China's 2008 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony is a Blast

The 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing opened today. The opening ceremony was on this morning, but I missed them. (I was busy taking pictures of a crew pouring a sidewalk, for another blog.)

From what I've read and seen, the ceremony was spectacular. Make that 'spectacular!' I've put together some of the coverage:

• The Australian (August 9, 2008)
  • Timeline/slideshow interactive display
  • "Beijing sets the Games alight with spectacular Opening Ceremony" article
• CNN (August 8, 2008)
  • "Emotion kicks off China's Olympics" article
  • "Emotion kicks off China's Olympics video (multiple segments - a sort of pre-game show)
• "Beijing Olympics opening ceremony hailed all over world" Xinhua (August 9, 2008)
  China's own news service: lots of description and photos
• "The Olympic Games fireworks explode"
  China Daily (August 8, 2008)
  First in a sequence of four photos of the Olympic opening ceremony fireworks.
  Sure, it's just four pictures: But they're spectacular.

I'm sure that the fireworks, hoopla, flying gymnast, and 2,008 drummers were caught on tape. However, I didn't find online video of the actual opening ceremonies (not the one of rehearsals, leaked earlier). Maybe it'll show up later.

China is doing a pretty good job with One World One Dream, "The Official Website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games August 8-24, 2008." The website has a Videos section, but I didn't find anything on the opening ceremony - they may be still preparing a vid, I suppose.

I recommend the CNN video collection. It gives a look at how some people in China see this year's Summer Olympics. It's a very big deal for them, and a point of national pride. (I posted before, on how anxious the Chinese leadership seems to be, that their Olympics come out flawlessly, in "Chinese Olympics: A Bit on the Control Freak Side?" (August 4, 2008).)