Heads of state and heads of more than 80 countries, 204 members of the Olympic family, 16,000 athletes and coaches, 100,000 on-site spectators, billions of TV viewers; East and West, China and the world, we, you and they, gazing together, witnessing together:
At 8 p.m. on Aug. 8, 2008, in the National Stadium in Beijing, a page of new history is being born.
Standing at this moment, as if standing in front of the history of an ancient nation, 5,000 years of long road, the light of civilization, the long river of human development has left how many never-ending "China Print"
2008 face of the simple and ancient fou, 2008 people standing, in the Bird's Nest, the open central field to form a magnificent "percussion array". A dazzling light like lightning from the air, stirring up the waves of light and shadow on the percussion array, ear-splitting sound of the percussion like spring thunder rumbled. In the Bird's Nest, the audience shouted along with the numbers flashing on the glowing percussion surface:
"5--4--3--2---1. -1"
The 100,000-strong crowd soared into the sky in unison. In the sky, the brilliant fireworks were like peonies in full bloom, reflecting the Bird's Nest and Beijing's sleepless night.
"There are friends coming from afar!"
2008 percussionists hit the percussion and sang, singing and chanting.
At this moment, people can not help but look back at the vicissitudes of time, time and water. The world's only continuous thousands of years of Chinese civilization, how many times like today to create history? How much of the long river of human development has left an indelible "China mark"?
The central site of the Bird's Nest is as flat as a huge book case, on which a scroll of ancient China slowly opens to reveal a white sheet of paper in the center of the scroll.
The sound of the guqin (ancient Chinese zither) was heard, and "High Mountains and Flowing Water" flowed into the center of the venue. 15 dancers, all dressed in mysterious clothes, jumped onto the scroll, as if they were full of ink and ink, as if they were moving their brushes, and they used their unique body language to depict and describe their own ideas, with a flowing stream of water and a rhythmic rhythm.
"The road is long, I will go up and down to seek!" On the white paper of human civilization, our ancestors with such spirit and vigor, a stroke of pen engraved traces that can not be annihilated, page by page to write their own colorful chapter.
"With the most modern means, to show the world the ancient Chinese civilization", this is the opening ceremony director Zhang Yimou's original intention.
Tonight, more than 10,000 performers, with the help of multimedia technology and sound, light and other image effects, open a corner of the scroll of Chinese civilization for the global audience. The scroll, the script, the opera, the Silk Road and the rituals and music are presented one by one. The wisdom of the hundred philosophers of the pre-Qin dynasties, the creation of the "Four Great Inventions", the poetry, music, dance, opera, painting and calligraphy, architecture and other ancient arts, like a dream, outlines the vastness of ancient Chinese civilization.
However, through this stunning appearance, a closer look, through its shape and meaning, permeated by the charm, is the Chinese civilization since ancient times to promote, guard a concept, a philosophy, is the Chinese descendants of the pursuit of peace, harmony, harmony and yearning -
August 8, 8:00 pm, the 29th Summer Olympic Games, the first of which will be held in Beijing, will be held in Beijing. 29th Summer Olympic Games opened ceremoniously at the National Stadium. This is the performance at the opening ceremony. Xinhua News Agency reporter Yang Lei photo
A piece of hard and square movable type printing word mold, suddenly soft like the wind across, or like water flow; a moment from the square into a round, into the yin and yang levels, and a moment from the round into a square, the base of the staggered city wall. Among the dazzling transformations, the only constant is a Chinese character composed of one movable type printing character mold. It appears in different fonts from different eras, in the wind, in the water, in the circle, in the square, and in the chanting of the actors.
The character is: "He".
"Since ancient times, the Chinese nation has been a people who know how to pursue goodness and beauty, pursuing 'harmony as a precious thing,' 'unity of heaven and man,' and harmony between man and man, and man and nature. It is one of the essences of Chinese civilization."
Today, 1.3 billion Chinese people are striving for the goal of building a "harmonious" society. Similarly, the word "harmony" is similar in spirit to "mutual understanding, friendship and solidarity" advocated by the Olympic movement.
Perhaps, it is this word "and" that predestined the meeting between the Olympics and Beijing tonight.
August 8 evening, the Beijing Olympic Games opening ceremony fireworks "historical footprints", 29 huge fireworks footprints, along the central axis of Beijing, from Yongdingmen, Qianmen, Tiananmen, the Forbidden City, the Drum Tower step by step towards the main Olympic Games venue, symbolizing the 29th Olympic Games step by step into China, into Beijing. This is the "footprints" shot over Tiananmen Square. Xinhua News Agency reporter Hao Yuanzheng photo
Standing at this moment, as if standing in a new coordinate point of the era, 100 years of diligence, 30 years of transformation, today, the two ancient civilizations of the East and West in the Olympic flame embraced, will give rise to what passionate collision
Tonight, the world in the sky in Beijing to see the "Olympic footprints of history! "
A giant, burning footprint-shaped fireworks rose up in the sky, traveling from Yongdingmen Gate all the way north along Beijing's central axis, through Tiananmen Square, and step by step toward the main venue, the Bird's Nest. When the 29th bright footprints exploded above the Bird's Nest, immediately turned into a sky of stars sprinkled to the ground, in the center of the Bird's Nest gathered into a starlight twinkling Olympic rings.
China's most beautiful ancient art image of the flying sky, dancing in the air with long sleeves, the huge five rings with the sash flying sky slowly rise, slowly rise, like a beautiful myth reflecting the whole scene.
Zhang Yimou said he wanted to use the fantastic five rings to make everyone remember the day the Olympics first came to China.
This magical feeling makes it impossible not to be overwhelmed with emotions.
From the "Tianjin Youth" first put forward the "When can China host the Olympic Games? The process of realizing this dream has gone hand in hand with the Chinese people's struggle for national independence, national prosperity and happiness. In the process of turning the dream into reality, China from backwardness to development, from poverty to well-off, from closed to open, has been a new face, responsible image of a great nation and confident and calm mind, standing in the east of the world.
In the center of the Bird's Nest, a scroll symbolizing the development of Chinese civilization was once again opened, and the original black-and-white ink became colorful. Young pianist Lang Lang, together with a 5-year-old girl, played a soothing and romantic piano piece on the scroll, playing for the new era and new life.
More than 1,000 young boys and girls, clad in brightly glittering starlight, built a marvelous, crystal-clear bird's nest with their own bodies. A red-skirted girl, flying a colorful kite, fluttered past the bird's nest of light and shadow.
This beautiful scene full of longing, infected the whole scene, countless spectators on the bleachers waved their hands flashlight, on and off the stage, 10,000 points of starlight, "suspected that the Milky Way fell nine days.
"Chinese people support and love the Olympic Games from the bottom of their hearts." This scene, let the Croatian Ambassador to China Veli? issued a heartfelt admiration. "The Beijing Olympics is an exquisite window through which people appreciate the world's greatest civilization and most splendid culture. Through this window, the world will also recognize and identify with China anew."
The Olympics have this kind of magical power. the four-yearly Olympic Games are the world's largest comprehensive sporting event and a cultural exchange extravaganza for the whole world to see. Today's Olympic Night in Beijing brings together 204 members of the Olympic family, making the Beijing Olympics the largest gathering in modern Olympic history.
"For a large number of ordinary Chinese, the Beijing Olympics have given them their first opportunity to have zero-distance, large-scale contact with the outside world, allowing Chinese people to truly experience the feeling of a global village." So said a foreign journalist in his report on the Beijing Olympics.
Mr. Li, a Beijing resident who was lucky enough to win a ticket to the Olympic opening ceremony, seems to be feeling "this feeling". He arrived at the Bird's Nest early today, and as he watched guests from all over the world pass by, speaking and laughing in a variety of languages, he half-joked, "I don't even know what country I'm in."
Really, sitting in the main venue of the Beijing Olympics, we feel a strong sense of "the world is around us" atmosphere. 42,000 tons of high-quality steel to build the Bird's Nest is a miracle of Sino-foreign cooperation in the creation of the building; the passionate opening ceremony of the cultural performances, many of the important positions in the team from the foreign artists or technicians responsible for; to participate in the games from their own people. The opening ceremony cultural performances are being staged, many important posts in the team by foreign artists or technicians responsible; to participate in the competition, not to mention the audience on the bleachers, also from all over the world.
Biologists believe that human beings are the only beings in the world who can smile, and that a smile is the best way for people to express their goodwill and communicate with each other.
A year earlier, the Beijing Olympics solicited children's smiling faces from around the world. Tonight, thousands of these smiling faces from all over the world are displayed in front of the world audience - the pure, innocent smiles of children of different races and skin colors echo the melting smiles of guests from all over the stands.
The smiles told the world that on the splendid stage of the Olympics, Beijing is staging a wonderful drama of equal dialogue, exchange and integration with civilizations of the world.
On Aug. 8, the 29th Summer Olympic Games opened ceremoniously at the Beijing National Stadium. This is the entrance of the athletes. Xinhua News Agency reporter Guo Dayue photo
Standing at this moment, we stand in the middle of the human family, hoping for everyone's hope, glorifying everyone's glory, and the five continents and the four corners of the world are here to share the "one world, one dream"
Greek athlete Ilias Iliadis, holding his flag, was the first to walk up the Avenue of Stars tonight. The first to walk down the avenue of stars tonight, the audience's warm applause made him look even more radiant.
Athletes from various countries and regions, dressed in full costume and accompanied by ethnic music from all five continents, walked into the arena one by one to make their first appearance at this year's event. Some waved enthusiastically, some danced, and others took pictures as they walked, leaving the most memorable images for themselves.
As the world's largest and highest-profile sporting event today, a large number of the world's most famous athletes are gathered at the Olympics. Whenever spectators spot their favorite stars from the lineup, shouts of surprise always erupt. Many of them have made it their goal to win an Olympic gold or medal. But everyone knows that only by challenging themselves and overcoming their egos can they keep realizing their quest to be higher, faster and stronger.
More athletes, perhaps, don't care about medals. But the obsession in their hearts is by no means inferior to that of any star who is a favorite to win a medal.
"It's always been my dream to go to Beijing for the Olympics and compete with the world's best." Costa Rican 20-kilometer race walker Aaron Segura is just an amateur athlete. In order to fight for the Olympic qualification, he even raised debts to participate in international competitions. Without a coach, without an escort, alone, he fought his way through the 20-kilometer racewalking course: "All these difficulties are too little for my dream." Tonight, Segura walked into the Bird's Nest as the delegation's flag bearer, his heart full of pride.
The Olympics is a place where countless dreams come true, but it is also a family where people are friendly, get to know each other, share their joys and bear their hardships.
Dana Hussein, 21, the only female athlete in the Iraqi delegation, and her teammates almost missed the Beijing Olympics for various reasons. Today, as she and her teammates walked into the Bird's Nest, the crowd applauded their ordeal.
The Olympic spirit is best embodied in human kindness and good feelings. When the Chinese team was the last to enter the stadium, it was an amazing and moving scene. Next to Yao Ming, the tall flag bearer of the Chinese team, walked a child with a small flag in both hands, who was Lin Hao, an elementary school student from Yingxiu township, the hardest-hit area of the Wenchuan earthquake.
The unexpected appearance of this little flag bearer attracted the attention of the whole audience. Although he was only a second-grade elementary school student, he showed rare bravery when that disaster struck, risking great danger to rescue two classmates from the rubble.
His "unexpected" appearance today surprised the audience. People threw the most applause, the most enthusiastic shouts to him, to his body embodied the noblest human nature.
This may be the most moving applause at the opening ceremony tonight.
The long wait has made the joy of a dream come true extraordinarily hearty. At this moment, at the Beijing National Stadium, the bright red Chinese flag stands shoulder to shoulder with the Olympic flag, and the flags of the 204 Olympic families fly together.
In the midst of a thousand calls, Xu Haifeng, China's first Olympic gold medalist, ran into the Bird's Nest with the torch in his hand. In the audience's rhythmic "Go Beijing, Go Olympics! Olympic cheer!" In the rhythmic "Go Beijing, Go Olympics!" chants of the audience, he and Gao Min, Li Xiaoshuang, Jim Xugang, Zhang Jun, Chen Zhong and Sun Jinfang handed over the torch and ran the last leg of the Beijing Olympic torch relay.
Standing in the center of the arena with all eyes on him, gymnast Li Ning took on the task of lighting the torch at the end. He raised the torch high in his hand, and before anyone realized it, his body had already risen into the air.
The biggest surprise of the opening ceremony was finally revealed. Li Ning held the torch and ran along the edge of the Bird's Nest like a spacewalk, pulled by a steel cable. At the same time, a Chinese-style picture scroll along the "air runway" slowly unfolded, the scroll shows the Olympic flame in order to pass around the dynamic image. When the scroll was completely unfolded, Li Ning stopped not far from the high torch tower.
Suddenly, 100,000 people seemed to hold their breath at the same time in the colorful Bird's Nest. The world-famous singing artist Sarah Brightman and Chinese singer Liu Huan sang the theme song of the Olympic Games slowly sounded, the song is soft, fresh, warm, refreshing heart.
"Come on, friend, stretch out your hand, me and you, heart to heart, forever family."
Li Ning gently stretched the torch forward and lit the fuse in front of a golden phoenix struck by light. A flame swirled upward toward the torch tower, and with a loud bang, the main torch, which stood on the edge of the Bird's Nest, erupted into flames, illuminating Beijing's night sky.
This moment, 112 years of modern Olympic movement opened a new page; this moment, the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation wrote a new chapter; this moment, the glory and dreams of all mankind bloom!