a tone amplified by their respectful and traditional blue blazers and white pants (and even white caps, circa 1920s). The USOC scrapped its opening ceremony designer of past years, one who had designed a very casual, hip outfit. The USOC opted for a more classic and more formal Ralph Lauren. USOC officials are very much aware and sensitive to the poor U.S. image abroad at the moment, and are being very careful and thorough in this regard.

Houston Chronicle's David Barron on "China's 'big, warm hug'":

As is tradition, the ceremony began with an abstract ode to assorted elements the host nation's culture: Chinese scrollmaking, movable-type printing, opera, silkmaking and, of course, fireworks.

A high-tech counterpart to the ancient arts played out atop the stadium's façade, which featured movie scenes of the ocean and other landscapes choreographed by film director Zhang Yimou, the ceremony's creative director.

Early arrivals were greeted by a series of performances by Chinese dance troupes and the proclamation that the Olympics have "come across a thousand mountains and a thousand rivers" to China.

"The world has given its love and trust to China, and today China will give the world a big, warm hug," said one announcer.

Comments

[waiguoren]

China does as China does. A vast, ancient, and very complicated society not glibly summarized by any one aspect.

The Olympics is mainly a gigantic marketing campaign for international corporations, drooling over a billion customers who need now be taught how to act like the consumers they were always meant to be.

Old Beijing has been obliterated in this endeavour, but there is still much of the old culture remaining to be destroyed.

After the Games, happy shopping to all!

[zull2]

The catch-22 here is to accomplish this big Olympics opening, China had to violently suppress their own people and commit human rights violations by the boatload. If China wants to be a world power, it's got to be influential first, and no people in no free country want to be influenced by a country with considerably less freedom and respect for individual rights then they already have. The US, in comparison to China, has been considerably more tame in regards to human rights and respect for individual privacy, and even then the US fell quite a bit influentially around the world. If China wants to be a world power, they've got to open up and respect freedoms, and the result of that is some of those shiny veneers have to come down and people will see what's under the spit-polished shine of their Olympics image brush-up.