Evidence for the Successful Opening Ceremony of 29th Olympics in Beijing
Opening ceremony of 29th Beijing Olympics is a great success.
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Eight is a lucky number in China, which is close to the word for wealth that many people believe eight is a number that is linked to prosperity. And the opening ceremony of the 29th Beijing Olympics began at 8 sharp last night at the “Bird’s Nest” in Beijing. Emotion was high, as Friday’s Opening Ceremony not only officially started the Summer Games but was a symbolic expression of a nation seeking its place as a global superpower.
Fireworks, athletes and pageantry on a scale never before seen in the Olympics opened the Summer Games in Beijing on Friday as the Asian nation kicked off the biggest and most scrutinized Games in history.
Chinese President Hu Jintao officially declared the the Olympics open, retired Chinese gymnastics champion Li Ning was carried through the air to light the Olympic cauldron, and pyrotechnics exploded throughout Beijing as the crowd of 91,000 at National Stadium cheered wildly.
It was a stunning display from the nation of 1.3 billion people. Some media observers believe that the Opening Ceremony may be the most-watched television event in history.
The opening was an artistic mix of performance and light depicting China’s 5,000 years of history.
Fireworks shot off across the Chinese capital as thousands of drummers, acrobats, martial artists and dancers performed under a light display at the National Stadium.
Children representing each of the 56 ethnic groups in China marched out into the stadium, called the “Bird’s Nest” because of its notable appearance.
Dancers merged with objects that depicted China’s ancient Silk Road, its Great Wall and ancient imperial past. Acrobats swirled around a giant sphere, depicting China’s ambitions in space.
There are many reasons that made the opening ceremony of the Olympics a success. Let’s take a quick review of what China had done for the 2008 Olympics:
The introduction of state-of-the-art energy saving technology in Olympic venues – for example the Olympic Village will showcase various technologies such as solar hot water, geothermal, and solar photovoltaic (PV) systems. These represent a welcome shift away from a reliance on polluting fossil fuels.
Beijing has increased its new vehicle emissions standards to EURO IV ahead of schedule for the Games in an attempt to improve air quality. This is amongst the most stringent emissions standards in the world.
Beijing has added four new rail lines for the city, as well as a direct line within the Olympic Green to encourage public transportation.
20% of the Olympic venue electricity used during the Games will be purchased from clean wind sources supplied by the Guanting wind power station, Beijing’s first wind power generation station capable of generating 100 million kWh of electricity a year, which is enough to meet the demands of 100,000 families.
Beijing has dramatically improved its sewage and wastewater treatment plants and water reuse systems.
Along with other low energy vehicles, there will be a fleet of 3,759 buses running on Compressed Natural Gas at the time of the Games. This is one of the largest fleets of this kind operating in any city in the world.
At the end of 2007, 16,000 boilers under 20 tons and 44,000 boilers under one ton had been upgraded.
By the end of 2007, 32,000 household heating systems had been converted from household coal heating to electricity.
BOCOG’s dialogue and consulting with NGOs during the Games represent a positive step towards the increased collaboration between government and civil society in China.
Sponsors have delivered specific environmental commitments. 100% of Coca-Cola’s 5,658 units of Olympic coolers and vending machines will feature HFC-free natural refrigerants. Haier will use solar powered HFC-free air-conditioners in the Olympic Village, tennis centre and other venues. Samsung has committed to making one of the official Olympics consumer phones, SGH-F268, 100% polyvinylchloride (PVC) and brominated flame retardants (BFR) -free.
All of these above mentioned are the things done by the Chinese government after successfully bidding for the 2008 Olympics, and indeed, the opening ceremony is a great success.
