I gathered with several others last night to watch the opening ceremony of the Olympics in Beijing. I've never actually watched an opening ceremony, and honestly I don't get that much into the Olympics, but somehow this year was a little different.
If you didn't watch it, you missed some amazing special effects.
My favorite was the 2,008 drummers, in perfect unison. Normally, watching something like that makes me nervous because I am so worried someone will mess up or fall or something like that. But I realized when watching last night that I didn't have that fear. Chinese people set their mind to something, and they do it perfectly, no mistakes. It's amazing to watch.
What really struck me is the fierce pride of the Chinese people. You obviously don't get this nearly as much from the news in the States, but here the Olympics have been looming large on the horizon and last night was the climax. I realized as I watched how proud I was for China. I'm not Chinese, and have only been here a relatively short amount of time, but I was sitting there with my friends, watching all the different performances, each of which drew on the rich and colorful history of China, and I was proud. I was proud to be living among such a vibrant people.
What was even more surprising was when the teams started to enter the stadium, as the athletes from Hong Kong made their way in, their flag flying and people waving, all of us in the room (none from Hong Kong originally) started cheering. We were so proud of 'our' people. Of course, we were also excited when our own native countries entered, but somehow watching Hong Kong make the lap around the stadium was just as exciting. And as the Chinese team entered ... well, they have a lot to be proud of and excited about.
So, if you didn't watch the ceremony, you missed some amazing theatrics and engineering. Whoever had the idea to have all the athletes walk through the paint onto the giant canvas was brilliant. And the people who danced but drew with their bodies at the same time, the 2,008 people doing tai chi in perfect unison, the people who collectively formed a dove and had their clothes changing colors, the massive moveable type machine, the giant globe that people ran around, and of course the incredible lighting of the torch ... it was all incredible.
My favorite was the drummers though.
If you didn't watch it, you missed some amazing special effects.
My favorite was the 2,008 drummers, in perfect unison. Normally, watching something like that makes me nervous because I am so worried someone will mess up or fall or something like that. But I realized when watching last night that I didn't have that fear. Chinese people set their mind to something, and they do it perfectly, no mistakes. It's amazing to watch.
What really struck me is the fierce pride of the Chinese people. You obviously don't get this nearly as much from the news in the States, but here the Olympics have been looming large on the horizon and last night was the climax. I realized as I watched how proud I was for China. I'm not Chinese, and have only been here a relatively short amount of time, but I was sitting there with my friends, watching all the different performances, each of which drew on the rich and colorful history of China, and I was proud. I was proud to be living among such a vibrant people.
What was even more surprising was when the teams started to enter the stadium, as the athletes from Hong Kong made their way in, their flag flying and people waving, all of us in the room (none from Hong Kong originally) started cheering. We were so proud of 'our' people. Of course, we were also excited when our own native countries entered, but somehow watching Hong Kong make the lap around the stadium was just as exciting. And as the Chinese team entered ... well, they have a lot to be proud of and excited about.
So, if you didn't watch the ceremony, you missed some amazing theatrics and engineering. Whoever had the idea to have all the athletes walk through the paint onto the giant canvas was brilliant. And the people who danced but drew with their bodies at the same time, the 2,008 people doing tai chi in perfect unison, the people who collectively formed a dove and had their clothes changing colors, the massive moveable type machine, the giant globe that people ran around, and of course the incredible lighting of the torch ... it was all incredible.
My favorite was the drummers though.
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1 comment:
Yup - I am proud of them too - they are very creative. When people's minds work together like they way they did at the olympic ceremony the possibilities are boundless.
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