I really feel sorry for London 2012 Committee. Beijing has provided the best opening ceremony I ever had seen in any Olympics. Normally, these 3 to 5 hours of opening ceremony tends to be overbearing at times.
But last Friday’s 8-8-08 Opening Ceremony, I never felt the need to endure the whole program. I was more of curious to see what the Chinese would do next, then next … then next. In all, I was intrigued with its artistic, creativity and choregraphy.
Being a fan of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, it comes with no surprise that the Opening Ceremony would incorporate some movements from that film.
I’m not a fan of China. As Jia Ming Zhang can vouch this, I was sick of him bragging about China when we were at VSDB many years ago. In fact, he managed to fool some elementary teachers at VSDB by claiming that his grandfather was Chairman Mao Tse-Tung Zedong!
Yeah, it was absurd.
Suffice to say, the teachers went “Oohs!” and “Aahs!” each time Jia boasted … each time he does that, I always cringed. I can’t stand the smell of noodles that Jia cooked up after bringing it to the dorm from his home. The smell of noodles fouled the whole building all night long. It drove me nuts!
I love Jia. Of course, there are moments that I want to strangle Jia. After all, Jia was just a classmate-sibling rivalry of mine during our youth days at VSDB. I learned that “Jia” in Chinese meant “Let’s go!”
I love Jia’s parents. Jia’s father operated a Chinese restaurant in Front Royal, Virginia many years ago — he would give Jia the packets of noodles to distribute for VSDB students whenever Jia arrived from home. Jia’s parents are wonderful — no words can describe them, literally.
However, China being the capitalistic-communist society, I thought they might attempt to organize Beijing 2008 Olympics to every precise detail but not to lavish or beyond the limits of their imaginations. But with its opening ceremony, they just defied the world’s expectations and soared above the rest.
They literally hooked me watching the whole program and when it concluded, I was in state of daze and wanted to see more … in fact, they ultimately made Atlanta, Sydney, Seoul, Barcelona, Los Angeles and Athens look so amateurish at its best.
You gotta hand it over to China — they are one of the world powers. And they are here to stay. Like it or not, they had been here in the past, present and will remain so in the future.
Sorry, Robert Underhill, you have to concede that China has routed your beloved Americans and is here to stay for a long time.
Ahh, perhaps, it is time for me to cave in and visit China one day. I’d like to visit Tibet, Lhasa, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Great Wall of China, Gobi Desert, Beijing, Macan … oh, yeah, Mt. Everest.
Cheers,
R-
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