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THE 29th summer Olympic opening ceremony held in Beijing yesterday was a blast!

Huan ying!

Incredibly neat

To watch this long awaited event, Choon Wah and I went to the 24 hours McD’s near our campus to catch it live on its outdoor screen display. Chin Keng, Chiou Yann and Bee Li joined a while later.

The crowd at McD. Mostly UTM students

To our surprise, many people were already there when we reached about 15 minutes before the event started, at 8.08pm. These people must have come very early to booked their seats.

While playing the national anthem of China

Can see the flag behind?

There were also a lot of Chinese students from UTM. And they even brought the People’s Republic of China flag to make the atmosphere more lively.

Martial arts

We managed to get a place near to the screen but it was inside the restaurant. Later on, only we moved to the outside when there were some spaces.

Like 'The Curse of the Golden Flower'

Little girl singing

The opening ceremony started with the countdown which combines the ancient Chinese history with the modern high technology. There were cheers, fireworks, LED screen, video and audio throughout the whole event.

Digital clock

There are many compliments on the ceremony which I saw in the net. I must really agree with them. It has gone above beyond and many surprises as well. Especially on the last part where the torch bearer suddenly lifted up into the air and started ‘jogging’ along the track which is a vertical circle wall at the top of the National Stadium, also known as the Bird’s Nest.

The guy who ‘flew up’ was Li Ning who scored many medals during the 1984 Olympic is Los Angeles. The 45-year-old could be seen running in slow motion while carrying the torch on a long gigantic screen. The screen looked as though a painting was being unfolded as he was running.

Lighting the torch

The way of lightening the giant torch in the end is pretty amazing too. The former gymnast champion held his torch high to a flammable pipe which was attached to the Olympic torch on the top of the stadium.

These back guys

They draw on the stage

Before, the choreograph of the performances, dance and martial arts was very well-planned and directed by Zhang Yi Mou, a well-known Chinese director. Some of his famous works includes Curse of the Golden Flower, Hero and House of Flying Daggers.

A total of 10,000 performers took part in the opening ceremony. They were the Qin Dynasty warriors. They wore suits with lights. They performed the martial arts. It looked like director Zhang completed his task beautifully with success.

The warriors

I call them the yellow Digi man

Some dance

The Malaysian team. What a costume...

Over 200 teams from countries all over the world

I like the idea of the movable and digitally controlled floor stage. One part the stage appeared slowly like when how the ancient Chinese paper scroll is opened. Very inspirational!

Sarah Brightman also appeared during the ceremony where she sang the Olympic theme song with one of China’s male singer on a sphere-like platform at the center of the stadium.

The globe stage

Peviously there were rumors that artist like Celine Dion, Jay Chou, Rain, Eason Chan, Hacken Lee, Faye Wong and Jackie Chan would perform.

Smiles and the girls underneath

There were a lot of fireworks that night. There was once where the fireworks were shooting not only above stadium but all over the neighborhood. It was awesome! Just like how you watch in some explosive movies.

Raising the China flag

When the glittering Olympic rings were formed on the ground, they were then slowly raised up to sky. Very Christmas-like feeling. Apparently this was also the first time that the shape of rings were being formed in the sky.

I am still wondering how they lifted all these thing and people up

From what I’ve also found , this is the most expensive show in Olympic history, with the media speculating that as much as US$100 million has been earmarked for the opening and closing ceremonies. More than twice that spent on the 2004 Athens Olympic.
This is indeed a dream come true for the people of China and a glory that belongs to every Chinese in the world.

华人万岁!!!

ps: other than the photos at McD's, the rest of the pictures are taken from the internet. Courtesy of google news =)