2008 Summer Olympics, Organization, Costs
Its budget was later exceeded by the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, which suffered from major cost overruns; the 2014 Winter Olympics costed roughly US$50 billion in private and public funding.


2008 Summer Olympics, Organization, Venues
By May 2007 the construction of all 31 Beijing-based Olympic Games venues had begun. The Chinese government renovated and constructed six venues outside Beijing, and constructed 59 training facilities. The largest structures built were the Beijing National Stadium, Beijing National Indoor Stadium, Beijing National Aquatics Center, Peking University Gymnasium, Olympic Green Convention Center, Olympic Green, and Beijing Wukesong Culture & Sports Center. Almost 85% of the construction budget for the six main venues was funded by $2.1 billion (RMB¥17.4 billion) in corporate bids and tenders. Investments were expected from corporations seeking ownership rights after the Olympics. Some events were held outside Beijing, namely football in Qinhuangdao, Shanghai, Shenyang, and Tianjin; sailing in Qingdao; and, because of the "uncertainties of equine diseases and major difficulties in establishing a disease-free zone", the equestrian events were held in Hong Kong.


2008 Summer Olympics, Organization, Venues
The showpiece of the 2008 Summer Olympics was the Beijing National Stadium, nicknamed "The Bird's Nest" because of its nest-like skeletal structure. The stadium hosted both the opening and closing ceremonies, as well as the athletics competition. Construction of the venue began on 24 December 2003. The Guangdong Olympic Stadium was originally planned, constructed, and completed in 2001 to help host the Games, but a decision was made to construct a new stadium in Beijing. In 2001, the city held a bidding process to select the best arena design.


2008 Summer Olympics, Organization, Venues
Several criteria were required of each design, including flexibility for post-Olympics use, a retractable roof, and low maintenance costs. The entry list was narrowed to thirteen final designs. The bird's nest model submitted by architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron in collaboration with Li Xinggang of China Architecture Design and Research Group (CADG) was selected as the top design by both a professional panel and by a broader audience during a public exhibition. The selection of the design became official in April 2003. Construction of the stadium was a joint venture among the original designers, project architect Stefan Marbach, artist Ai Weiwei, and a group of CADG architects led by Li Xinggang. Its $423 million cost was funded by the state-owned corporate conglomerate CITIC and the Beijing State-Owned Assets Management Company.


2008 Summer Olympics, Organization, Venues
The 2008 Beijing Olympics caused traditional Hutong neighborhoods to be cleared to construct modern Olympic stadiums. In an effort to ensure success for the Games, the government invested billions in building new infrastructure, although clearance to tiny, outdated neighborhoods in Beijing called hutongs resulted (Petrun). Jim Yardley, a New York Times reporter interviews Pan Jinyu, a 64-year-old local resident: "They [the government] don't want foreigners to see this scarred old face." Feng Shuqin and her husband, Zheng Zhanlin, have lived in their house for 50 years, and the family has owned the property before the Communists took control in 1949.


2008 Summer Olympics, Organization, Venues
The government, trying to clear the area, has offered them to move with a compensatory sum of US$175,000, but the family insists the land is worth US$1.4 million (Yardley). Michael Meyer, an American who lives in the hutongs, reported that 500,000 residents were relocated from their homes before the Olympics began (Meyer).


2008 Summer Olympics, Organization, Transport
To prepare for Olympic visitors, Beijing's transportation infrastructure was expanded. Beijing's airport underwent a major renovation with the addition of the new Terminal 3, designed by architect Norman Foster. Within the city itself, Beijing's subway was doubled in capacity and length, with the addition of seven lines and 80 stations to the previously existing four lines and 64 stations. Included in this expansion was a new link connecting to the city's airport. A fleet of thousands of buses, minibuses, and official cars transported spectators, athletes, and officials between venues.


2008 Summer Olympics, Organization, Transport
In an effort to improve air quality, the city placed restrictions on construction sites and gas stations and limited the use of commercial and passenger vehicles in Beijing. From 20 July through 20 September, passenger vehicle restrictions were placed on alternative days depending on the terminal digit of the car's license plate. It was anticipated that this measure would take 45% of Beijing's 3.3 million cars off the streets. The boosted public transport network was expected to absorb the demand created by these restrictions and the influx of visitors, which was estimated at more than 4 million additional passengers per day.


2008 Summer Olympics, Organization, Marketing
The 2008 Summer Olympics emblem was known as Dancing Beijing. The emblem combined a traditional Chinese red seal and a representation of the calligraphic character for "capital" (京, also the second character of Beijing's Chinese name) with athletic features. The open arms of the calligraphic word symbolized the invitation from China to the world to share in its culture. IOC president Jacques Rogge was rather pleased with the emblem, saying, "Your new emblem immediately conveys the awesome beauty and power of China which are embodied in your heritage and your people."


2008 Summer Olympics, Organization, Marketing
The official motto for the 2008 Olympics was "One World, One Dream" (同一个世界 同一个梦想). It called upon the whole world to join in the Olympic spirit and build a better future for humanity, and was chosen from over 210,000 entries submitted from around the world. Following the announcement of the motto, the phrase was used by international advocates of Tibetan secession. Banners reading "One World, One Dream, Free Tibet" were unfurled from various structures around the globe in the lead up to the Beijing Olympics, such as from the San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge and the Sydney Opera House in Australia.


2008 Summer Olympics, Organization, Marketing
The mascots of Beijing 2008 were the five Fuwa, each of which represented both a color of the Olympic rings and a symbol of Chinese culture. In 2006, the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games released pictograms of 35 Olympic disciplines (however, for some multidiscipline sports such as cycling, a single pictogram was released). This set of sport icons was named the beauty of seal characters, because of each pictogram's likeness to Chinese seal script.


2008 Summer Olympics, Organization, Look of the Games
Four primary colors were used in the branding of the Games: China Red, Yellow, Lime Green, and Sky Blue, which were used to represent China, sun, land, and water, respectively.


2008 Summer Olympics, Organization, Media coverage
The 2008 Games were the first to be produced and broadcast entirely in high definition by the host broadcaster. In comparison, American broadcaster NBC broadcast only half of the Turin 2006 Winter Olympics in HD. In their bid for the Olympic Games in 2001, Beijing stated to the Olympic Evaluation Commission that there would be "no restrictions on media reporting and movement of journalists up to and including the Olympic Games." However, some media outlets claimed that organizers ultimately failed to live up to this commitment.


2008 Summer Olympics, Organization, Media coverage
According to Nielsen Media Research, 4.7 billion viewers worldwide tuned in to some of the television coverage, one-fifth larger than the 3.9 billion who watched the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. American broadcaster NBC produced only two hours of online streaming video for the 2006 Winter Games but produced approximately 2,200 hours of coverage for the 2008 Summer Games. CNN reported that, for the first time, "live online video rights in some markets for the Olympics have been separately negotiated, not part of the overall 'broadcast rights.'" The new media of the digital economy was said to be growing "nine times faster than the rest of the advertising market."


2008 Summer Olympics, Organization, Media coverage
The international European Broadcasting Union (EBU) provided live coverage and highlights of all arenas only for certain territories on their website, Eurovisionsports.tv. Many national broadcasters likewise restricted the viewing of online events to their domestic audiences. The General National Copyright Administration of China announced that "individual (sic) and websites will face fines as high as 100,000 yuan for uploading recordings of Olympic Games video to the internet", part of an extensive campaign to protect the pertinent intellectual property rights. The Olympic Committee also set up a separate YouTube channel at Beijing 2008.


2008 Summer Olympics, Organization, Theme song
The theme song of the 2008 Summer Olympics was "You and Me," which was composed by Chen Qigang, the musical director of the opening ceremony. It was performed during the opening ceremony by Chinese singer Liu Huan and British singer Sarah Brightman. The theme song was originally going to be a song called "So much love, so far away (Tanto amor, tan lejos)" written by Cuban singer-songwriter Jon Secada and Peruvian singer-songwriter Gian Marco under production from Cuban producer Emilio Estefan Jr. from EMI.


2008 Summer Olympics, Torch relay
The design of the 2008 Olympic Torch was based on traditional scrolls and used a traditional Chinese design known as the "Propitious Clouds" (祥云). The torch was designed to remain lit in 65 km/h (40 mph) winds, and in rain of up to 50 mm (2 in) per hour.


2008 Summer Olympics, Torch relay
The relay, with the theme "Journey of Harmony", was met with protests and demonstrations by pro-Tibet supporters throughout its journey. It lasted 130 days and carried the torch 137,000 km (85,000 mi)—the longest distance of any Olympic torch relay since the tradition began at the 1936 Berlin Games. The torch relay was described as a "public relations disaster" for China by USA Today, with protests against China's human rights record, particularly focused on Tibet. The IOC subsequently barred future Olympics organizers from staging international torch relays.


2008 Summer Olympics, Torch relay
The relay began 24 March 2008, in Olympia, Greece. From there, it traveled across Greece to Panathinaiko Stadium in Athens, and then to Beijing, arriving on 31 March. From Beijing, the torch followed a route passing through every continent except Antarctica. The torch visited cities on the Silk Road, symbolizing ancient links between China and the rest of the world. A total of 21,880 torchbearers were selected from around the world by various organizations and entities.


2008 Summer Olympics, Torch relay
The international portion of the relay was problematic. The month-long world tour encountered wide-scale anti-Chinese protests. After trouble in London involving attempts by protesters to put out the flame, the torch was extinguished in Paris the following day. The American leg in San Francisco on 9 April was altered without prior warning to avoid such disturbances, although there were still demonstrations along the original route. The relay was further delayed and simplified after the 2008 Sichuan earthquake hit western China.


2008 Summer Olympics, Torch relay
The flame was carried to the top of Mount Everest on a 108 km (67 mi) long "highway" scaling the Tibetan side of the mountain, built especially for the relay. The $19.7 million blacktop project spanned from Tingri County of Xigazê Prefecture to the Everest Base Camp. In March 2008, China banned mountaineers from climbing its side of Mount Everest, and later persuaded the Nepalese government to close their side as well, officially citing environmental concerns. It also reflected concerns by the Chinese government that Tibet activists may try to disrupt its plans to carry the Olympic torch up the world's tallest peak.


2008 Summer Olympics, Torch relay
The originally proposed route would have taken the torch through Taipei after leaving Vietnam and before heading for Hong Kong. However, the government of Taiwan (then led by the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party) objected to this proposal, claiming that this route would make the portion of the relay in Taiwan appear to be part of the torch's domestic journey through China, rather than a leg on the international route.


2008 Summer Olympics, Torch relay
This dispute, as well as Chinese demands that the flag and the national anthem of the Republic of China be banned along the route led the government of Taiwan to reject the proposal that it be part of the relay route. The two sides of the Taiwan Strait subsequently blamed each other for injecting politics into the event.


2008 Summer Olympics, Calendar
In the following calendar for the 2008 Summer Olympics, each blue box represents an event competition, such as a qualification round, on that day. The yellow boxes represent days during which medal-awarding finals for a sport were held. Each bullet in these boxes is an event final, the number of bullets per box representing the number of finals that were contested on that day. On the left, the calendar lists each sport with events held during the Games, and at the right how many gold medals were won in that sport. There is a key at the top of the calendar to aid the reader.


2008 Summer Olympics, Olympic and world records
125 Olympic records including 37 world records were set in various events at the Games. In swimming, sixty-five Olympic swimming records including 25 world records were broken due to the use of the LZR Racer, a specialized swimming suit developed by NASA and the Australian Institute of Sport. Only two swimming Olympic records remained intact after the Games.


2008 Summer Olympics, Games, Opening ceremony
The opening ceremony officially began at 8:00 pm China Standard Time (UTC+8) on 8 August 2008 in the Beijing National Stadium. The number 8 is associated with prosperity and confidence in Chinese culture, and here it was a triple eight for the date and one extra for time (close to 08:08:08 pm). The ceremony was co-directed by Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou and Chinese choreographer Zhang Jigang and featured a cast of over 15,000 performers. The ceremony lasted over four hours and was reported to have cost over US$100 million to produce. UNGA President Miguel d’Escoto and leaders from 105 countries attended this ceremony.


2008 Summer Olympics, Games, Opening ceremony
A rich assembly of ancient Chinese art and culture dominated the ceremony. It opened with the beating of Fou drums for the countdown. Subsequently, a giant scroll was unveiled and became the show's centerpiece. The official song of the 2008 Olympics, titled "You and Me," was performed by Britain's Sarah Brightman and China's Liu Huan, on a large spinning rendition of the globe. On the parade of nations section, the Greek team, which hosted the previous games, enters first in honour of its status as the Olympic birthplace. They were led by judoka Ilias Iliadis.


2008 Summer Olympics, Games, Opening ceremony
Meanwhile, the Chinese team enters last as the host country, led by NBA's Houston Rockets superstar Yao Ming and earthquake survivor Lin Hao, who was just 9 years old. The last recipient in the Olympic Torch relay, former Chinese gymnast Li Ning ignited the cauldron, after being suspended into the air by wires and completing a lap of the National Stadium at roof height.


2008 Summer Olympics, Games, Opening ceremony
The opening ceremony was lauded by spectators and various international presses as "spectacular" and "spellbinding". Hein Verbruggen, chairman of the IOC Coordination Commission for the XXIX Olympiad, called the ceremony "a grand, unprecedented success."


2008 Summer Olympics, Games, Sports
The program for the Beijing Games was quite similar to that of the 2004 Summer Olympics held in Athens. There were 28 sports and 302 events at the 2008 Games. Nine new events were held, including two from the new cycling discipline of BMX. Women competed in the 3,000-meter (9,843 ft) steeplechase for the first time. Open water swimming events for men and women, over the distance of 10 kilometers (6.2 mi), were added to the swimming discipline. Team events (men and women) in table tennis replaced the doubles events.


2008 Summer Olympics, Games, Sports
In fencing, the women's team foil and women's team saber replaced men's team foil and women's team épée. Two sports were open only to men, baseball and boxing, while one sport and one discipline were open only to women, softball and synchronized swimming. Equestrian and mixed badminton are the only sports in which men and women compete together, although three events in the Sailing allowed the opportunity for both males and female participants. However, only male participants took part in all three events.


2008 Summer Olympics, Games, Sports
The following were the 302 events in 28 sports that were contested at the Games. The number of events contested in each sport is indicated in parentheses (in sports with more than one discipline, as identified by the IOC, these are also specified).


2008 Summer Olympics, Games, Sports
In addition to the official Olympic sports, the Beijing Organizing Committee was given special dispensation by the IOC to run a wushu competition in tandem with the Games. The 2008 Beijing Wushu Tournament saw 128 athletes from 43 countries participate, with medals awarded in 15 separate events; however, these were not to be added to the official medal tally since Wushu was not on the official program of the 2008 Summer Olympics.


2008 Summer Olympics, Games, Closing ceremony
The 2008 Summer Olympics Closing Ceremony concluded the Beijing Games on 24 August 2008. It began at 8:00 pm China Standard Time (UTC+8) and took place at the Beijing National Stadium.


2008 Summer Olympics, Games, Closing ceremony
The Ceremony included the handover of the Games from Beijing to London. Guo Jinlong, the Mayor of Beijing handed over the Olympic flag to the Mayor of London Boris Johnson, followed by a performance organized by London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. This presentation included performances by guitarist Jimmy Page and recording artist Leona Lewis. Footballer David Beckham was also featured during London's presentation.


2008 Summer Olympics, Games, Medal table
Of the 204 nations that participated in the 2008 Games, 87 earned medals and 54 of those won at least one gold medal, both of these figures setting new records for Olympic Games. There were 117 participating countries that did not win any medals.


2008 Summer Olympics, Games, Medal table
Athletes from China won the highest number of gold medals of any nation at these Games, with 48, thus making China the seventh nation to rank top in the medal table in the history of the modern Olympics, along with the United States (fifteen times), France (in 1900), Great Britain (in 1908), Germany (in 1936), the Soviet Union (six times), and the Unified Team (in 1992).


2008 Summer Olympics, Games, Medal table
The United States team won the most medals overall, with 112. Afghanistan, Mauritius, Sudan, Tajikistan and Togo won their first ever Olympic medals. Mongolia (which previously held the record for most medals without a gold) and Panama won their first gold medals. Four members of the water polo team from Serbia won the first medal for their country under its new name, having previously won medals representing Yugoslavia and Serbia and Montenegro.


2008 Summer Olympics, Games, Medal table
American swimmer Michael Phelps won a total of eight gold medals, more than any other athlete in a single Olympic Games, setting numerous world and Olympic records in the process. Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt also set records in several different events, completing the 100 m final with a time of 9.69 seconds, beating his own previous world record. Gymnast Nastia Liukin won the all-around gold medal in artistic gymnastics, becoming the third American female to do so, following in the footsteps of Mary Lou Retton in 1984 and Carly Patterson in 2004.


2008 Summer Olympics, Games, Medal table
These are the top ten nations that won medals in the 2008 Games.


2008 Summer Olympics, Participating National Olympic Committees
All but one of the 205 recognized National Olympic Committees (NOCs) that existed as of 2008  participated in the 2008 Summer Olympics, the exception being Brunei. Three countries participated in the Olympic Games for their first time: the Marshall Islands, Montenegro and Tuvalu.


2008 Summer Olympics, Participating National Olympic Committees
While not a full member recognized by the IOC and thus not allowed to compete formally in the Olympics, the Macau Sports and Olympic Committee sent a delegation to participate in the Wushu Tournament Beijing 2008, being the only unrecognized National Olympic Committee to have taken part in the 2008 Summer Olympics. It also coordinated efforts with the Chinese Olympic Committee to organize the torch relay through Macau.


2008 Summer Olympics, Participating National Olympic Committees
The Marshall Islands and Tuvalu gained National Olympic Committee status in 2006 and 2007 respectively, and 2008 was the first Games in which they were eligible to participate. The states of Serbia and Montenegro, which participated at the 2004 Games jointly as Serbia and Montenegro, competed separately for the first time. The Montenegrin Olympic Committee was accepted as a new National Olympic Committee in 2007. Neighboring Kosovo, however, did not participate.


2008 Summer Olympics, Participating National Olympic Committees
After the declaration of independence in Kosovo, the IOC specified requirements that Kosovo needs to meet before being recognized by the IOC; most notably, it has to be recognized as independent by the United Nations. However, it has since been recognised by the IOC in 2014 without fulfilling this criteria and made its debut in the 2016 games.


2008 Summer Olympics, Participating National Olympic Committees
More than 100 sovereigns, heads of state and heads of government as well as 170 Ministers of Sport attended the Beijing Olympic Games.


2008 Summer Olympics, Participating National Olympic Committees, National participation changes
Athletes from the Republic of China (Taiwan) competed at the 2008 Games as Chinese Taipei (TPE) under the Chinese Taipei Olympic flag and used the National Banner Song as their official anthem. The participation of Taiwan was briefly in doubt because of disagreements over the name of their team in the Chinese language and concerns about Taiwan marching in the Opening Ceremony next to the special administrative region of Hong Kong. A compromise on the naming was reached, and Taiwan was referred to during the Games as "Chinese Taipei," rather than "Taipei, China," as the mainland China government had proposed. In addition, the Central African Republic was placed between Chinese Taipei and the Special Administrative Regions during the march of nations.


2008 Summer Olympics, Participating National Olympic Committees, National participation changes
Starting in 2005, North Korea and South Korea held meetings to discuss the possibility of sending a united team to the 2008 Olympics. The proposal failed, because of disagreements about how athletes would be chosen; North Korea was demanding a certain percentage representation for its athletes. A subsequent attempt to broker an agreement for the two nations to walk together during the March of Nations failed as well, despite their having done so during the 2000 and 2004 Games.


2008 Summer Olympics, Participating National Olympic Committees, National participation changes
On 24 July 2008, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) banned Iraq from competing in the 2008 Olympic Summer Games because of "political interference by the government in sports." The IOC reversed its decision five days later and allowed the nation to compete after a pledge by Iraq to ensure "the independence of its national Olympics panel" by instituting fair elections before the end of November. In the meantime, Iraq's Olympic Organization was to be run by "an interim committee proposed by its national sports federations and approved by the IOC."


2008 Summer Olympics, Participating National Olympic Committees, National participation changes
Brunei Darussalam was due to take part in the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. However, they were disqualified on 8 August, having failed to register either of their two athletes. The IOC spokeswoman Emmanuelle Moreau said in a statement that "it is a great shame and very sad for the athletes who lose out because of the decision by their team not to register them. The IOC tried up until the last minute, midday Friday 8 August 2008, the day of the official opening, to have them register, but to no avail." Brunei's Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports issued a press release stating that their decision not to participate was due to an injury to one of their athletes.


2008 Summer Olympics, Participating National Olympic Committees, National participation changes
Georgia announced on 9 August 2008, that it was considering withdrawing from the Beijing Olympic Games because of the 2008 South Ossetia war, but it went on to compete while the conflict was still ongoing.


2008 Summer Olympics, Participating National Olympic Committees, Participation of athletes with disabilities
South African swimmer Natalie du Toit, whose left leg was amputated following a motor scooter accident, qualified to compete at the Beijing Olympics. The five time gold medalist at the Athens Paralympics in 2004 made history by becoming the first amputee to qualify for the Olympic Games since Olivér Halassy in 1936. She was able to compete in the Olympics rather than the Paralympics because she does not use a prosthetic leg while swimming. Polish athlete Natalia Partyka, who was born without a right forearm, competed in Table Tennis in the 2008 Summer Olympics and 2008 Paralympic Games.


2008 Summer Olympics, Mascots
The mascots of the 2008 Summer Olympics are the Fuwa, created by Han Meilin (韩美林). The mascots consisted of Beibei, a fish, Jingjing, a panda, Huanhuan, an Olympic flame, Yingying, a Tibetan antelope, and Nini, a sand martin kite. If combined, it would being Beijing Huanying Ni (北京欢迎你) or Beijing Welcomes You, which is a theme (and a song) for welcoming the athletes to Beijing several months before. They were featured in an animated cartoon, 100-episode The Olympic Adventures of Fuwa, launched in 2007, a year before the games.


2008 Summer Olympics, Concerns and controversies
A variety of concerns over the Games, or China's hosting of the Games, had been expressed by various entities, including claims that China violated its pledge to allow open media access, various claims of human rights violations, its alleged continuous support of repressive regimes (such as Zimbabwe, Myanmar, Sudan, and North Korea), air pollution in both the city of Beijing and environs, proposed boycotts, warnings of the possibility that the Beijing Olympics could be targeted by terrorist groups, disruption from Tibetan separatist protesters, and religious persecutions.


2008 Summer Olympics, Concerns and controversies
There were also claims that several members of China's women's gymnastics team, including double gold medal winner He Kexin, were too young to compete under the International Gymnastics Federation's rules for Olympic eligibility, but all were exonerated after an official IOC investigation.


2008 Summer Olympics, Concerns and controversies
Collectively, the Beijing Olympics are associated with a variety of problematic topics: the ecological impact, residential displacement due to construction, treatment of migrant workers, the government's political stance on Tibet, etc. In the lead-up to the Olympics, the government allegedly issued guidelines to the local media for their reporting during the Games: most political issues not directly related to the Olympics were to be downplayed; topics such as pro-Tibetan independence and East Turkestan movements were not to be reported on, as were food safety issues such as "cancer-causing mineral water". As the 2008 Chinese milk scandal broke in September 2008, there was widespread speculation that China's desire for a perfect Games may have been a factor contributing towards the delayed recall of contaminated infant formula.


2008 Summer Olympics, Concerns and controversies
The 2008 Olympics were hit by a number of doping scandals before and after the Games had commenced. Since seven Russian track and field stars were suspended just before the start of the Games for allegedly tampering with their urine samples, only five of the seven who were due to take part could participate. Eleven Greek weightlifters also failed tests in the run up to the Games and the entire Bulgarian weightlifting team had to withdraw after eleven of their weightlifters also failed tests. A small number of athletes from other nations also failed pre-Games tests.


2008 Summer Olympics, Legacy
The 2008 Summer Olympics have been generally accepted by the world's media as a logistical success. Many of the worst fears about the Games failed to materialize: no terrorists struck Beijing; no athlete protested at the podium (though Swedish wrestler Ara Abrahamian tossed his bronze medal in disgust over judging); and the air quality, despite being the worst in Olympics history, was not as bad as many had feared beforehand – due largely to favorable weather patterns.


2008 Summer Olympics, Legacy
Many in China viewed the Olympics as "an affirmation of a single nationalistic dream" and saw protests during the international torch relay as an insult to China. The Games also bolstered domestic support for the Chinese government, and for the policies of the Communist Party, giving rise to concerns that the Olympics would give the state more leverage to suppress political dissent, at least temporarily. Efforts to quell any unrest before and during the Games also contributed to a rapid expansion in the size and political clout of China's internal security forces, and this growth continued through the following years. Reports also indicated that the Olympics boosted the political careers of pro-Beijing politicians in Hong Kong, as many Chinese gold medal winners campaigned on behalf of the pro-Beijing DAB during the 2008 election, although any trend towards greater identification by Hong Kongers with Mainland China appears to have been short-lived.


2008 Summer Olympics, Legacy
The long-term economic impact of the Games on China and Beijing, in particular, is not yet clear. Some sectors of the economy may have benefited from the influx of tourists. Other sectors such as manufacturing lost revenue because of plant closings related to the government's efforts to improve air quality. Four years after the Games, many of the specially constructed facilities were underused or even deserted. It is generally expected by economists that there will be no lasting effects on Beijing's economy from the Games.


2008 Summer Olympics, Legacy
One 2009 study found that countries that host the Olympics experience a significant boost in trade, but this is also the case for countries which merely bid to host: "The benefit, in other words, came from the signal that a country was open for business, not from the spending itself."


2008 Summer Olympics, Legacy
Seven years after the 2008 Games, Beijing was awarded the 2022 Winter Olympics. It will thus be the first city to host both the Summer and Winter Games.


2008 Summer Olympics Parade of Nations
2008 Summer Olympics Parade of Nations was part of the opening ceremony that originating with the 1896 Olympic Games. The national team from each nation participating in the Olympic Games paraded behind their national flag into the Olympic Stadium. The flag bearer was an athlete of each national delegation chosen, to represent the athletes, either by the National Olympic Committee or by the national team.


2008 Summer Olympics Parade of Nations, Parade order
Per tradition, the national team of Greece, which hosted the previous Summer Olympics, in Athens, entered first as the progenitor of the Olympic Games, and the host country, in this case  China, marched last. Each nation marched in name order in the language of the host nation, which in this case is the Chinese language. The collation method used is based on the names as written in Simplified Chinese characters and is similar to that used in Chinese dictionaries.


2008 Summer Olympics Parade of Nations, Parade order
The names were sorted by the number of strokes in the first character of the name, then by the stroke order of the character (in the order 橫竖撇捺折, c.f. Wubi method), then the number of strokes and stroke order of the second character, then next character and so on. For example, this placed Australia (澳大利亚) in 202nd position, just ahead of Zambia (赞比亚) because the initial character for "Australia" (澳) is written in 15 strokes, while that for "Zambia" (赞) is written in 16 strokes.


2008 Summer Olympics Parade of Nations, Parade order
An exception to the ordering was Macedonia, which entered under its provisional designation as used by the IOC, "former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" (前南斯拉夫马其顿共和国), but was sorted under 马其顿 (Mǎqídùn = "Macedonia.")


2008 Summer Olympics Parade of Nations, Parade order
After marching in as a joint team in the previous two editions of the games, North Korea (Choson – 朝鲜; pinyin: Cháoxiǎn) and South Korea (Hanguk – 韩国; pinyin: Hánguó) marched in separate teams after negotiations failed for political reasons. The North Korean delegation were initially slated to march immediately after the South Korean delegation, but successfully requested a change of team designation which meant they were no longer ordered consecutively.


2008 Summer Olympics Parade of Nations, Parade order
The Marshall Islands, Montenegro and Tuvalu participation in the Olympic Games with their debut at these Games, and Serbia competed under this name for the first time after the 1912 Summer Olympics. Montenegro and Serbia were previously part of Yugoslavia and Serbia and Montenegro. Brunei was excluded from the Games by the IOC shortly before the Opening Ceremony as no athletes had been registered. Brunei athletes would have marched 36th between Uzbekistan and Barbados.


2008 Summer Olympics Parade of Nations, Parade order
Announcers in the stadium read off the names of the marching nations in French, English, (the official languages of the Olympics) and Mandarin Chinese with music accompanying the athletes as they marched into the stadium.


2008 Summer Olympics Parade of Nations, List
The following is a list of each country's flag bearer. The list is sorted by the sequence that each nation appeared in the parade of nations. The names are given in their official designations by the IOC, and the Chinese names follow their official designations by the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games.


2008 Summer Olympics cauldron
The 2008 Summer Olympics cauldron is the Olympic flame holder that was used during the 2008 Summer Olympics and the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, China. It was first lit on August 8, 2008, as part of the opening ceremony of the Games of the XXIX Olympiad and last extinguished as part of the closing ceremony of the games of the Paralympics on September 17. Originally located on the inside roof of the Beijing National Stadium, it was relocated to outside the stadium on the Olympic Green following the completion of the Games.


2008 Summer Olympics cauldron, Design and production
The Cauldron was designed by Chinese Technology Company Lenovo, who also designed the Olympic torch. It, along with the rim of the stadium's roof were designed to look like an unrolling scroll, with the cauldron itself representing the end of the scroll, spiralling up above the stadium. Decorated with cloud imprinting and an outer red lining, which according to Lenovo, was part of a motif meant to represent 'clouds of promise'.


2008 Summer Olympics cauldron, Design and production
The design team based the cauldron's structure on the 'ancient Chinese concept' of "round heaven and square earth" (which was the design theme of the entire Beijing Olympics), drawing inspiration from the Historic Temple of Heaven Complex in Central Beijing. Its design was also inspired by the shape of a traditional Chinese Bronze Age cauldron, with the 56 individual cloud swirls on its exterior engraving representing the 56 ethnic groups of China.


2008 Summer Olympics cauldron, Design and production
The Cauldron was built by Shougang Group, a state-owned steel company and constructed over seven months in the lead up to the Beijing Olympics. Additional work on the project was completed by Beijing Gas Group and the Centre for Engineering Design and Researching (Part of the General Armaments Department of the People's Liberation Army). Its construction was led by Shougang Group project manager Li Tingxiang.


2008 Summer Olympics cauldron, Design and production
The cauldron was made from over 2000 unique handcrafted pipes and sheets of steel. It stands over 35 meters, 10-stories, tall and weighs in excess of 45 tons. The exterior of the cauldron was coated in 1,026 individual perforated steel plates, designed to increase wind resistance in its exposed position protruding out the top of the stadium.


2008 Summer Olympics cauldron, Design and production
According to Party Secretary of Shougang Group, Wang Wenli, the cauldron cost 10 million yuan (US$1.45million) to construct.


2008 Summer Olympics cauldron, Installation
The logistics of installing the Cauldron required extensive preparation. Upon its completion, the cauldron was lifted onto the roof at the north-east end of the Bird's Nest, requiring an 800-ton load crane, two months before the start of the games. Extensive secrecy surrounded its relocation, with the aim of keeping its design secret to the public and press until the opening ceremony. To protect it from wind and rain, and to conceal its appearance, a reverse U-shape air-cushioned facility was erected over the top of the cauldron, which was laid on its side flat along the stadium's roof.


2008 Summer Olympics cauldron, Installation
An automatic hydraulic system was installed on the roof with the purpose of moving and slotting the cauldron into its final intended position on the inside rim of the stadium's roof during the final phase of the game's opening ceremony. The mechanics consisted of a flat cart to hold the cauldron and a rail track to transport it to the edge of the roof. When in position, it was moved into an upright position with the assistance of a hydraulic jack and held in place from below by steel supports. The Cauldron, plus the entire mechanical apparatus to move it into position, weighed in excess of 405 tons.


2008 Summer Olympics cauldron, Installation
This process was designed to occur automatically at the press of a button to prevent the need for human labour that could prove dangerous and distracting during the opening ceremony. The cauldron took 16-minutes to move into position and this was timed to happen alongside the parade of athletes on the field below, to minimise alerting spectators and camera crews. The Cauldron started moving at 10:08 pm and was in place by 10:24 pm in time for its scheduled lighting at 11:30 pm.


2008 Summer Olympics cauldron, History and use
The Cauldron was used to hold the Olympic flame, the symbol of the Olympics. It draws this tradition from the Ancient Olympics and Greek Mythology. The flame symbolises the theft of fire from Gods by the titan Prometheus, and a sacred fire was kept continuously burning throughout the duration of Ancient Olympics. The Modern Flame traces its origin to the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics and the torch relay –  the tradition in which the Olympic flame travels from Olympia, the birthplace of the Olympics, across country to the host city –  to the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.


2008 Summer Olympics cauldron, History and use
The flame of the XXIX Olympiad was lit in Olympia, Greece on March 24, 2008, and travelled 137,000 km (85,000 mi) across all 6 inhabited continents over the course of 129 days. There were multiple protests and demonstrations against the Chinese government's human rights record (particularly in regards to the sovereignty of Tibet) over the course of the relay and the flame had to be extinguished for security reasons at 2 stages of the relay. The torch arrived in China for the domestic leg of the relay on May 4 and toured 103 Chinese cities, attractions and landmarks before reaching Beijing on August 8, the day of the Opening Ceremony."


2008 Summer Olympics cauldron, History and use
The Cauldron was lit as part of the Opening Ceremony at Beijing National Stadium on August 8 by former Chinese Gymnast Li Ning. Li was lifted into the air on cables and completed a lap of the stadium, mimicking running along the "parchment" of the stadium's rim, as images China's history were projected over the scroll. Li lit the Torch's wicker in front of a crowd of 90,000 spectators and an estimated television audience of between 1 and 4 billion people. Once lit, the flame continued burning throughout the duration of the Olympics.


2008 Summer Olympics cauldron, History and use
After 16 days, The Flame was extinguished as part of the closing ceremony of the Olympics on August 24, 2008. As part of the ceremony, it retracted on its hydraulic track back onto the roof of the stadium, hidden from view of the spectators below.


2008 Summer Olympics cauldron, History and use
The Cauldron was again used for the 2008 Beijing Paralympic games, being lighted this time by Chinese high-jump athlete Hou Bin, the first Chinese Paralympian to win 3 Gold medals for the same event at 3 consecutive Paralympics, as part of the opening ceremony on September 6. It was extinguished again for the final time during the Paralympic closing ceremony on September 17, 2008.


2008 Summer Olympics cauldron, History and use
The Cauldron's Lighting Ceremony was praised by international media. Valkerie Mangnall, of the Australian Associated Press, said of the event: "The way of lightening the torch is amazing, I didn't expect he (Li Ning) will run the long way along the stadium. At the beginning I was guessing what is the image on the screen before I realized it's the scroll being unfolded with so many torch bearers. That is so full of imagination." It was considered the crowning jewel of a critically acclaimed opening ceremony, exemplary of the Ceremonies theme of celebrating China's ancient culture and heritage.


2008 Summer Olympics cauldron, History and use
Kent Ewing, writing in the Asia Times, described it as a "stunning opening ceremony ... with its panoply of color, painstaking choreography and sweeping portrait of Chinese culture and history" (while also criticising its seriousness). It was described as "an exhilarating display of China's thousands of years of traditions of art and culture" by USA Today, and the Art Daily applauded its celebration of China's ancient history.


2008 Summer Olympics cauldron, Cauldron lighters, Li Ning
Chinese Gymnast and entrepreneur Li Ning (born March 10, 1963) was selected to light the Cauldron for the games of the XXIX Olympiad. Li is one of China's most decorated Olympic Athletes, winning 6 Olympic medals, including 3 Gold at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. He won a further 11 medals at the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships across the 1980s. Over his career Li has won over 106 gold medals across numerous events and competitions. His events were men's floor exercise, men's pommel horse, men's rings, men's vault, and Team all-round. Li retired from sporting competitions in 1988, after competing at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.


2008 Summer Olympics cauldron, Cauldron lighters, Li Ning
Following his gymnastics career, Li became a successful entrepreneur, founding Li-Ning Company Limited in 1990, which sells footwear and sporting apparel. He remains the company's CEO, and according to Hurun Report's China Rich list, this has enabled him to amass a net worth of RMB5billion (approx.. US$700 million) making him one of China's richest people.


2008 Summer Olympics cauldron, Cauldron lighters, Li Ning
In 2000, Li Ning was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame, becoming the first Chinese national to achieve that honour.


2008 Summer Olympics cauldron, Cauldron lighters, Li Ning
Li was the last of 8 torch bearers for the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics on August 8, 2008, and the one chosen to light the cauldron. In his role, he was lifted into the air on wires and preceded to do a lap around the brim of the stadium. Li mimed running in slow motion, and a projection of an unfurling scroll was projected in front of him, on which was displayed images of the torch relay for the 129 days leading up to the Games. When he reached the cauldron, Li lit a long fuse, sending a wall of flame searing up along the spiralling edge of the cauldron.


2008 Summer Olympics cauldron, Cauldron lighters, Li Ning
Li Ning was praised for his role in the Games Opening Ceremony, with Chinese Media describing the event as a moment when China's national achievements and ambitions won acceptance on a world stage. Liu Qi, head of the Beijing Organising Committee for the Olympic Games called the spectacle a "dazzling historic moment".


2008 Summer Olympics cauldron, Cauldron lighters, Li Ning
Li's net worth increased an estimated US$30 million the night of the games, due to a rise in the share price of his eponymous sporting brand thanks to exposure from the ceremony.


2008 Summer Olympics cauldron, Cauldron lighters, Hou Bin
Hou Bin (born 1975), a Chinese former Track and Field Athlete, relit the Cauldron as part of the opening ceremony for the 2008 Beijing Paralympics. Hou is an amputee Paralympian specialising in Long Jump, having lost his left leg in an accident at the age of 9. He won 3 gold medals for high jump in 3 consecutive Paralympic games in Atlanta 1996, Sydney 2000, and Athens 2004, becoming the first Chinese Paralympian to do so.


2008 Summer Olympics cauldron, Cauldron lighters, Hou Bin
During the opening ceremony on September 6, Hou was attached to suspended wires and pulled himself and his wheelchair up above the stadium floor with his hands to light the Cauldron's fuse. With the torch attached to his wheelchair, and suffering a broken finger he sustained from an earlier practise, he achieved the 127 feet climb in 3 minutes in front of a crowd of 90,000 spectators.


2008 Summer Olympics cauldron, Cauldron lighters, Hou Bin
Hou Bin's feat of strength was praised by Chinese and International media. Sir Philip Craven, then president of the International Paralympic Committee, said of his accomplishment: "To watch him climb a rope from the stadium floor to the roof, with a broken finger rubbing on the rope, and with a flame on his chair, was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. That was the Paralympic spirit in action."


2008 Summer Olympics cauldron, Cauldron lighters, Hou Bin
Following the Games and his retirement from athletics, Hou Bin has become motivation speaker and activist for people with disabilities. In 2013, he launched the fundraising project "Stand Up Again", to help provide prosthetics to children injured 2008 Sichuan and 2013 Yu'an Earthquakes.


2008 Summer Olympics cauldron, Fate
The cauldron remained at the top of the stadium following the completion of the games, until September 25, 2010, when it was removed and dismantled. Following cleaning, renovation and reinforcements of its steel plates, it was relocated to outside the stadium on the Olympic Green, North-East of the Stadium and close to the Ling Long Pagoda, now on public display.


2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony
The 2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony was held at the Beijing National Stadium, also known as the Bird's Nest. It was directed by Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou and began at 20:00 China Standard Time (UTC+8) on 24 August 2008. The number 8 is associated with prosperity and confidence in Chinese culture.


2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony
The Ceremony also included the handover of the games from Beijing to London. Guo Jinlong, the Mayor of Beijing, handed over the Olympic flag to the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson. There was also a performance organized by the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (LOCOG).


2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony
While the opening ceremony was described as an artistic and serious introduction of China's ancient past, the closing ceremony was described by Western media as "much more lighthearted", "silly" and "fun" than the opening ceremony.


2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony
By the end of the 16 days of NBC's coverage of the Beijing Olympics in the United States, it had also become the most-watched U.S. television event of all time, with over 211 million American viewers tuned into the Olympics on NBC according to the Nielsen Media Research; this is 2 million more than the 1996 Atlanta Games, the previous all-time record-holder.


2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Sequence of events, Opening
Hu Jintao entered the stadium, accompanied by Jacques Rogge. They were followed by the entrance of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his wife, Sarah. The countdown started from "29", indicating the 29th Summer Olympics. From "29" to "11", highlights of this Olympic Games were shown with countdown numbers on the screen. Accompanied by sound effects, the atmosphere reached its climax countdown to number digital millennium terminator.


2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Sequence of events, Opening
Guided by volunteers the entire audience counted down from 10 together for 10 seconds to starting at 19:59:50 China Standard Time at the country and sky above the stadium is the same as the countdown to the 2008 Beijing Paralympic opening ceremony from "10" to "1" with all voice screaming as "10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1" or "Shi!! !, Jiu!! !, Ba!! !, Qi!! !, Liu!! !, Wu!! !, Si!! !, San!!!


2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Sequence of events, Opening
Er!! !, Yi!!!" is used to release large-scale fireworks above the stadium to the Games and herald the start of the officially opening time at 20:00:00 China Standard Time with the fireworks burst immediately when the countdown ended, forming a great circle in the sky which symbolized the success of the Beijing Olympic Games. The People's Liberation Army Ground Force prepared the national flag of China. The soldiers then carried the flag, in a slow, goose-stepping march,  to the flag podium and the Chinese national anthem, March of the Volunteers, was sung by a 224-member choir while the flag was raised.


2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Sequence of events, Opening
All lights were extinguished in the stadium. A video was played on the large screen in the north and south to explain the theme of the Closing Ceremony. The video reviewed the exciting and memorable moments during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. A grand celebration began:


2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Sequence of events, Opening
Next, silver bell performers danced in time to the beat of the heavenly drums on the Main Stage to greet the guests.


2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Sequence of events, Attending heads of state and dignitaries
The closing ceremony was attended by at least 30 heads of state and dozens of other dignitaries.


2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Sequence of events, Attending heads of state and dignitaries
Notable faces included United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon, ASEAN secretary general Surin Pitsuwan, Chinese president Hu Jintao, British prime minister Gordon Brown, Princess Anne, Finland prime minister Matti Vanhanen,  King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, King Albert II of Belgium, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Mizan Zainal Abidin of Terengganu, United States president George Walker Bush, German president Horst Kohler, South Korean prime minister Han Seung-soo, David Paterson,  Michael Bloomberg, Scott Stringer, Australia prime minister Kevin Rudd, Sellapan Ramanathan, former Indonesia president B. J. Habibie, Muhammad Jusuf Kalla, Prabowo Subianto, Donald Tsang, Prince Albert I of Monaco, Iranian president Mahmood Ahmadinejad, Edmund Ho, Sandra Angelia, Zivanna Letisha Siregar, Tara Conner, Rachel Smith, Amelia Vega,  Jennifer Hawkins,  Natalie Glebova and IOC president Jacques Rogge.


2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Sequence of events, Entrance of the flag bearers
Led by guides and placard holders, the flag bearers of all delegations entered the stadium, divided into two groups. One group (1-102), headed by Greece as per tradition, entered from Gate 4 in alphabetical order and stood along the main stage. The other group (103-204), headed by Saudi Arabia, entered from Gate 3 and also stood along the main stage. The Chinese Flag bearer entered last and stood at the designated place. Greece entering first and China entering last symbolizing the first and the most recent Summer Olympics host nations.


2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Sequence of events, Entrance of the flag bearers
After all flags were in position, the athletes  entered the stadium in no particular order. All athletes entered from four gates without differentiation of nationality. While the athletes were entering, a women's percussion band and two children percussion players played cheerful music. The entire stadium was in raptures.


2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Sequence of events, Medal ceremony
At this point, Samuel Wanjiru received his gold medal. He was very excited as he climbed to the first position. Three flags, including the flag of Kenya, were raised as the national anthem of Kenya was played.


2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Sequence of events, Medal ceremony
Afterwards, twelve children led twelve representatives of volunteers to walk from Gate 2 to the stage. Then, four children led four new members of IOC Athletes' Commission (Moon Dae-Sung of South Korea, Alexander Popov of Russia, Claudia Bokel of Germany and Yumilka Ruiz Luaces of Cuba) to walk together with four people for the ceremony from Gate 1 to the Main Stage.


2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Sequence of events, Speeches and lowering the Olympic flag
The People's Liberation Army then enter the stadium, holding the national flag of Greece. While the Greek flag was being hoisted, the Greek national anthem "Hymn to Liberty" was performed.


2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Sequence of events, Speeches and lowering the Olympic flag
Rogge and Liu Qi walked to the main stage from the VIP corridor. During his speech, Rogge praised the Chinese for their warm reception and effort. He also stated that the Beijing Games were "truly exceptional". Finally, he declared in French that the 2008 Olympic Games were officially closed.


2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Sequence of events, Speeches and lowering the Olympic flag
God save our gracious Queen! Long live our noble Queen! God save the Queen! Send her victorious,Happy and glorious,Long to reign over us:God save the Queen! Not in this land alone,But be God's mercies knownFrom shore to shore:Lord make the nations seeThat men should brothers be,And form one familyThe wide world o'er.


2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Sequence of events, Speeches and lowering the Olympic flag
The British flag was then raised and the British national anthem God Save The Queen was played. Shortly thereafter, the soldiers slowly lowered the Olympic flag and Chinese and foreign youth singers sung the Olympic Anthem in Greek. Afterwards, the PLA soldiers folded the Olympic flag and exited.


2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Sequence of events, Speeches and lowering the Olympic flag
The Olympic flag was handed from Guo Jinlong, the Mayor of Beijing, to Count Rogge, the President of the IOC. It was then handed to Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London.


2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Sequence of events, Presentation of the 2012 Summer Olympics
A demonstration entitled "From London, 'With a whole Lotta love." was then staged by the British. It featured the urban dance group ZooNation, the Royal Ballet and Candoco, a disabled dance group, all dressed as typical London commuters waiting for a bus by a zebra crossing, whilst Olympic Champions Chris Hoy, Victoria Pendleton and Jamie Staff cycled around the stadium.


2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Sequence of events, Presentation of the 2012 Summer Olympics
A double-decker bus drove around the stadium to the music 'This is London' composed by Philip Sheppard and recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra, before eventually stopping and transforming into a privet hedge featuring famous London landmarks such as Tower Bridge, The Gherkin and the London Eye. Jimmy Page and Leona Lewis then performed the Led Zeppelin classic Whole Lotta Love and David Beckham kicked a football into the crowd of athletes accompanied by violinist Elspeth Hanson and cellist Kwesi Edman. Page recalled:


2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Sequence of events, Presentation of the 2012 Summer Olympics
"Doing the Olympics with Leona Lewis was phenomenal. She's really plucky, she's superb, and she sang 'Whole Lotta Love' brilliantly. We managed to do the full-length of 'Whole Lotta Love' – it wasn't edited – and she sang it beautifully. It was so cool, the way she approached it. For that audience, and the fact we didn't fuck it up… 'We're really going to do this and we're going to do it proud.' That was important. It was a Led Zeppelin number but it took on another persona. I was proud to be able to play that riff for the handover."


2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Sequence of events, Presentation of the 2012 Summer Olympics
An airport electronic flight screen appeared on the large screen of the Stadium. An athlete about to leave walks up the boarding ladder and turns around affectionately. In special-effect lighting, the boarding ladder truck with the logo of Beijing Olympic Games is slowly elevated. He slowly takes out an exquisite painting scroll and unfolds it. In the dark, a huge mechanic device — the "memory tower" at the center of the field — rises slowly, with two "sports sculpture" performers standing on top of it and showing various athletic gestures.


2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Sequence of events, Presentation of the 2012 Summer Olympics
The rim of the bowl changed into a red track. Special lights cast scenes of the 16 days from the lighting of the holy flame to now onto the track in the air. At the center of the field, two "sports sculpture" performers rise gradually and show different athletic gestures slowly in the air, conveying the noble Olympic spirit. The athlete on the boarding ladder looks at the burning flame in the distance, and slowly folds the painting scroll, just as the flame was about to be extinguished. A huge "holy flame" is lighted at the center of the field (396 "memory tower" performers simulate the flame with their bodies) as the Olympic flame took its final breath.


2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Sequence of events, Final last closing events
The torch lights in the hands of the marshals and the 90,000 audience members were turned on at the same time. In the passionate far-reaching music, 16 lucky cloud yarn strips slowly rose along the "memory tower" on the main stage. The top ends of the lucky cloud yarn strips extended towards the sky and changed into a lucky cloud tree symbolizing friendship and joy.


2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Sequence of events, Final last closing events
The concert section started. Tan Jing, Kelly Chen and Han Xue, Wang Lee Hom and Rain sing together "Beijing, Beijing, I Love Beijing", a song full of passion, vitality and energy.


2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Sequence of events, Final last closing events
Next, seven singers walked from below the steps to the Main Stage and sang "The Moon is Bright Tonight". Two Chinese and foreign singers on the mobile singing performance car went from Gate 1 to the front of the VIP corridor, and sang "The Flame of Love". Two singers on the main stage sang the joyous and passionate song "Surpass It".


2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Sequence of events, Final last closing events
At this point, there were 50 young singers together. At the same time, 75 aerobatic performers wearing luminous flight clothes performed elevation and rotation in the air.


2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Sequence of events, Final last closing events
During the last final ended closing farewell musical song "Please stay, Guests from afar", 50 male dancers holding Fuwa lucky cloud yarn strips and paper flower launchers and 120 other dancers danced on the Main Stage in tune with the rhythm of the song. Also, 600 female performers in festival clothes entered the stadium, flew around the athletes and danced with all athletes in the stadium and 1,046 marshals in tune with the rhythm of the song, forming a spectacular dance circle.


2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Sequence of events, Final last closing events
Finally, 600 female performers in festive clothes, 112 performers of minority ethnic groups, 50 male dancers, 70 collectors of launched red silk and 200 "memory tower" performers threw the Fuwa lucky cloud yarn strips into the stadium, interacting with the athletes to fireworks at closing ceremony "sign-off". At the same time, innumerable dazzling fireworks were launched from the top of the "Beijing National Stadium".


2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Sequence of events, Final last closing events
All full festival fireworks formed a huge circle of extravaganza, all full fireworks were fired in a one-off event from all Beijing, launching from the top of the building outwards above the many spectators and well wishers below, farewell in the year in which Beijing went on to host the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games say farewell.


2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Sequence of events, Final last closing events
All full fireworks were launched in the shape and colour of the see you 2012 London Olympics Games, in a display that all full minutes compared to being reduced to all full minutes along with 2008 Summer Paralympics closing ceremony, symbolizing the successful back to home at closedown of 2008 Summer Olympics. The closing ceremony ended at 21:55 CST.


2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Television
Estimates of the global television audience varied: "around one billion" (Reuters), "experts estimated ... more than two billion" (The Wall Street Journal), "2.3 billion" (MindShare), "Billions...probably the largest live television audience in history" (Bloomberg), "3 billion" (Sky News), "nearly 4 billion" (Xinhua, "as many as 4 billion" (The Washington Post), "estimated 4 billion" (McClatchy). This included an estimated 842 million viewers watching on host Chinese broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV), with polls ranging from 63 to 69% of the Chinese viewing population, exceeding that of the 51-58% who watch the network's annual closing ceremonies forms.


2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony flag bearers
The flag bearers of 204 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) arrived into the main Olympic Stadium, during the closing ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics, held in Beijing on 24 August 2008. The flag bearers from each participating country entered the stadium informally in single file, and behind them marched all the athletes without any distinction or grouping by nationality.


2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony flag bearers
The blending of all the athletes is a tradition that dates from the 1956 Summer Olympics, after a suggestion by Australian-born British student John Ian Wing, who thought it would be a way of bringing the athletes of the world together as "one nation." The flags of each country were not necessarily carried by the same flag bearer as in the opening ceremony.


2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony flag bearers, List
The following is a list of each country's flag bearer. The list is sorted by the order in which each nation appears in the parade of nations. The names are given in their official designations by the IOC, and the Chinese names follow their official designations by the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games.


2008 Summer Olympics marketing
2008 Summer Olympics marketing has been a long running campaign that began since Beijing won its bid to host the games in 2001.


2008 Summer Olympics marketing, Symbols, Emblem
The 2008 Summer Olympics emblem is known as Dancing Beijing (Chinese: 舞动的北京) designed by Guo Chunning. The emblem combines a traditional Chinese red seal and a representation of the calligraphic character jīng (京, "national capital", also the second character of Beijing's Chinese name) with athletic features. The open arms of the calligraphic word symbolizes the invitation of China to the world to share in its culture. IOC president Jacques Rogge was very happy with the emblem, saying, "Your new emblem immediately conveys the awesome beauty and power of China which are embodied in your heritage and your people."


2008 Summer Olympics marketing, Symbols, Slogan
The slogan for the 2008 Olympics is "One World, One Dream" (simplified Chinese: 同一个世界 同一个梦想; traditional Chinese: 同一個世界 同一個夢想; pinyin: Tóng Yíge Shìjiè Tóng Yíge Mèngxiǎng.) The slogan calls upon the whole world to join in the Olympic spirit and build a better future for humanity. It was chosen from over 210,000 entries submitted from around the world.


2008 Summer Olympics marketing, Symbols, Look of the Games
Four primary colours were used in the branding of the games. China Red, Yellow, Lime Green, and Sky Blue. These colours were used to represent China, sun, land, and water, respectively.


2008 Summer Olympics marketing, Symbols, Look of the Games
The graphic elements of the Look of the Games for the Beijing 2008 Olympics was centered on the "Lucky Cloud," a motif found throughout Chinese art. Consistent with past Olympic Games, the Look of the Games was most prominently used on decorations found throughout Beijing 2008 host cities and official venues.


2008 Summer Olympics marketing, Symbols, Look of the Games
Additionally, the Beijing 2008 Look of the Games was applied to the official  invitation from the IOC to all National Olympic Committees to participate in the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, on official Beijing 2008 merchandise and tickets, on the official Beijing 2008 Volunteer and Staff uniforms, and on various other official and/or promotional material.


2008 Summer Olympics marketing, Symbols, Look of the Games
The Look of the Games was edited for the International Torch Relay of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. The graphic identify of the "Lucky Cloud" motif remained, and an ancient Chinese phoenix motif was added to further represent the themes of the Torch Relay.


2008 Summer Olympics marketing, Symbols, Mascots
The official 2008 Olympic Mascots are the five Fuwa (Chinese: 福娃, literally "good luck dolls"). The Fuwa consist of five members that incorporate fish, giant panda, fire, Tibetan antelope, and swallow designs. The Fuwa each have as their primary color one of the colors of the five Olympic Rings that stand for the five continents. The five Fuwa are named Beibei, Jingjing, Huanhuan, Yingying, and Nini. When the first syllable of each of the five names are said together, the result is the phrase 北京欢迎你 (Běijīng huānyíng nĭ) which means "Beijing welcomes you".


2008 Summer Olympics marketing, Tickets
In April 2007, over seven million tickets for sporting events and ceremonies went on sale. Approximately 75% of tickets went on sale through the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games, which set low ticket prices for domestic tickets, to encourage the Chinese people to attend the Games. International tickets are available through each nation's NOC. By June 2007, 2.2 million tickets had already been sold. The last round of some 250,000 tickets were on sale in Beijing on 25 July 2008. Long lines were formed the day before at the ticket office including many who slept overnight. Another 570,000 tickets for football matches are up for grabs in co-host cities just weeks before the opening.


2008 Summer Olympics marketing, Merchandising
Since early 2007, licensed Olympics merchandise stores have been in business throughout China. More than 800 official stores were in operation at the end of July 2007. Since August 2007, Olympic merchandise has been made available online, with more than 5000 products available via the official merchandising website, which include apparel, mascot dolls, key-chains and commemorative chopsticks. In November 2007, the overseas Olympic E-shop provided online access to customers all over the world to Licensed Products of Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, excluding the USA, Japan, UK, Canada and China.


2008 Summer Olympics marketing, Bank notes
The China's central bank issued a new 10-yuan note without the picture of Mao Zedong featuring a Greek discus thrower and the Bird's Nest. A total of 6 million notes were released at 10 yuan (US$1.46). Another 4 million notes were released in Hong Kong as a special-edition note at HK$20 (US$2.56) before the official release on 15 July 2008. Of the 4 million notes, 3.76 million of them were sold in Hong Kong, with the remainder sold to Macau and the overseas community, ranging from HK$138 to HK$1,338. Thousands of people formed long lines outside the Hong Kong Bank of China branch, more than 48 hours before the notes were issued.


2008 Summer Olympics marketing, Multimedia, Opening ceremony
An international release of a double DVD set of the official Opening ceremony was released on 11 August 2008 in Mandarin and English.


2008 Summer Olympics marketing, Multimedia, Albums
On 5 May 2008 an official olympic soundtrack album titled The Official Album for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games was released featuring various artists including Andy Lau, Wakin Chau, A-Mei Chang, Nicholas Tse, Coco Lee, Jackie Chan, Natasha Na (那英), Leehom Wang, Han Geng, Joey Yung, Sun Nan, David Huang (黃大煒), Stefanie Sun, Jay Chou, Wang Feng (汪峰), Han Hong (韓紅), Wei Wei, Liu Huan, Dai Yu Chen (戴玉強), Yu Quan, Xu Yang (徐洋), Tan Jing, Bibi Zhou, Jane Zhang. It also included one Korean artist, Jang Nara. On 7 August 2008 Jackie Chan became the only male singer authorized to release his own version of the same album.


2008 Summer Olympics marketing, Multimedia, Albums
Another album was released around 14 August 2008 titled The Olympics Album - One World One Dream: featuring Krystal Meyers, Fireflight, Avril Lavigne, Joanna Wang, Coco Lee, Sun Nan, David Huang (黃大煒) and Tan Jing.


2008 Summer Olympics marketing, Songs, Theme songs
The official song for the game's one-year countdown celebration was "We Are Ready". The song was sung by an ensemble of 133 artists from Hong Kong, Taiwan, mainland China, Singapore and Korea. The song is composed by Hong Kong songwriter Peter Kam with lyrics by Keith Chen. Among the participating HK singers are Alan Tam, Hacken Lee, Eason Chan, Joey Yung, Gigi Leung, Leo Ku and Jackie Chan. Elva Hsiao, David Huang, and Chris Yu represented Taiwan. Stefanie Sun and A-Do also represented Singapore. While JJ Lin represented Malaysia. Also with Jang Na Ra representing Korea. Bibi Zhou, Li Yuchun, Jane Zhang, Pu Shu, Wang Feng, Han Geng and Huang Xiaoming represented mainland China.


2008 Summer Olympics marketing, Songs, Theme songs
"You and Me", the official theme song for the games themselves, was first performed at the Opening Ceremony by Liu Huan and Sarah Brightman. Containing both Mandarin and English lyrics, it was composed by Chen Qigang, a Shanghai born French Chinese.


2008 Summer Olympics marketing, Songs, Beijing songs
Beijing Welcomes You was the theme song for the 100-day countdown celebration. "I am a Star" and "Smile Beijing" have been selected as theme songs for the Beijing Olympic Volunteers Committee. Beijing Beijing, I Love Beijing was performed at the closing ceremony.


2008 Summer Olympics marketing, Songs, Torch relay songs
The official theme for the torch relay was "Light the Passion, Share the Dream" (simplified Chinese: 点燃激情，传递梦想; traditional Chinese: 點燃激情 傳遞夢想), performed by Wang Leehom, Stefanie Sun, Jane Zhang and Wang Feng, with the English version performed by the 106 contestants of Miss World 2007. Another song to accompany the relay is "Red around the world" composed by Wyman Wong with lyrics by Albert Leung. The song also happens to be the new Coca-Cola promotional song. Individual versions are available for different artists such as Jacky Cheung, S.H.E, Will Pan.


2008 Summer Olympics marketing, Songs, Other songs
Chinese American singer Coco Lee and mainland singer Sun Nan performed a promotional duet "Forever Friends", and Nicholas Tse and Joey Yung sings "Together On The Blue Planet". Twenty-eight different sports are represented by 28 mainland China singers in a promotion video and song called "In Magnificent Shape to Uphold the Dream". Members include Fan Bingbing, Eva Huang (黃聖依), and Li Bingbing. Korea artists also contributed. Rain performed "Any Dream". Jang Nara performed "Our Dream", Zhang Liyin performed "One More Try", and Super Junior M performed "The One".


2008 Summer Olympics marketing, Film
The film "One Person's Olympics" supported by Beijing's Olympic promotion committee shows Jackie Chan, Stefanie Sun, Leehom Wang, and Han Hong singing "Stand Up Together" in unison.


2008 Summer Olympics marketing, Video games
Two games were made for this event. Beijing 2008 is the official game for the 2008 olympics developed by Eurocom. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games was published by Sega for North America and Europe and published by Nintendo for Japan.


2008 Summer Olympics marketing, Animations
A Chinese animation titled The Olympic Adventures of Fuwa was jointly produced by BTV and Kaku Cartoon.


2008 Summer Olympics marketing, Stamps
The United Nations postal service launched six commemorative stamps by Brazilian pop-artist Romero Britto released on 8 August.


2008 Summer Olympics marketing, Stamps
A special edition of stamps were issued by Hong Kong Post on 9 August with the theme of hosting the Equestrian event. Two limited edition products - Prestige Crystal Blocks Gift Set and the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Limited Edition Prestige Stamp Album was on sale at 37 philatelic offices with limited stocks available. The album is issued in a limited edition of 6,000 copies with a certificate.


2008 Summer Olympics medal table
The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, were a summer multi-sport event held in Beijing, the capital of the People's Republic of China, from 8 to 24 August 2008. Approximately 10,942 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) participated in 302 events in 28 sports.


2008 Summer Olympics medal table
Athletes from 87 countries won medals, and 55 of them won at least one gold medal. Both of these categories set new records until surpassed in 2016. Athletes from China won the most gold medals, with 48 gold medals. Athletes from the United States won the most total medals, with 112. Afghanistan, Mauritius, Sudan, Tajikistan and Togo won their first Olympic medals. Athletes from Mongolia (which previously held the record for most medals without a gold) and Panama won their first gold medals. Serbian swimmer Milorad Čavić won the first medal for the country as an independent NOC. Serbian athletes had previously won medals as nationals of Yugoslavia and Serbia and Montenegro. Samoa won its first Olympic medal due to medals reallocation after the IOC retested doping samples in 2016.


2008 Summer Olympics medal table, Medal table
The ranking in this table is based on information provided by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and is consistent with IOC convention in its published medal tables. By default, the table is ordered by the number of gold medals the athletes from a nation have won (in this context, a "nation" is an entity represented by a National Olympic Committee). The number of silver medals is taken into consideration next and then the number of bronze medals. If nations are still tied, equal ranking is given and they are listed alphabetically by IOC country code.


2008 Summer Olympics medal table, Medal table
In boxing, judo, taekwondo and wrestling, two bronze medals are awarded in each weight class. Therefore, the total number of bronze medals is greater than the total number of gold or silver medals. An exception was the men's 84 kg Greco-Roman wrestling, where Ara Abrahamian was stripped of his medal due to his conduct during the medal ceremony. Additionally there was a tie for the silver medal in the women's 100 metres in athletics and no bronze was awarded. Ties for third in swimming's men's 100 metre backstroke and men's 100 metre freestyle meant that two bronze medals were awarded for those events.


2008 Summer Olympics medal table, Changes in medal standings, List of official changes in medal standings
Belarusian athletes Vadim Devyatovskiy and Ivan Tsikhan, who won silver and bronze respectively in the men's hammer throw, both tested positive for abnormal levels of testosterone. After attending a disciplinary hearing in September 2008, they were stripped of their medals on 11 December 2008. Krisztián Pars of Hungary was awarded the silver medal, and Koji Murofushi of Japan was awarded the bronze. However, both of the Belarusian athletes subsequently had their medals reinstated because the doping tests were not handled correctly.


2008 Summer Olympics medal table, Changes in medal standings, List of official changes in medal standings
Tatyana Lebedeva of Russia lost two silver medals in the women's long jump and triple jump events due to use of turinabol. The IOC requested that the IAAF modify the results, and, after CAS dismisses the appeal of Tatyana Lebedeva, the medals were redistributed accordingly. In the women's long jump event, Blessing Okagbare of Nigeria was advanced to silver, and Chelsea Hammond of Jamaica was advanced to bronze. In the women's triple jump event, Olga Rypakova of Kazakhstan was advanced to silver, and Yargelis Savigne of Cuba was advanced to bronze.


2008 Summer Olympics on NBC
NBC Sports coverage of the 2008 Summer Olympics (the broadcasts being officially titled, as were the games themselves, The Games of the XXIX Olympiad) was broadcast from August 6 to August 24, 2008 (including selecting football matches prior to the opening ceremonies) on the various television networks of NBC Universal in the United States. Coverage was broadcast on NBC, Telemundo, USA Network, CNBC, MSNBC, Oxygen, their associated HDTV simulcast channels where applicable, and Universal HD. NBC also set up two dedicated cable channels, the NBC Olympic Soccer Channel and the NBC Olympic Basketball Channel, for the express purpose of providing additional coverage of those two sports.


2008 Summer Olympics on NBC, Coverage
The scale of the coverage grew to the same huge proportions as the Games themselves. In 2008, NBC was scheduled to air over 3,600 hours of live coverage (1,400 on the TV networks and 2,200 more online). According to NBC, that is 1,000 more hours than the combined coverage of all Summer Games since that first telecast in 1960. NBC also is using 106 hosts, announcers, and commentators to cover the action. The main transmission center in the United States was Studio 8-H at Rockefeller Center in New York City, where Saturday Night Live is based. Some announcers and hosts were assigned to the New York studio and were not on location in Beijing.


2008 Summer Olympics on NBC, Ratings
Through August 12, NBC was averaging 30.4 million viewers for each night of primetime coverage, up five million from the same period in 2004. The increased number was attributed to Michael Phelps's ongoing quests for the most gold medals in a single Olympics and in a career. On August 11, NBCOlympics.com had 7.8 million unique page visits and 476,062 downloads from cellular telephones. The number of average viewers had dropped to 28.7 million by August 17, but it still far outpaced shows on other networks. Most programming opposite the Olympics was in reruns, except for Big Brother 10 on CBS and High School Musical: Get in the Picture on ABC.


2008 Summer Olympics on NBC, Ratings
By the end of the Olympics, NBC estimated a total audience of 214 million people for at least some of the telecasts, an all-time record for any Olympics. In the second week of the Games, all eight primetime telecasts (there were two on August 24) finished in the top eight of the ratings. On all 17 nights, NBC had more viewers than ABC, CBS, and FOX combined. However, ratings on the final Friday and Saturday of the Games were the lowest for primetime coverage since 1988.


2008 Summer Olympics on NBC, Ratings
Even other sports events saw ratings downturns attributable to Games coverage. Declines ranged from 14 percent for the PGA Tour The Barclays to 36 percent for the Little League World Series final. (scroll to middle of page)


2008 Summer Olympics on NBC, Announcers, Event announcers
*These announcers were to call the action from the NBC studios in New York City rather from onsite in Beijing


2008 Summer Olympics on NBC, Announcers, Event announcers
NBC did not plan coverage of judo, sailing, or taekwondo on any of its networks. Coverage in the U.S. was to be available only online at NBCOlympics.com.


2008 Summer Olympics on NBC, DVDs
NBC has made three DVDs available related to the 2008 Summer Olympics. One covers the opening ceremony, another covers the highlights from the entire competition, and the final is a retrospective of Michael Phelps' record-setting Olympic career in swimming. They are produced by the Ten Mayflower production company.


2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony
The 2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony was held at the Beijing National Stadium, also known as the Bird's Nest. It began at 20:00 China Standard Time (UTC+08:00) on Friday, 8 August 2008, as the number 8 is considered to be auspicious. The number 8 is associated with prosperity and confidence in Chinese culture. The artistic part of the ceremony comprised two parts titled "Brilliant Civilization" and "Glorious Era" respectively. The first part highlighted the Chinese civilization and the second part exhibited modern China and its dream of harmony between the people of the world. The stadium was full to its 91,000 capacity according to organizers.


2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony
The ceremony was directed by Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou, who was the chief director and was assisted by Chinese choreographers Zhang Jigang and Chen Weiya. The director of music for the ceremony was composer Chen Qigang. It was noted for its focus on ancient Chinese culture, and for its creativity, as well as being the first to use weather modification technology to prevent rainfall. The final ascent to the torch featured Olympic gymnast Li Ning, who appeared to run through air around the membrane of the stadium.


2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony
Featuring 15,000 performers, the ceremony lasted over four hours and was reported to have cost over US$100 million to produce. The opening ceremony was lauded by spectators and numerous international presses as spectacular and spellbinding, and by many accounts "the greatest ever in the history of Olympics". It drew rave reviews from media around the world, and was praised for its magnitude and ingenuity, attracting a huge worldwide TV audience. The opening ceremony can also be considered an important branding initiative for China. At four hours and nine minutes, this was one of the longest ceremonies, second to Sydney 2000.


2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Dignitaries and other officials in attendance
In addition to the athletes and members of the IOC, more than 105 heads of state and government and 5 leaders of international organizations attended the opening ceremony. The number of heads of state who attended the opening ceremony was by far the largest in Olympic history (until the 2012 ceremony). It was also the largest gathering of world leaders for a sporting event in world history (also until 2012).


2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Proceedings, Reception of the President ceremony
People's Liberation Army Navy Band performed the "Welcome March" song to welcome IOC members and Hu Jintao.


2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Proceedings, Countdown
The welcoming ceremony began by a flame and an ancient Chinese sundial, awakened by the light of time from the sky, lights up 2008 bronze Fou drums. The drums, running like a time machine, form giant digits (in both Hindu–Arabic and Chinese numerals) to count down the seconds to the Games. The digits is formed in ten-second intervals starting from sixty before switching over to the final ten seconds. At the end, a huge fireworks display is set off from the top of the stadium.


2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Proceedings, Welcoming ceremony – The Song-Fou
The 2,008 drummers play the bronze Fou drums and sing the quote from The Analects of Confucius written 2000 years ago: "Isn’t it delightful to have friends coming from afar?” to welcome friends from all over the world.


2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Proceedings, Footprints of History and Olympic Rings
The firework footprints were set off at the rate of one every second; each represented one of the 29 Olympiads, signifying the Beijing Olympics as the XXIX Olympiad of the modern era. The 29th footprint arrived at Bird's Nest and transformed into Star Olympic Rings. Next, the rings were lift up by twenty "Dunhuang fairies" (Mahayana Chan (Zen) Chinese Buddhist apsaras of the Mogao Caves).


2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Proceedings, National flag-raising ceremony
Attention was then turned to 56 young children representing the 56 ethnic groups of modern China, and donning respective costumes. They marched in the flag of the People's Republic of China as a young girl in red, 9-year-old Lin Miaoke (林妙可 Lín Miàokě), was seen performing "Ode to the Motherland", while miming to the voice of Yang Peiyi. Only one-third of "Ode to the Motherland" was sung, to save time.


2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Proceedings, National flag-raising ceremony
The flag of the People's Republic of China was then handed over to eight well-dressed People's Liberation Army from Beijing Garrison Honor Guard Battalion soldiers who carried the flag in a slow, goose-stepping march over to the flag podium and the Chinese national anthem "March of the Volunteers" was sung by a 224-member choir while the flag was raised with red and yellow fireworks going off at the end.


2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Proceedings, Artistic section, Scroll Painting
At the prelude to the section, Beautiful Olympics, a short film, was screened depicting the making of paper, another of the Four Great Inventions, ending with a rolled-up scroll painting to set the stage for the next segment. Ceramics, porcelain vessels and other Chinese fine arts artifacts were beamed on a giant LED scroll, representing the first of the Four Great Inventions of China, paper, and displaying animated graphics, slowly unfurling. At its center was a piece of white canvas paper, which then ushered in a performance of black-costumed dancers whose hands hid brushes that had been dipped in ink.


2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Proceedings, Artistic section, Scroll Painting
They performed a dance while leaving their trails on the block of white paper, reminiscent of Chinese ink and wash painting. This was accompanied by the sounds of the guqin, China's ancient seven-string zither, as played by Chen Leiji (S: 陈雷激, T: 陳雷激, P: Chén Léijī). The LED scroll then showed an old, rare painting by Wang Ximeng.


2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Proceedings, Artistic section, Written character
The giant scroll was then moved aside to show a fluid array 897 movable type blocks that formed three variations of the character 和 (Hé "harmony"), representing the third great Chinese invention: the movable type press. The character was shown, consecutively, in bronze inscription, Seal script and KaisScript (Modern Chinese script). Performers in Zhou-era clothing representing the "3000 Disciples of Confucius", carrying bamboo slips, recited excerpts from the Analects: "Isn't it great to have friends coming from afar?" (有朋自遠方來，不亦樂乎) and "All men are brothers within the Four Seas" (四海之內，皆兄弟也).


2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Proceedings, Artistic section, Written character
The blocks changed into a small version of the Great Wall, which then sprouted peach blossoms, the Chinese symbol for openness. At the end of the sequence the tops of the movable type blocks came off to reveal 897 performers, who waved vigorously to the crowds, indicating that the individual pieces of type block were not computer controlled and synchronized, but rather the combined efforts of 897 perfectly in-sync performers.


2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Proceedings, Artistic section, Opera
The next segment saw ancient terracotta soldiers and Chinese opera, followed by a Beijing opera puppetry performance. The Wusheng type of Beijing opera performers was also enacted.


2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Proceedings, Artistic section, Silk Road
A Dunhuang fairy dances on the paper—which has become golden desert under the projection, held by hundreds of men in clothing of ancient diplomatic envoys. On the giant scroll is a depiction of ancient Silk Road on the land. This was followed by a procession of men, in blue costumes, who with huge oars formed formations of junks, symbolizing the expeditions of Zheng He.


2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Proceedings, Artistic section, Silk Road
A performer holding another great Chinese invention, the compass, in its ancient form a metal spoon floating in a fluid suspensible vessel, danced in the center of the giant LED scroll that showed images of sailing junks and maps of Zheng He's seven voyages on Maritime Silk Road in the Ming Dynasty.


2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Proceedings, Artistic section, Li and Yue (Ritual and Music)
The segment represents the prosperity of ancient China as "The State of Li and Yue". Accompanied by the music of Kunqu, one of the oldest extant Chinese operas, the giant scroll expands and shows several beautiful classic ancient paintings from Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties. At this point, two rows of huge royal dragon pillars called huabiao (S: 华表, T: 華表, P: Huábiǎo) emerged and stretched skyward, with the performers dancing to the ancient tune Chūnjiāng Huā Yuèyè (春江花月夜), as pink and orange fireworks were set off overhead.


2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Proceedings, Artistic section, Starlight
Then followed the modern segment where pianist Lang Lang and five-year-old Li Muzi performed a melody from the Yellow River Cantata. Around the pianists a sea of rainbow-coloured luminescent performers swayed in wave-like unison to suggest the flow of the Yellow River. The illuminated performers, symbolizing modern-day China, then arranged themselves in the shape of the Dove of Peace, which wings were then set into motion as the performers moved about. They formed the bird's nest shape of the Beijing National Stadium. When a young girl flew a kite – also a Chinese invention – above them in mid-air, the performers' lights flickered in an intricate pattern.


2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Proceedings, Artistic section, Nature
A Tàijíquán performance by 2,008 masters showed the fluid movements achieved when in harmony with nature. They demonstrated martial arts while combining to form geometric mass human formations. A skit was shown with schoolchildren drawing and coloring on the paper scroll and chanting poetry. These were the same children representing the 56 ethnic groups of China. They symbolized a Green Olympics (to protect the world). As their sequence drew to an end, the giant white paper was lifted vertically to reveal a drawing of mountains and waters with a smiling face as the sun. Then, there was a light presentation showing brightly coloured flying birds, symbolizing the rebirth of the phoenix and the bird-nest stadium itself.


2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Proceedings, Artistic section, Dream
The next segment was a celestial show and the arrival of astronauts symbolizing Chinese space exploration, with a gigantic, 60-foot, 16-tonne ball structure representing the earth. 58 acrobats tumbled rightside up, sideways or upside down on its surface, which was then transformed into a giant glowing Chinese lantern.


2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Proceedings, Artistic section, Theme song
Chinese singer Liu Huan and British singer Sarah Brightman stood on the central platform and sang the 2008 Olympic theme song: "You and Me."


2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Proceedings, Artistic section, Theme song
2,008 performers then held out parasols with smiling faces of young children. This was followed by red and orange fireworks in the form of smiley faces. The representatives from the 56 ethnic groups danced a vigorous folk dance.


2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Proceedings, Parade of Nations
The athletes taking part in the XXIX Olympiad parade of nations marched out to the centre of the stadium.


2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Proceedings, Parade of Nations
In accordance with Olympic tradition, the national team of Greece, which hosted the last Summer Olympics, in Athens, entered first, in honor of Greece's status as the birthplace of the Olympics, while China, as the host country, came last. Traditionally nations are ordered in alphabetic order of the national language of the host country (or if there is more than one, the more dominant of the languages of the host city); as Chinese writing is not alphabetic, the teams paraded by stroke order of the first character of their respective countries' names in Simplified Chinese.


2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Proceedings, Parade of Nations
Countries with the same number of strokes in the first character are sorted by the order of the five basic strokes in Chinese characters (一,丨,丿,丶 and 乙). If the name of two or more countries has the same first character, then they are ordered according to the stroke order of the second character. For example, Latvia (Chinese: 拉脱维亚), Great Britain (Chinese: 英国), and British Virgin Islands (Chinese: 英属维尔京群岛) were the 114th, 115th and 116th to enter respectively while the first characters of their names are all eight strokes.


2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Proceedings, Parade of Nations
However, the stroke order of Latvia's first character (拉) is 一丨一丶一丶丿一 while that of Great Britain is 一丨丨丨乙一丿丶. Latvia's third stroke (一) is before that of Great Britain (丨), which gave Latvia precedence to Great Britain. Great Britain and the British Virgin Islands share the same first character, 英. However the second one in Great Britain's name is 国, which has 8 strokes, while the second in British Virgin Islands is 属, which has 12 strokes. Thus Great Britain entered before British Virgin Islands.


2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Proceedings, Parade of Nations
Guinea (Chinese: 几内亚) was the second country to enter following Greece as it only takes two strokes to write the first character in the country's name (几). Australia (Chinese: 澳大利亚) marched 202nd, just ahead of Zambia (Chinese: 赞比亚), which was the last country to march before China. The first characters of these countries' names (澳 and 赞) are written with 15 and 16 strokes respectively.


2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Proceedings, Parade of Nations
Announcers in the stadium read off the names of the marching nations in French, English (the official languages of the Olympics), and Standard Chinese with music accompanying the athletes as they marched into the stadium. The leading signs of delegations, carried by young Chinese women in red dresses, had their names printed in these three languages: the Chinese version in traditional Chinese calligraphy; and above it in the other two languages, using a Roman alphabetic typeface that mimicked brush calligraphy.


2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Proceedings, Parade of Nations
Chinese names of most states were condensed to their short forms when possible. For example, Bosnia and Herzegovina (波斯尼亚和黑塞哥维那) entered as 波黑 Bohei in Chinese, while Saudi Arabia (沙特阿拉伯) entered as simply 沙特 Shate. One exception was the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, which entered in Chinese as its full designation (前南斯拉夫马其顿共和国) because of the Macedonia naming dispute (though the country was sorted according to its short name, 马其顿). China entered as People's Republic of China/République populaire de Chine in English and French, but simply as 中国 Zhongguo in Chinese, the most common short name. 印度尼西亚 (Indonesia) was used instead of 印尼, 马来西亚 (Malaysia) was used instead of 马国, and 卡塔尔 (Qatar) was used instead of 卡达.


2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Proceedings, Parade of Nations
The athletes marched along the tracks toward the center of the stadium, which was encircled by white-capped Chinese cheerleaders welcoming each contingent. As they did so, they would step on colored ink before treading on the Chinese painting done earlier by the children and the performance artists.


2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Proceedings, Parade of Nations
Throughout the entire Parade of Nations, the Olympic athletes were treated to live traditional music ensembles, hand-picked by the Chinese Olympic committee from around the world. Each ensemble represented a continent from the five Olympic rings. The groups included Chinese orchestra, Scottish bagpipers Mains of Fintry Pipe Band (), Aboriginal musicians and dancers from Australia (William Barton), South African drummers (Drum Cafe), and North American mariachi group Mariachi Mujer 2000.


2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Proceedings, Parade of Nations
Unlike in previous years, North and South Korea did not send a unified team; their athletes marched in separately as Republic of Korea (South Korea, Chinese: 韩国) and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea, Chinese: 朝鲜民主主义人民共和国). Taiwan marched under the name "Chinese Taipei" (Chinese: 中华台北; pinyin: Zhōnghuá Táiběi) as per a 1989 agreement and in the Olympics since then – and the Chinese media has followed suit, referring to Taiwan as Zhonghua Taibei instead of the previously used and controversial Zhongguo Taibei (Chinese: 中国台北; pinyin: Zhōngguó Táiběi, literally "Taipei, China").