Brilliant Opening Ceremony of Beijing Olympics

From all accounts, ···Beijing Olympics was a grand occasion!  Many people have praised its absolute brilliance.  Steven Spielberg was to direct it earlier but he opted out of it because of the Human Rights record of China.  Ultimately it were Chinese directors and pyrotechnicians: Chinese film directors like Zhang Yimou (Hero) and artists like Chai Guo (pyrotechnician).

I did not watch the ceremony, but looking from the pictures – the colors and the motifs.. it is clear that it was something that only Chinese themselves could have done.  No outsider, however brilliant, could have matched the centuries old creative brilliance of that culture.. which they thanfully went ahead with!!

Despite the many disputes, protests, and environmental problems and the natural disasters that China has seen recently, the country bounced back with finesse.

91,000 people were packed together in the National Stadium to watch the spectacle!  The entry of the national Chinese team was of course, special!

The centerpiece was the parade of athletes, climaxing with the entry of the 639-strong Chinese team. Its flag-bearer was basketball idol Yao Ming, accompanied by 9-year-old schoolboy Lin Hao, a survivor of May’s devastating earthquake in Sichuan province.

Here is a very interesting review by Shekhar Kapur

A presentation of the pictures from the ceremony: