Along with hundreds of Chinese who live around Beijing's Altar to the Earth, I sat for hours in the humid August air to both wait for and watch the opening ceremonies of the Olympics on two jumbo screens.
Highlights included a very young police force that attempted to keep order (including drawing seating areas with chalk in the ground -- which many spectators actually adhered to), an attention-mongering foreigner wearing nothing but striped pants and the Chinese flag, and hours and hours of anticipation for the big cheer for the Chinese team (though the wait was probably a low-light). The cheer, however, did not disappoint. Watch a clip of it here.
Also check out a photo gallery of the atmosphere in Beijing on the day of the opening ceremony.
My plan was to spend the earlier part of the evening near the National Stadium, also known as the Bird's Nest stadium, but I and hundreds of other spectator-hopefuls were met with defeat as the police closed down all streets that got anywhere near the nest. Despite pleas in English and Chinese, and a strange shortcut I took that led me through the halls of a geophysics lab, I could get no closer than maybe half a mile at best.
From afar is the stadium, if you can see it through the fog/smog.
So off to Ditan Park, which along with 26 other public spaces throughout the city, has been designated one of the official places to view the Olympics. Ditan is a great place. The altar was constructed in 1530 during the Ming Dynasty and was used by both Ming and Qing emperors as a place to pay tribute to the god of the Earth. In the mid 1980s, it was converted to a park and many elderly folks go there to walk, play Chinese chess, chat or, like this one man I encountered, practice Chinese calligraphy on the ground using a sponge paintbrush and water.
Despite rumors that the opening ceremony would begin at the lucky time of 8:08 p.m., Chinese director Zhang Yimou's directorial feat began promptly at 8 p.m. with oohs and ahhs throughout the show. Spielberg missed out on putting together quite a show.
After the entertaining opening, the crowd got steadily tired as they watched three hours of announcements for competing countries. Spattered however were cheers for Pakistan, Palestine, Cuba, Brazil, Canada (with a special applause for Dashan), Spain, Iran, Iceland, Argentina, Afghanistan, Switzerland, Italy, Germany and Mexico. (Yeah, I kept a record). Big cheers were reserved for Chinese Taipei, Chinese Hong Kong, Iraq, Russia (especially Putin), the USA (Though many were American expats), Singapore, and of course, China.
Incidentally, the only boos I heard where when President Bush appeared on the screen.
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