Beijing Opening Ceremony

The Opening performance of the Beijing Olympics was China’s turn at showing the world just what they were made of. China finally had the chance to show the world that they are not far behind you; in fact, it is possible that they have already surpassed you in some areas if not most. The performance by the drummers showed all the drummers dressing in rather Chinese traditional clothes, with red being the main color they wore and tried to display. I think this is because the Chinese flag is also red, so it makes sense to use red to display China’s prowess. Even when they were using glowsticks to hit the drums and to wave to the audience, the colors of the glowsticks were red. The number of drummers is also a sight to see, as it can also serve as a sign from China to the outside world proving their large population and therefore abilities. Of course, most already knew that China had the most population in the world, but many questioned the ability of the Chinese since much of that population consist of people living in the countryside, but such a display of perfection from so many drummers serves as a sign to everyone else that not only does China have the highest population, we are also individually very adept too.

Followed by the drum performance was the display of fireworks being put up in areas all over Beijing, Tiananmen and the areas that used to serve as imperial China. Although displaying fireworks is nothing new nowadays, I kind of think of it as China’s way of declaring their own independence from every other country, that they do not need the help of any foreign country anymore, that they can flourish on their own as they have already shown the rest of the world and will continue to show that ability. After the fireworks was a lighting display of the Olympic sign while there are traditional dancers dressed in long traditional robes floating in the sky, similar to House of Flying Daggers as the commentators were talking about. They also talked about Zhang Yimou, who was the director of House of Flying Daggers, and his role in the preparation of this opening ceremony. Afterwards, a little girl starts singing while once again, she is wearing a red dress standing on a red podium while the lights in the stadium are displaying red. O c’mon that is just excessive. I know you want to prove to the world how strong you have become, but you don’t have to rub it in everyone’s face.

Other than that, China also displayed many traditional Chinese feats, such as the portrayal of calligraphy, the dancers dressed in black who were painting on the canvas that had appeared in the middle of the stadium while the man plays gu zheng in the background. Everything we see here shows traditional Chinese roots. Its as if China is trying to etch into the minds of the rest of the world the defining features of ancient China and to not forget that this is the country that surpassed (or will surpass) your own country.
I also think it was a very big honor for Zhang Yimou to be chosen as the director of the opening ceremony. Of course, because of this he will become even more known and famous, but other than that I think he did a splendid job at displaying the ancient cultures and traditions of China. I’m sure most of the people sitting in that audience at that time would not forget all that they saw, and those who saw it on TV or the internet will also remember the elegance of Zhang Yimou’s abilities.