CHINA> Beijing Olympics Highlights
Beijing Olympic Games opens at 08/08/08/08
By Raymond Zhou (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2008-08-08 20:08

Starlight

Cosmic and translucent, this number provides a portal from the past to the present, even to the future. With pianist Lang Lang in the middle, group actors with light bulbs all over their bodies evoke a world of fantasy with their movements. They not just form cute objects like a dove or a smaller bird’s nest, but add a touch of otherworldliness to the presentation.

This is quite romantic, which is good for the pacing of the program. Thematically, it is a bit hollow, though. 

Beijing Olympic Games opens at 08/08/08/08
Pianist Lang Lang and a little girl perform surrounded by dancers during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games opening ceremony on August 8, 2008 at the National Stadium in Beijing. [Agencies]

Beijing Olympic Games opens at 08/08/08/08
Lang Lang performs during the opening ceremony of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games at the National Stadium August 8, 2008. [Agencies] 

Nature

You can interpret this number as a call for biological protection, but that would be reading too much pragmatism into it. It is about man's relations with nature, embodied in the movements of tai chi. It expounds on the philosophies from The Book of Changes, which contains an ancient system of cosmology intrinsic to Chinese cultural beliefs. The cosmology centers on the ideas of the dynamic balance of opposites.

Beijing Olympic Games opens at 08/08/08/08
A total of 2,008 actors performer Tai Chi during the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games in Beijing on August 8, 2008.  [Agencies]
Beijing Olympic Games opens at 08/08/08/08
Children wave a large drawing as the black-and-white world erupts into colors during the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games in Beijing on August 8, 2008. [Agencies]

The 2,008 performers doing tai chi in a circle that surrounds a rectangle is an epitome of the notion of "heaven is round and earth is square". And the boxing itself perfectly illustrates Lao Tzu's teaching -- "The soft and the pliable will defeat the hard and strong."

The black-and-white world erupts into colors when ancient Taoism is given a modern spin as a teacher instructs her pupils on the importance of loving the natural world that feeds us.

This is a very Chinese interpretation of environmentalism, with inspiration from ancient philosophers. Cryptic epigrams are conveyed in color schemes, shapes and forms. I never knew a gala idea could be so enlightening.