One World. One Dream  

Posted by Ray in

It was a grand night for one of the oldest civilizations in the world. The Chinese showed the world the new China. It was truly China's coming out party. They drummed to the entire world what they are made of. The night started off with the countdown by the drummers. From the plasma membrane on the roof of the stadium to the rolling LED screens on the floor, it was all grandeur. The arrangement of the children from 56 different ethnic groups handing over the Chinese flag to the soldiers and the soldiers raising the flag - it gave me goosebumps. Every minute of the Opening ceremony was breath-taking. It was directed by Zhang Yimou (The director of The House of Flying Daggers) .

The only sore point was the commentary by the NBC team. (On Day 1, they said things like "... the American pair from the United States...."). I wish they speak less in the coming days.

The parade of the athletic teams was also great. As Yao Ming walked in with the Chinese flag, the whole stadium was up in it's feet and it was a moment to cherish for all the 600+ athletes who have been waiting for this time since 2001, when Beijing was awarded the Summer Olympics of 2008. It was nice to see the Indian contingent, but the size was dispropotinately small to the population. Hopefully in the coming years India invests more in Sports infrastructure.

Perhaps, the only blemish of the entire Opening Ceremony was someone had given the 9 year old kid a Chinese flag that was tied upside-down in the small stick. Perhaps it symbolized that the Sichuan Earthquake had turned the country upside-down.

I only wish that the Olympics will be held in India - sometime during our time here on Planet Earth.

This entry was posted on August 10, 2008 at Sunday, August 10, 2008 and is filed under . You can follow any responses to this entry through the comments feed .

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