Featuring 14 000 extras and actors, drums, calligraphers, taijiquan, and mahjong, it seems that all of the popular ingredients of Chinese culture were present on August 8^th for the Beijing Olympic grand opening ceremony at the Stadium and signed Zhang Yimou.

The bird's nest was almost bursting with people, 91,000 spectators to be exact. This is likely to remain for generations the greatest show produced by China. China wanted to reflect the richness of its culture as well as its ability to create "high tech" games and has heavily invested to make it possible with movable scenes, hundreds of synchronized dancers that light up, projection effects on a screen 36 meters long, etc...

In all of this technology, Chinese cultural symbols (if not clichés) succeeded one after the other. 2008 drummers gave a powerful opening to the festivities, all of them arched over their drums with electric drumsticks radiating with light. One could say that it was one way of showing how China, the most populous nation on earth, can gather and organize its forces.

A couple of hours before the celebration, the atmosphere was very different, in fact it as even relaxed and friendly. The extras were relaxing and lying on the lawn behind a rather ineffective fence, while a family of ducks, which probably broke away from the Olympic lakes area walked among the spectators. All the while, there was a real omnipresence of Chinese flags: attached to hair, printed on T-shirts or temporarily tattooed on shoulders and faces of the lucky few ticket holders.

Cheerleaders in white boots

Later on, in the nest, the atmosphere is rather warm. Applause greets the performance artists, as well as the different national delegations in the second part of the ceremony. They made their entry into the stadium in front of rows of cheerleaders in white boots, who prove to be the season's first endurance champions, they lasted more than an hour hopping and clapping without interruption the different national delegations.

There were enormous delegations, with over 600 athletes for China, and discrete one (few athletes for the Cayman Islands or Lesotho), delegations dressed in national costumes, delegations that were semi-veiled (Iran) or hated (on the European side, the rowers), delegations who were silent or carrying a message: "Friendship first, competition second," proclaimed the Senegal while the Kingdom of Bahrain brandished a portrait of its sovereign.

On the public's side, it did not hide its preferences, in this parade where spontaneity emotional and politics mingle: there were ovations for the U.S. and Australian delegations and triumph for Taiwan, remind us all that it is indeed Chinese, and there was a insisting on the unity of Chinese minorities; incredible applause for the North Korean athletes, a historical ally of China. This was continued until the climax, with a wave of patriotism which swelled throughout the stadium, announcing the last delegation: the Chinese, who, led by superstar Yao Ming, covers the ground of the stadium in general jubilation and a storm of flashes. The last ovation will be for the Olympic flame. Was that the end of the party? Surely not ensures Zhang Yimou, the choreographer of the closing ceremony, for whom "the show has just begun!"

Text: Christina Lionnet
August 2008