| What did you think of the opening ceremonies? | |
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| Aug 8, 2008 11:50 |   |
 | I watched the opening ceremonies live from beginning to end. It lasted a little over 4 hours. What did you think of it? Was it as good as expected? Looking back, I have to say " Where were the Fuwa?" I did not see any of the mascots in any form during the whole time. I was waiting for the show stopper - the single spectacular act or performance that tops the show. Maybe I blinked and missed it but even the torch lighting left me wanting. The forming of the image of a dove by the men in light-up suits was very impressive. I also liked the girl flying "lifted" by the kite - but that was part of the piano playing section. Was the little girl blind? The announcers kept yammering and I missed somethings. This is just the beginning and we have two weeks of competitions ahead. |
| Aug 8, 2008 13:25 | #1 |
| Today is very nice day,Today will be remembered by people all the world for ever , lavish spectacle and a celebration of Chinese culture and international good will |
| Aug 8, 2008 15:09 | #2 |
| In my opinion, this was one of the most impressive ceremony I've ever seen, live or not. The effects were simply outstanding! That moving scroll, that large square that moved like waves, and at the end showed that wasn't eletronic, but humanic art.. beautiful. this shows that chinese people are the best when it comes to impress and be harmonic. I hope they do good in the games! |
| Aug 8, 2008 18:06 | #3 |
| The opening ceremonies had so many spectacular performances one after another that only in retrospect can I think of what I missed. No Chinese Dragons, no Chinese acrobats, no Phoenix bird, no Great Wall symbols. I think the organizers did not want to show the past as much as the present. It was a wonderful showcase for stage technology and the opening scroll LED screen was a wonder. the show truly displayed China's rise. What are some of your views? |
| Aug 8, 2008 22:44 | #4 |
| Yes....a spectacular event with impressive performances. Didn't get to see it live, had to wait until appx. 7pm C.S.T. (U.S. time) |
| Aug 9, 2008 08:19 | #5 |
| Today's (Saturdays) Wall Street Journal newspaper has an article about Shen Wei, advisor to Zhang Yimou and the event's principal choreographer. In it the article Shen wei told the writer that "The world has seen 'too many red lanterns and dragon dances, " and "partly at his urging, many traditional performances - such as the lion dances that are performed in Chinatowns around the world - were relegated to a preshow." Also " Upon seeing Mr. Shen's modern painting piece at the beginning of the ceremonies, organizers asked him to add more recognizable elements of traditional Chinese performance. He obliged, then succeeded in convincing the authorities that the revised version didn't work very well. They allowed him to change it back." The article also mentions that "about 9,000 military performers participated in the ceremony," I believe that no other Olympic opening ceremony could possibly have a cast as large as witnessed on Friday night! |
| Aug 9, 2008 09:17 | #6 |
| I missed ceremony, but saw Chinese TV news coverage people commenting on the event. I was happy to see the pride and joy of the people. |
| Aug 10, 2008 19:57 | #7 |
| I watched the opening ceremony from begining to the end too. Pretty Awesome. As for Fuwa, Zhang Yimou said that they had been to known to the world so there is no need to show them again at the opening ceremony just like Chinese dragon. Yinduffy, Great Wall actually appeared at the opening ceremony. If you watched carefully, you would find it on the moving scroll. The lighting ceremony was also good. Li Ning ran on the scroll and lit the torch. Very good. Actuallly, someone once suggested letting 8 phoenix landing on the Bird Nest to light up the torch. However, it was hard to realize it. So they gave up tihs idea. What impressed me most was that little girl in red sang a song at the beginning. She was so lovely and wasn't nervous at all. Forget to tell her name, she was Lin Miaoke, only 9 years old.  |
| Aug 26, 2008 10:09 | #8 |
| We had plenty of foreign media criticism of the substitution of one girl for another, and for some of the ceremony being computer generated and prerecorded, but I have just read this (I have abbreviated the passage) in the Australian press (Sydney Morning Herald). So it seems it's nothing new. The Sydney Symphony's confirmation that it mimed its entire performance at the opening ceremony of the 2000 Sydney Olympics comes as something of a shock. Even worse, it admits the backing tape was recorded, in part, by its southern rival, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. "It [the performance] was all pre-recorded and we were basically miming to a pre-recording. The reason the orchestra did not play live was that Olympics organisers "wanted to leave nothing to chance". |
| Aug 26, 2008 21:12 | #9 |
| People mime in 99% of big live performances. It is not the miming which is the issue here (Sarah Brightman and Liu Huan were both miming too) but the fact that the person wasn't miming to their own recording. I'm sure China could have found a girl who could sing as well as look cute in a red dress. However, it is an insignificant detail at the end of day, and the western media only picked up on it because they had to find every fault they could. I see absolutely nothing wrong with the pre-recorded footstep fireworks. The director is a film maker - what did they expect? The show as a whole was fantastic, and will be used for years to come as a yard stick to measure others by. The closing ceremony (even disregarding the London embarrassment) wasn't in the same league. There were a couple of good bits, but it was sloppy and boring compared to the opening. I think people should steer clear of songs - we see people singing every day - so what. |
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