The Olympics 2008 Opening Ceremony at Beijing, China
08.08.08
08:08 pm>>
It was a spectacular show, choreographed by Zhang Yimou. Majestic, cultural with cinematic flourish. Precision amidst flair from decades of cultural heritage.
Wonder how Steven Spielberg felt upon seeing the show - any regret, we wonder, for abandoning the Olympics in Beijing.
I liked the costume of the bearer of the participant country's name. So bright and doll-like. The countries came out not in alphabetic order but by the number of stroke of their names in Chinese! So Singapore was near the end. The world leaders were there - France's Sarkozy (who earlier threatened not to attend ...), US President George Bush Jr and First Lady Laura Bush, and our MM Lee. Even Henry Kissinger, former US Secretary of State, was there - it must have been a significant moment for him. Former US President George Bush Sr was there too. What a historic event!
龙的传人
http://sports.yahoo.com/top/news?slug=ap-oly--openingceremony-zhangyimou&prov=ap&type=lgns
ts.comSichuan boy almost misses Olympics parade
Aug 9, 11:29 am EDT
BEIJING (AP)—One of the most memorable moments at the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony was Chinese basketball idol Yao Ming walking hand in hand with a 9-year-old survivor of May’s massive earthquake. But it almost didn’t happen, the event’s director said Saturday.
“We were so nervous,” movie director Zhang Yimou recalled hours after directing Friday night’s four-hour spectacular curtain raiser for the Summer Games.
“Then I told the deputy director ‘you go and pull him out there.’”
Zhang said there had been some miscommunication backstage and schoolboy Lin Hao was almost prevented from entering the stadium for the competitors’ parade because he is not an athlete.
Lin made it to the 7-foot-6 (232 centimeters) tall Yao’s side about eight seconds later than scheduled, Zhang said. The pair led the 630-strong Chinese team around the stadium, which was introduced to wild applause and cheers.
Lin survived the powerful May 12 earthquake centred in the southwestern province of Sichuan that took nearly 70,000 lives and left more than 5 million people homeless.
Zhang said his directing team wanted to include a reminder in the opening ceremony of the solidarity Chinese people showed in the aftermath of magnitude 7.9 quake. He said he chose Lin “because he was very small and cute.”
“We think having this little boy with a tall Yao Ming symbolizes a giant leading our future generation. I think it’s meaningful,” he said.
The opening ceremony, an extravaganza of fireworks and pageantry, was watched by an estimated 4 billion people watched the event live on TV worldwide.
The story presented 5,000 years of Chinese history—featuring everything from the Great Wall to opera puppets to a futuristic elevated globe—and highlighting achievements in art, music and science. Roughly 15,000 people were in the cast and crew.
About Lin Hao - Nine-year-old Lin Hao survived the Sichuan Earthquake in May while many of his friends did not. After freeing himself from the rubble, he went back in to help rescue his classmates and he pulled two of them out carrying them to safety.
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