Inspired by the past, longing for the future

By Raymond Zhou (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2008-08-08 23:40

The rich tapestry of Chinese civilization was embodied in a constantly evolving and abstractly fascinating scroll painting in the extravaganza for the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony.

Human bodies functioned as paintbrushes as black-clad dancers jumped and rolled around a blank scroll, adding the first touch of creativity and intellect to an art form uniquely Chinese. Later, the half-finished artwork became a platform where Confucian aphorisms were recited, a female teacher conducted a class to a bunch of children, and the children further added color strokes, and finally, during the entrance of athletes, marching feet splashed more color all over the existing layers and turning it into a burst of visual vibrancy.

Actors perform at the opening ceremony of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games at the National Stadium August 8, 2008. [Agencies]

Among the aspects of Chinese culture extolled in the pageantry, the Four Great Inventions of ancient China constituted one of the highlights. As the 3,000 thousand disciples of Confucius danced in a circle, chanting "All are brothers within the four seas", blocks that simulated movable type created waves and billows, and of course, the Chinese character "he" (harmony or peace) in various stages of its evolution. It took a while for the audience to realize that the 897 blocks were not computer operated, but each had a performer hidden inside.

The other three inventions - gunpower, compass and paper - were more or less implied: Fireworks are a peaceful use of gunpowder; Zheng He's ocean-bound expeditions were made possible partly by the use of the compass, and the scroll canvass was supposedly made of paper.

Zheng He's "treasure ships" were simulated by two phalanxes of oars so huge you'll be excused if they conjured up a certain scene from the movie Ben Hur. They moved in parallel and ultimately joined at the head and tail - or shall I say bow and stern -- to form one mammoth ship while in the rectangle center of the arena the Silk Road was first suggested by Flying Celestial Nymphs, an image from the Dunhuang Grotto, and then replaced by Zheng He, China's foremost explorer.

Flying dance girls, the kind that really flew upwards to the ceiling, with the help of wires, seven of them from north to south, and three east to west, were employed at the beginning of the gala to suggest cosmic fantasy. In the later half of the show, this was echoed by the graceful skywalk of astronauts.

The visual effect of rising appeared throughout the show. At the climax of "Music", a number based on five renowned Chinese paintings from five different dynasties, two colonnades rose from bases wheeled in and gradually revealed their ornate grandeur, very much like those in the movie Curse of the Golden Flower. To top it off, from each of the 32 columns sprang a dancer who strutted her stuff from up high -- a height of 12.3 meters, to be exact.

The transition from ancient to modern started with 26-year-old Lang Lang's piano solo - actually he was accompanied by a five-year-old girl, pointing further to the future. "Starlight" had a soothing new-age feel, with self-illuminating dancers taking the shape of a translucent dove and a bird's nest within a bird’s nest. The theme of rising found another image here with a colorful kite, which, in history, flew overseas as early as Tang and Song dynasties.

To expand on the notion of harmony, "Nature" presented a vaguely Taoist visualization of the peaceful coexistence between Man and Nature. The waterfalls as depicted in Li Bai's famous poem, the five elements of metal, wood, water, fire and earth, yin and yang, round and square, motion and stillness, heaven and earth, and all the contrasts in the world have been reconciled. The concept was updated when children painted ancient landscapes into green, the color for environmental awareness.

The theme song "You and Me" was delivered on top of a 24-m globe, around which 58 stuntmen walk perpendicularly to the part of the earth they happened to be, creating an illusion of weightlessness. Sung by Sarah Brightman and Liu Huan, the song is a variation of the One World One Dream mantra. They were surrounded by 2,008 volunteers, each of whom presented a smiling face collected from around the globe. The faces were later projected onto the overhead panel and into the night sky as part of the fireworks display.

The use of fireworks throughout the opening ceremony added variety, rhythm and consistency to the show. It started as a flashlight, a countdown, the welcoming flowers of peony and chrysanthemum; it stamped 29 giant footprints along the central axis of Beijing, signaling the number of Olympic Games in modern history; it opened the gate of heaven and revealed the five rings; and of course it brought the evening of excitement to a perfect climax.

There was only one video clip, 1 minute 20 seconds long, that introduced traditional Chinese paper making and the process of a scroll painting all the way to framing. The opening of the opening ceremony was performed by 2,008 drummers who each used a bronze instrument called "fou", the oldest drum in Chinese history. After a sundial was activated, the drummers flashed a countdown and went into an ever more elaborate routine with the refrain "Welcome My Friends". The original Chinese was direct from Confucius and literally means "Isn't it a pleasure that friends are visiting from afar?"

The 1-hour 7-minute show morphed into the entrance of 10,000 of these friends and guests when athletes from 204 countries and regions marched into the National Stadium.