Beijing Olympics open

BEIJING -- This is the moment -- 8-8-08 at 8:08 p.m. -- that China has been waiting at least seven years for and, in reality, many, many more, going back to the Cultural Revolution when Chairman Mao attempted to return the country to an isolationist past.

But the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics (which began at 5:08 a.m. PDT on Friday) is not about China rejoining the world stage. The Chinese did that in 2001, when they were allowed into the World Trade Organization and won the right from the International Olympic Committee to organize the 2008 Summer Games.

This opening ceremony was about China for at least the next 17 days becoming the world stage. The Chinese, accustomed to humiliation, real and perceived, by foreigners for centuries, are secure enough  these days that they were willing, even eager, to share the spotlight.

The design of the modernist 91,000-seat Olympic stadium, the Bird's Nest, was a joint effort between the Chinese and a Swiss company. The choreographer for the opening ceremony, Shen Wei, is based in New York. One of the featured singers, Sarah Brightman, is British. Even the flag-bearer for the Chinese team, basketball's Yao Ming, makes his living in Houston.

President Bush was among the foreign dignitaries who committed to attend the opening ceremony, which was expected to have a worldwide television audience of 4 billion.

Not everyone was invited. Protesters critical of China's human rights record and its policies in connection with Tibet and Sudan have been removed from Beijing in recent days; other activists have been denied visas.

Bush, at the opening of the new U.S. Embassy Friday, urged the Chinese to "let people say what they think.''

But Bush, the first U.S. president to attend an Olympics on foreign soil, stressed that he is here to support U.S. athletes and see some sporting events, which begin Saturday morning.

Next: More from the opening ceremony.

Enjoy your breakfast.

-- Randy Harvey

Updated photo at 9:25 a.m.

Photo: The Olympic rings are lit during the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games in Beijing on Friday. Credit: Filipo Monteforte/AFP/Getty Images

Comments

[Mark]

4 billion people? You think that 60% of the world population will be watching TV? I'm sure the Chinese would love that!

[rudey33]

Praying for World Peace and that we can all just get along during this wonderful event!
GO USA

[shelj]

The pictures look gorgeous! Go Olympics!
I'm proud of China for its recent steps of trying to open up and allow the rest of the world truly understand it's complicated and ancient culture and history.

[Maria]

Yeah, yeah, try to take away what the Chinese have achieved with the magnificent opening ceremony. What, everything and everyone from China that's worth anything lives and exists outside of China? Bush should be the first to practice what he preaches and then only, maybe, give lessons to the nations of the world. Don't get me wrong, I do not support China entirely, nor do I have anything to do with it, but, honestly, the propaganda given in this article is too much. They organized an outstanding ceremony, and I am sure that the Olympics will be the best organized so far, does that have anything to do with politics? I don't think so. So, could you try not to always take away and diminish someone's achievements, stop being political for 15 days. I wonder if this comment will show?

[Jack]

And NBC, treating the event as "entertainment" instead of news or sports, refuses to show it live, which it could easily do, at 8:08 AM Eastern Time on 8/8/08. Instead, it will delay it almost 12 hours! Shame on them!

[alex]

wow
get ur facts straight
it's 8 o clock sharp
not 8:08
it's a shame u've got reporters like that

[trying to get some real news about the event]

Just for one second. PLEASE give it a break, the Olympics has nothing to do with the Cultural Revolution or Chairman Mao's attempted or the country 's isolationist past. It's the Olympics -- everybody is looking for. Do make it too complicated and politial than it already has been made!!!

[Clint]

Ahhh . . .

. . . the Olympics.

Beats the hell out of going to war.

Let's hope no terrorists sneak through and rain on this wonderful parade!

[anonymous]

Lets quit making China the scapegoat for "human rights" and just enjoy the Olympic games!

[Sandy]

Ahhhhh....if life were so simple and politics did NOT permeate any landscape or legal decision or lofty aim.

But they infiltrate everything...the workplace, our cultural choices and yes, even the Olympics held in China, one of the most politically charged countries on earth.

So give our journalists a break (they are SMART people) and drag out a world history book. Better yet, have fun with the excitement of the world's playing field!

We live in exciting times!

[Max]

Right! It was at 8pm sharp, not 8h08...

[The Prophet]

How would Americans feel if every news story, every opinion, no matter the topic, from gardening to cuisine to exercise, were seen through the foggy biased prism of past events like the Watts Riot, the Beat of Rodney King, Vietnam and, everyone's favorite, NO WMD?!

How would you like that AMERICA?

[PNW Trojan]

For those actually attending the OPENING/Closing ceremonies, this will 'THE' Event of a Lifetime! No one will do it better, and whoever is next (London?) will need a whole new approach. CONGRATULATIONS to the Chinese People, you have every right to be very proud; it's been great to see the tectonic shift since Deng announced the Four Modernizations in 1979. Deng's image should have been there, with Mao's, and Chou en Lai's.

[Joe Shea]

It's just dawning on me that the media must have some kind of secret agreement with NBC not to show video of the Opening Ceremonies until NBC has shown it. You clearly have cameras there - why no video?

[Alexis Jay]

The photos I've seen so far have been breathtaking and gorgeous. I'm also really excited to see Li Ning 'fly.'
On a side note:
"The choreographer for the opening ceremony, Shen Wei, is based in New York"
The choreographer is actually Zhang YiMou, who also directed films such as 'House of Flying Daggers' and 'Jet Li's Hero'.