Olympic Games in Beijing Open With a Lavish Ceremony


An ecstatic China, an ancient nation so determined to be a modern power, finally got its Olympic moment on Friday night. With world leaders watching from inside the latticed shell of the National Stadium, the 2008 Beijing Olympics began with an opening ceremony of soaring fireworks, lavish spectacle and a celebration of Chinese culture and international good will.

At 8 p.m. on the eighth day of the eighth month — eight being a lucky number in China — the world looked toward Beijing and the 91,000 people inside the National Stadium. The global television audience was estimated to surpass four billion people.

“The historic moment we have long awaited is arriving,” President Hu Jintao said earlier Friday at a luncheon with visiting heads of state, including President Bush. “The world has never needed mutual understanding, mutual toleration and mutual cooperation as much as it does today.”

(Via NYT)

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