Dear Editor,
All of your concerns regarding “China’s Olympic Debut” (SN Aug 9) are legitimate and should not be swept under the carpet even as the world focuses more on the Olympics which celebrate competition and athletic achievement rather than on China’s human rights record. But looking at the opening ceremony, it looks like it will be an outstanding Olympics. The Chinese showed they are ready to host the games. The 14,000 performers lit up an unforgettable evening. Fireworks and pageantry on a scale never before seen in the Olympics.
Full credit goes to the Chinese government for putting on undoubtedly the best opening ceremony of any Olympics.
China is emerging as a modern nation and it has put its technology to optimum use in every aspect of the ceremony. The opening was an artistic mix of performance and light depicting China’s 5,000 years of history. I marveled at the human elegance and choreographic excellence. The Chinese captured the essence of their 5000 years of civilization and put on display the children of their 56 different ethnic groups.
Dancers merged with objects that depicted China’s ancient Silk Road, its Great Wall, palaces, and ancient imperial past. Acrobats swirled around a giant sphere, depicting China’s ambitions in space and her technological achievements. Everything negatives about China was hidden.
And on the subject of hiding, the government constructed walls to hide many of the problems of the city from visitors. In spite of its slummy parts, Beijing is a beautfiul city. I visited Beijing a few times and several other huge cities around the globe. Beijing (and even Shanghai) has parts that rival and outshine New York, Frankfurt, Sydney, Los Angeles, Paris and Tokyo and several other modern cities. China is on the road to first world modernization and put on display some of its technological prowess at the stadium.
As a reporter noted, the Chinese used material in the construction of the stadium that allowed the scripting of breathtaking pictures through light and shade, in multiple dimensions, starting with the five Olympic Rings being lifted from the ground by ‘flying’ acrobats.
Fireworks lit up the sky enlivening the proceedings at every opportunity. It was entertainment filled.
Fireworks blazed from the Great Wall from a near distant to the magnificent stadium.
The manner in which the ‘lighted’ acrobats, suspended mid-air, lifted the Olympic ring, and the way the star athlete was lifted and ran a lap around the bird nest stadium to light the cauldron set the tone for a vibrant evening.
It should be noted the Chinese played to numbers. The ceremony started at 8.08pm (local time), on the eighth day of the eighth month of 2008. I read in a few reports that eight is a lucky number in China bringing good fortune. As a reporter pointed out, the numbers 2008 and 29 put in regular ceremonial appearances –“ 2008 for the year, 29 for Beijing being the 29th Olympiad. There were also 2008 performers beating Fou – an ancient Chinese percussion instrument – and singing “the rolling spring thunder of welcome”. And there were 29 colossal “burning footprints” stepping their way across the skyscrapers.
The organizing of the Olympics confirm China’s status as a great power. And people around the globe no doubt are impressed with its achievements in the realm of technology. People will be more impressed if China can begin to address the concerns you raise in your editorial.
Yours faithfully,
Vishnu Bisram
