UNHIDDEN FACTs - BEIJING CEREMONIES

1.The 2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony was held at the Beijing National Stadium, also known as the Bird’s Nest. It began at 8:08 pm China Standard Time (UTC+ 8) on 8 August 2008 because in Chinese culture, 8 is considered to be a lucky number.

2.The OPENING ceremony was co-directed by Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou along with Chinese choreographers Zhang Jigang and Shen Wei.

3.It was noted for its focus on ancient Chinese culture, and for its creativity, as well as being the first to use weather modification technology to prevent rainfall.

4.Featuring more than 15,000 performers, the ceremony lasted over four hours and was reported to have cost over US$100 million to produce.The opening ceremony was lauded by spectators and various international presses as spectacular and spellbinding.

5.More than 100 heads of state, heads of government and sovereigns attended the opening ceremony.The number of heads of state who attended the opening ceremony was by far the largest in Olympic history

6.The final ascent to the torch featured Olympic gymnast Li Ning, who appeared to run through air around the top ring of the stadium.

7.Featuring more than 15,000 performers, the ceremony lasted over four hours and was reported to have cost over US$100 million to produce.

8.The Chinese singer Liu Huan and British singer Sarah Brightman, standing on the central platform, sang the 2008 Olympic theme song: You and Me.

9.As Chinese is written in characters and not letters, the order of the teams’ entry was determined by the number of strokes in the first character of their respective countries’ Simplified Chinese names.

10.Guinea was the second country to enter following Greece as it only takes two strokes to write the first character in the country’s name . Australia marched 202nd, just ahead of Zambia ,which was the last country to march before China.

11.The Chinese contingent, which was last, was led by Yao Ming and Lin Hao, the 9-year-old primary school student who had rescued two schoolmates during the 2008 Sichuan Earthquake.

12. Four Great Inventions of ancient China
* The Compass
* Gunpowder
* Paper
* Printing

13.The Olympic flag was carried in by eight former athletes from China. They were:

* Zhang Xielin (table-tennis)
* Pan Duo (Everest mountaineer)
* Zheng Fengrong (athletics)
* Yang Yang (A) (short track speed skating)
* Yang Ling (shooting)
* Mu Xiangxiong (swimming)
* Xiong Ni (diving)
* Li Lingwei (badminton)

14.At the End of the ceremony Jackie Chan, Karen Mok, Han Hong, and Sun Nan sang the first song, “Stand Up”; while Andy Lau, Nicolas Tse, Joey Yung, Wakin Chau, Wang Feng, and Sun Yue sang the second song, “Cheering for Life”. Since the ceremony was already overtime by then, this portion was not televised.

15.In 2006 the Beijing Organizing Committee (BOCOG) initially chose American film maker Steven Spielberg, Yves Pepin, head of the French entertainment group ECA2, and Sydney Games opening ceremony director Ric Birch as special consultants.

16.The South Korean Seoul Broadcasting System (SBS) leaked parts of a rehearsal of the opening ceremony through secret shooting before the actual ceremony, disregarding the prohibition of the Organizing Committee.

17.The song “Ode to the Motherland” appeared to be sung by Lin Miaoke at the ceremony, but it emerged she had mimed her performance to a recording by another girl, Yang Peiyi.

18.Most of the television coverage of the fireworks show that displayed the 29 fireworks “footprints” outside the stadium was simulated by computer animation by using CGI of 28 of the footprints for television broadcasts, and only the last one was filmed live.

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CLOSING CEREMONY

1.The 2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony was held at the Beijing National Stadium, also known as the Bird’s Nest.

2.It was directed by Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou and began at 8:00 pm China Standard Time (UTC+ 8) on August 24, 2008 (the post-introductory main ceremony began at 8:08 pm). The number 8 is associated with prosperity and confidence in Chinese culture.

3.British singer Leona Lewis and Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page (with association football player David Beckham making an appearance).

4.The Ceremony also included the handover of the games from Beijing to London. Guo Jinlong, the Mayor of Beijing handed over the Olympic flag to the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson.

5.The total cost for the eight-minute segments during the Handover Ceremonies at the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Beijing was £2.5m