Harmony!

After enduring an early morning visit from the police to our apartment to “check our papers” yesterday, we decided a celebration of our non-deportation was in order. Besides, the Olympic opening ceremonies would take place at exactly 8PM and we certainly did not want to miss an opportunity to engage in harmony & good will with our fellow friends. (Harmony being the key word that would be repeated throughout the ceremony, and also our cue to drink.)

TV room at Ruin’s Pub, where we watched the ceremony

The opening ceremony was scheduled for 8PM on the 8th day of the 8th month – 8 being a highly auspicious number in China. If the Olympics had been held in Beijing in 2004, well, that would have just been awful. Four is an unlucky number because it sounds similar to the word for death. And you know what, the ceremony really was spectacular. Back in America for the 4th of July, I’d heard that there was a shortage of fireworks from China. I’m pretty sure this is because they were saving them all up for the Olympics rather than exporting them. Fireworks seemed to fill the sky! I remember arriving to China in 2005 and seeing the countdown signs – there were over 1000 days to go. I can’t believe I am still here in China, almost 3 years later, to see the games actually happen.

Zhang Yimou, the famous (and once banned) film director, did an amazing job orchestrating dancers, acrobats, musicians, and artists, all representing China’s history and “opening up” to the world. My favorite features were the LED screen scroll on the floor of the stadium, the giant red lantern with acrobats flying around it and the opening sequence of drummers producing light with each drumbeat.

The two hours of world athletes marching into the stadium was a bit dull. Instead of entering in alphabetical order, they entered according to the number of strokes it takes to write the country’s name in Chinese, except Greece, which lead as the birthplace of the games and China, which brought up the rear as the host. (A brilliant idea!) We cheered for all the countries we’d visited, lived in or were born in. (We represented China, Spain, Australia, Great Britain, Germany and the USA.) We stifled giggles over the group from “Chinese Taipei” (the politically correct way the Mainlanders decided to refer to Taiwan, officially still a province of the Motherland.) We marveled at the size of Yao Ming. Mostly, we were just killing time waiting for the Olympic flame to be lit.

I’ve always liked the design of the Chinese torch – long, slim and tubular with stylized red and white clouds, a common motif in traditional Chinese art and architecture, and I was pleased to see the flame at the Bird’s Nest stadium continued this theme. It was lit by one of China’s great Olympic heros, Li Ning, who now runs a massive sportswear company that rivals Nike in popularity here.

Harmony!!

These games have been shrouded in so much controversy – to boycott or not to boycott, to mask or not to mask, etc. While I do not deny the myriad concerns the world has over the faults of the Chinese government, I couldn’t help but feel glad that it had all come off beautifully. The security and preparations for the games have affected us personally, and maybe someday I’ll write more about that, and I know that there are many Chinese in Beijing and throughout the country who are not satisfied with what hosting the games has meant for their lives. Although one could argue whether these games were for the common man or for the greater interests of the government & economy, the local people of Linyi were certainly excited and proud last night. And you can’t deny them that. My feelings over the games are conflicted, which is a pretty normal reaction to all aspects of life in China – it’s complicated!

Be Sociable, Share!

•