Beijing Olympic Games Opening Ceremony

The Beijing Olympic Games are finally underway and boy, did they put on quite a show for their Opening Ceremony! It helps when the host country has a storied history like China. I've been a veteran Olympic Game watcher of previous Olympiads and I have to say this ranks one of the best. From the opening drummers, the themes of the four Chinese inventions: gunpowder, paper, movable printing type, compass, it was nice to learn what the country was about. The precision in which they did everything was just amazing... I also noticed they used a lot of children in the Opening Ceremony. I guess that with all it's gloried history and recent troubles with human rights issues, China is looking forward to making amends with the future generation.

The Olympic cauldron was lit by Li Ning, a legendary Chinese gymnast from the Los Angeles Games. It was really neat how it was lit too. He was hoisted in the air by wire fu and he mimicked running a lap around the birdnest Olympic stadium as a paper scroll unfurled. It must have taken a lot of strength to keep the legs moving and also the arm up.

In all, it the Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony was a very impressive fusion of history and art. You passed the first hurdle Beijing, and it went off without a hitch. Congrats. Prove the naysayers wrong the rest of the way!