Doha puts pressure on Beijing

By Gu Wen (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-12-08 09:14

If you spent 5,000 yuan (US$640) for a ticket to a show that had been talked about for years in advance and was a symbol of a country's national pride, you'd probably expect an amazing spectacle.

China's Qi Hui celebrates her victory after winning the women's 200m individual medley swimming finals competition in Doha December 7, 2006. [Xinhua]

That's what many ticket buyers are hoping for at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games on August 8, 2008. And their hopes for a great show have only been heightened thanks to the televised opening ceremony of the Doha Asian Games last Friday.

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The event impressed the world with superb story-telling and a combination of modern technology and Asian culture. People were amazed to see the dramatic finale when the captain of the Qatari equestrian endurance team carried the Games torch on horseback and rode up a flight of stairs to the top of the stadium to light a giant cauldron amid blazing fireworks in the background.

At the Olympic Games in Beijing, such details as how the flame will be lit and who will be the final torchbearer are being kept secret leading up to the night of the event.

But now that the Asian Games has opened in such spectacular style, people's expectations have been raised for the Beijing Olympic Games.

Although nobody is sure what to expect in Beijing yet - the final script is expected to be assembled in 2007 - some Chinese commentators are already voicing their worries after Doha. Their concerns include:

The directors' formats of a sea of performers with traditional Chinese art forms may look "provincial" and "small" in comparison with the high-tech spectacle in Doha;

Over-emphasizing Chinese elements may mean lack of understanding for foreign viewers;

As the construction of the state-of-the-art centrepiece Olympic stadium Bird's Nest is well under way, the directors may need to think harder about how to take full advantage of the architectural triumph, for example, how to turn its gigantic interwoven twigs into props for the ceremony.

Zhang Yimou, chief director of the opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing Games, must have felt the mounting pressure. He said upon his appointment in April that the directors on the team have been joking to one another, "you'll know if you're a hero or a criminal of one thousand years on August 8, 2008."

The star-studded cast to produce the ceremonies also includes some of China's best choreographers as well as a space flight designer. Oscar-winning director Steven Spielberg and Richard Birch, organizer of the highly successful opening and closing ceremonies at the Sydney Games in 2000, serve as advisers for the team.

"The Doha Asian Games have shown us an unforgettable opening ceremony, and it's the best ever shot I have seen at an Asiad since the 1990 Beijing Asiad," said Chen Weiya, a choreographer and an assistant director on the team, after watching the show at the Khalifa Stadium in Doha. "To us, there's a lot to learn, and we'll make a thorough scan on the technical device used in the stadium special for the opening ceremony."

The most important thing to learn from Doha, though, may be that the directors need to focus on not just satisfying the spectators, but really delighting them.