Beijing 2008 Olympics-Opening Ceremony-Thoughts and Comments - The Orange Room

lebgirl

I just came back from watching the Olympics opening ceremony, It was amazing. China invested so much for this. The fireworks and the whole stage effect were great. I was impressed also at the great idea of lightning the torch with a famous athlete flying around the stage and lightning it from above in the sky! It was interesting also to see how each country chose so carefully which of their athlete would hold the flag and who would also give the country an image of what it portrays of itself to the world. For instance for America, it was a Sudanese-American athlete I think which gave the image of America being a land of immigrant. The Chinese were impressive too with the little boy survivor of the earthquake who became this symbol of hope for the Chinese.

I'm curious to have your thoughts on the opening ceremony for anyone who watched it and also let's use this thread as a general discussion for general thoughts and comments relating to the Olympics.

Sirius

I watched it last night... It was simply magical! I loved the drums, and also how they showed their 5000 years of history and culture... The fireworks were amazing, the LCD screens were huge!! That opening ceremony has put all other ceremonies to shame!

Kudos to China and the Chinese... what they did takes courage, discipline and hope!

Sirius

dodzi

Thanks for the pics Sirius! Any video available somewhere?

China came a long way... China is a very ambiguous country. It remains a dictatorship, and Tibet is still occupied... But it is also far from what it was 20 or even 10 years ago! Hu Jintao is a great man...

Even for Sudan (btw, Lebgirl, I think we should rethink the symbolism here, because besides the US being an immigration country, Sudan is currently a country where a genocide is having place), China is sometimes accused in Western media, from impeaching a resolution. While in reality, it is China that contributed the most for the calming of the situation in Darfur! It has more interests than Western countries in a resolution of this conflict!

In any case, China should evolve... Or some day, things might change, but for the worst!