Watching the 2008 Olympic Opening Ceremony
Before the 2008 Beijing Olympic Opening Ceremony, the CBC commentators had an interesting observation: that the director of the ceremony and the architect of "Bird Nest" were all once so called "dissidents" of China. They had been purged during the cultural revolution and had productions banned in China just in the past 10 years. How could the government now be reaching out to them and allowing them to present China in front of the world?
The commentators also told viewers what to expect: "the history of China represented by the four great inventions", says CBC's Peter Mansbrige, "but note that there's no mentioning of the past 50 years in China nor mentioning of the communist party's rule".
Bearing these critics in mind, I watched the Ceremony just hours after it's been broadcast and I think Zhang Yimou (the Director of the ceremony) got it right!
China and Chinese culture cannot be defined by what happened in the past 50 even 100 years that was much criticized in the West. It goes way deeper than that. It might be difficult for North American's to understand maybe because the history of some of the NA countries only runs 100 years back. China has 5000 years. I believe Zhang was not intentionally trying to avoid the modern history of China nor was he being bought out by the government (as some speculate). I think the culture that connects all Chinese around the world has little to do with the past 50 years and communist party (Communism itself is not even indigenous to China). Could it be represented by the Four Great Inventions and Confusionism? I don't know either. But I felt a profound proudness to be Chinese while watching this incredibly wonderous creation made possible by tens of thousands of artists.
Withe the 2008 Beijing Games Opening Spectacles, China has certainly made a broad statement to the world. If not anything else, it has certainly touched me, like thousand of others who live abroad and let us share the joy of being recognized of our Chinese heritage. Well done Beijing!
[ 本帖最后由 qqsong 于 2008-8-8 14:37 编辑 ]
