Beijing Lights Up Olympic Dream
By Sunny Lee
Korea Times Correspondent
BEIJING _ At long last, the world saw it all. The opening ceremony of the much anticipated Beijing Olympics.
All the well-kept secrets of the special night were revealed, including the spectacular countdown by 2,008 performers, the flying angels, men in space travel suits, children singing "Sing to Our Homeland," and the solemn rise of the Chinese national flag in front of more than 80 heads of the states from all corners of the world, including President Lee Myung-bak.
There was the unmistakable display of creativity by the ceremony director Zhang Yimou, who ingenuously used the huge 70-meter scroll on the ground as the screen, filled with special effects. To celebrate the special occasion, thousands of soldiers from the ancient Qin Dynasty were also resurrected from their two-thousand-year rest.
The immense human mass-generated waves formed the character "he" (harmony) to reflect the Olympic spirit.
The honored guests to the Middle Kingdom also heard the warm words of greetings from the ancient Chinese philosopher Confucius through the mouths of his 3,000 disciples, who carried ancient bamboo texts.
The spectators then watched the traditional Beijing Opera, watched the colorful peacock, and were marveled at the elevated column in the shape of Chinese imperial seal on which beautiful dancers made their gorgeous moves as if there were riding on a dragon in mysterious woods.
The performers also formed a glowing miniature of the Bird's Nest within the Bird's Nest, by turning on the light-emitting device on their costume, while China-born world-renowned pianist Lang Lang gave his best shot of his genius to the world audience.
Suddenly a ball surfaced from underground, inciting palpable "wows" from the crowd. Even the TV viewers held their breath as the dancers moved precariously on the ball vertically, which later turned into the earth.
There were then the 2,008 faces of children, collected from all over the world for the last two years to symbolize the harmony of the human race and the hope for the future.
As the country that invented fireworks, China didn't spare their invention at all for the special night. As many as 33,866 firecrackers blazed the sky colorfully in 32 different locations simultaneously in the city of 17 million people, painting celestial pictures of peony, dragons, and also drawing Olympic rings and smiling faces.
The Beijing Olympic opening ceremony will likely remain as the biggest international event this year, with nearly 4 billion people around the world are estimated to have seen it.
Koreans in Beijing were absolutely part of the every fun of the grand gala. Many of them gathered in front of the big screens at Korean restaurants in the city, shouting cheers and drinking soju.
They got more excited as the two Korean teams marched into the stadium. Korea marched 177th. North Korea entered as 180th. A record number of 205 countries have come to Beijing.
Many of the Koreans watching the opening ceremony went to the soccer match between Korea and Cameroon just a day ago in Qinhuangdao, a four-hour drive to the east of Beijing. "I was one of them. We passionately cheered for the Korea team. We will do the same for the whole Korean athletes during the entire Olympic period," said Kim Hee-chul, president of Korean Community in China (KCC).
Koreans came not just from Korea, but also from further-away countries. Choi Kil-lak, a Korean student studying in Franklin & Marshall College in the United States is one of them. "I don't want to miss the event. I also want to cheer for the Korean team," he said.
"I personally hope those athletes who were less highlighted by the media will also get many gold medals. They all have worked so hard and waited for a long time to come all the way to Beijing. It's important that they also feel included by Korean compatriots."
Lee Byung-kwon, president of the Korea Olympic Committee (KOC) in China, expressed the aspirations that other Koreans share: "We have a clear goal in this Olympics. But it's also important that we need to be flexible because it's not just sports games, but it's also a festival."
Korea is eyeing a top-10 finish in the gold medal race at the Beijing Olympics. It came in ninth at the Athens Olympics four years ago. Korea has sent 267 athletes to the Beijing Olympics.
A Chinese echoes Lee's view. "I hope this will be a safe and joyful Olympics. Let's forget about all the politics for the moment. Let's forget I am Chinese, you're a foreigner. An Olympics is supposed to be fun," said Li Yu, a media worker in Beijing.
For China, the Olympic are a very emotional experience. Humiliated by Western powers at the turn of the century, China sees the Olympics as the most important symbolic opportunity to reclaim its old historical glory and also demonstrate its spectacular modern economic expansion, since it implemented the reform and opening policies, initiated by the late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping.
The Communist Party's mouthpiece China Daily tersely summed it up: "It's a dream come true."
For many Chinese, the Olympics are also "therapeutic." China from today doesn't have to feel "inadequate" any more in the eyes of the word. The world, on the other hand, doesn't have to see China as "a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma."
The Chinese Communist Party, now more confident, has also made it clear that "China does not buy Western models of democracy. Yet [without democracy] people [in China] are free to choose their jobs, spouses, places of residence, and way of life," the same China Daily editorial carried.
Given its uncommon achievements, China may have the right to say so. But China, in choosing its own path for development, also faces some problems. The recent spate of incidents, including the Tibet protests and the last Monday's attack in the northwestern region of Xinjiang in which 16 paramilitary police officers were killed, shows that the world's most populous country contains many diverse and volatile voices within.
The Sichuan earthquake in which some 70,000 lives perished as well as the frequent mine accidents that easily claim dozens of lives at a time, also point out where China needs to work on more.
Socially, China is right to tell its people that casual spitting, going shirtless, jaywalking, disorderly queuing, may be perceived beneath the dignity of the world's fourth largest economy in the eyes of the world.
The great Chinese philosopher Confucius, whose words Beijing quoted in the opening ceremony, also called for a more transparent government and a fair and open manner by which officials are selected. China certainly remembers this.
One of the performances of the night was people practicing Chinese Taijiquan (shadow boxing), a form of martial arts with slow body movements. Although it is now commonly practiced in China, as a morning exercise ritual, in ancient times, it was actually used to defeat the enemy with "soft power."
The unsuspecting eyes may have missed that actually China was sending a signal to the world through the performance that it would want to come out in the world as a soft power, and not want to be misunderstood as a "threat," as some countries suspect.
The new China set up in 1949 has experienced two revolutions. One is the Cultural Revolution and the other the Olympics. If the Cultural Revolution is a revolution backward, the Olympics are a revolution forward. Now, the world should give China a chance. It is on the right track.