China Celebrates Opening Of Summer Olympics
The Olympic opening ceremony in Beijing began with a series of fireworks across the city. NPR's Howard Berkes describes the ceremony, which took place in the stadium known as the Bird's Nest, to host Madeleine Brand.
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MADELEINE BRAND, host:
From the studios of NPR West, this is Day to Day. I'm Madeleine Brand.
ALEX CHADWICK, host:
I'm Alex Chadwick. Coming up, Russia sends troops in to the neighboring country of Georgia. Georgia attacks its breakaway province of South Ossetia. War may be breaking out. More on that in a moment.
BRAND: But first, peace. The 2008 Summer Olympics officially underway today. Thousands of athletes from more than 200 countries marched into the Bird's Nest Stadium in Beijing today. Chinese President Hu Jintao then mark the moment when the games formally began.
President HU JINTAO (People's Republic of China): (Chinese spoken)
(Soundbite of shouting and fireworks)
BRAND: Ninety thousand people cheered in the stadium. Millions watched in China and around the world. China's image in the world may be changed by these games. At least, that's what organizers and Communist Party officials are hoping. NPR's Howard Berkes is in Beijing. He's here now, and he's just finished watching the Opening Ceremonies. And we won't see them here in the United States until this evening, so give us the highlights. What did you see?
HOWARD BERKES: Well, what we saw was 5,000 years of Chinese history and culture, China's contributions to the world, displayed in a flashy, hi-tech extravaganza, framed by this notion of bringing the world to China for the Olympics, and taking the world to China through the Olympics. The hazy skies here glowed with fireworks throughout the evening.
In fact, the games opened with this dramatic series of fireworks shaped like footprints that started from Tiananmen Square in the center of the city and kind of marched toward the Olympic Stadium here on the northern edge of the city. And that symbolized all of the earlier modern Olympics leading to China.
BRAND: So, really, it sounds like a really spectacular show, but behind the scenes, I mean, these are very politicized Olympics, a lot of political issues, criticism of Chinese human-rights record, you know, its policies in Sudan and Tibet. Any signs of protest tonight?
BERKES: Not that we could tell from here, monitoring the ceremony on a live feed - television feed that we received from the stadium. We didn't see any ribbons or signs or any other expressions of sympathy for Tibet or Darfur, any criticism of China. There is a report of the detention of three American activists who were carrying Tibetan flags. But that happened before they actually got to the stadium. We didn't really notice any signs of protest in the feed that we watched inside the stadium.
BRAND: So, that feed - that feed is controlled by Olympic organizers?
BERKES: That's right. You know, we're not likely to see anything that didn't fit with the script for tonight. Now, I should say that that feed does form the basis of the broadcasting of the Olympics that you'll see in the United States, and it will be part of NBC's coverage later tonight in the United States.
It's provided by what's known as the host broadcaster, or a group that's controlled by the International Olympic Committee. So, in that sense, the images we see are controlled. But I should note that NBC has its own cameras in the stadium, and NBC News has promised to show the Olympics news, sports and all. But there are no television images from the stadium provided by anyone who's completely independent of the Olympic organizations.
BRAND: And let's quickly turn to the games themselves. What are the highlights for this first weekend?
BERKES: Well, I think two things are really exciting. Michael Phelps starts his quest for an - eight Olympic gold medals. That would be a record for any sport in a single Olympics. And the USA basketball team tries to regain the respect that it lost by not doing so well in Athens four years ago. The drama begins right away.
BRAND: OK. NPR's Howard Berkes covering that drama. Other NPR reporters also there in Beijing covering the Olympics. Howard, thank you.
BERKES: Thank you.
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Summer Olympics Open With A Bang In Beijing
Fireworks explode over National Stadium, called the Bird's Nest, during the opening ceremony for the 2008 Olympic Games on Aug. 8 in Beijing.
Fireworks explode over National Stadium, called the Bird's Nest, during the opening ceremony for the 2008 Olympic Games on Aug. 8 in Beijing.
The Olympic flame is lit by Li Ning, former Olympic gymnast for China, during the opening ceremony for the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics at the National Stadium on Aug. 8, 2008.
The Olympic flame is lit by Li Ning, former Olympic gymnast for China, during the opening ceremony for the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics at the National Stadium on Aug. 8, 2008.
By The Numbers
- $100 million A low estimate for the cost of the opening ceremony. That's about $476,000 per minute and almost $8,000 per second and more than twice the cost of the 2004 Athens opening ceremony
- 91,000 The number of spectators at National Stadium
- 35,000 The number of fireworks set off during the ceremony
- 2,583 The number of lights used during the show, drawing 6,440 kilowatts
In Focus
Amid pollution, protests and impressive pomp and circumstance, the curtains rose Friday on the XXIX Summer Olympics in Beijing.
The four-hour opening ceremony at the 91,000-seat Bird's Nest stadium was a gaily colored extravaganza punctuated by fireworks and festivities, including a guy-in-the-sky lighting of the Olympic flame.
Gymnast Li Ning, who won three gold medals for China in 1984, was lifted by wires for the spectacle. He circled the Bird's Nest once, gliding through the air like a spacewalker. Then he used the torch to light the massive Olympic caldron.
The ceremony will be shown on TV Friday night in the United States. The anticipated crowd around the world may make this the most-watched television event ever.
The event, directed by Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou, drew on China's history and cultural heritage and displayed it all with high-tech wizardry. Fireworks, a Chinese invention, were set off in great waves, from within the Bird's Nest and from as far away as Tiananmen Square, several miles to the south.
Country by country, athletes strolled around the stadium in hot, hazy weather. China's squad of more than 600 was led by NBA tower Yao Ming and a young boy who lived through the spring earthquake in Sichuan province. There were thousands of musicians and performers to delight the crowd.
In Beijing, the long-anticipated day was greeted with joy and enthusiasm. Those lucky enough to secure tickets cheered long and hard for China's Olympic team, the last and largest of the 204 delegations to march in the parade of nations. Fans swirled red scarves, waved little Chinese flags and helped illuminate the Bird's Nest with glowing colored torches.
But for those expecting to see a nationalistic opening ceremony, bristling with pride over China's rapid economic development, it didn't happen. The festivities were artistic, even whimsical at times, rather than political.
Dignitaries from around the world, including President George W. Bush, witnessed the event. So did Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on the day that a conflict escalated between Russia and the former Soviet republic of Georgia over the breakaway region of South Ossetia.
Before the opening ceremony in Beijing, Bush christened a huge new $434 million U.S. Embassy and took the opportunity to chastise the Chinese.
"We strongly believe societies which allow the free expression of ideas tend to be the most prosperous and the most peaceful," he said.
The White House said the president's weekend will be a melange of statesmanship and sports: He will continue to meet with Chinese President Hu Jintao and other officials, and he will cheer on American athletes, including swimmers and basketball players.
And it was the athletes who got the great roars from the crowd — and not just the Chinese heroes. There were cheers for tennis great Roger Federer from the Swiss delegation, for the German NBA star Dirk Nowitzki and the tennis-playing Williams sisters (Venus and Serena) from the U.S. And cheers, too, for the unknown athletes from little-known countries like Aruba, Montenegro and Kiribati.
Earlier, while athletes settled into the high-rise residential apartments of Olympic Village, protesters staged demonstrations elsewhere, criticizing China's human rights policies at home and abroad. For the next 16 days, the world will be bombarded with a similar mixture of diplomacy and sweat. Thousands of athletes will compete in an array of sports.
Concern about the hazy air permeated the first day of activities. Zhu Tong, an associate professor at Peking University's College of Environmental Science and Engineering and an adviser to the government, told The Associated Press, "The stagnant air in Beijing has helped pollutants accumulate. I really hope in the next couple weeks, we'll have conditions that will help us clear up the sky."
Observers will notice heightened levels of:
- Scrutiny: For the first time, according to the Broadcasting & Cable Web site, viewers in the United States will be able to see all 35 Olympic sports on television — network or cable — or the Internet. Some 3,600 hours of events will be shown.
- Security: Following a recent deadly truck attack by a mostly Muslim ethnic group in western China, near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, Olympic officials have been on increased alert in Beijing.
- Sappiness: The airwaves and Web sites are alive with tales of athletes who have overcome personal hurdles. And in China, thousands of people are getting married or hoping to deliver babies on opening day — the eighth day of the eighth month of 2008, considered numerically lucky. More than 16,000 couples applied for marriage licenses.
- Skill: The best athletes in the world will come together on one magnificent stage to test their finesse and fortitude against the rest of the best. Well-known champions such as NBA superstar Kobe Bryant, tennis legend Federer, runner Tyson Gay and swimmers Michael Phelps and Dara Torres will be showcasing their mad skills. So will athletes vying for the gold in lesser-known sports, such as table tennis, team handball and water polo.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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