Beijing 08: A perfect opening

The opening ceremony of the 29th Olympics Games began at precisely 8pm on the eighth day of the eighth month, 2008.

If the first 30 minutes are an indicator, the world may never witness a ceremony of the magnitude and ingenuity as that which opens the 2008 Olympics at the National Stadium in Beijing - affectionately dubbed the Bird's Nest.

A stunning performance by drummers - filling the majority of the stadium's inner field - opened proceedings and the atmosphere was instantly electric.

An illuminated set of the iconic Olympic rings (the Chinese called them 'Dream Rings') being raised to the stadium roof top was a simple, but effective touch.

In a moment they will cherish for the rest of their lives, 56 children from 56 Chinese ethnic groups, then carried the Chinese national flag into the stadium for the symbolic flag raising ceremony.

A total of 91,000 spectators are watching the ceremony live in very steamy conditions, with an expected four billion world-wide television audience.

More than 10,000 athletes and 204 countries will be presented to the crowd from around 11.07pm Australian time.

Nations will be announced in alphabetical order according to Chinese script - resulting in a long wait for participants from Down Under.

Australia will enter the stadium third last followed by Zambia then China. In all, 230 of Australia's 433 athletes are set to march behind flag bearer James Tomkins - competing at sixth Olympics.

Security, predictably, was high entering the stadium earlier tonight - the armed tanks quite intimidating.

The spectacular three-hour upcoming ceremony has been devised and engineered by China's famed academy award-nominated film maker, Zhang Yimou.

Yimou's production, which involves 15,000 performers and 29,000 rounds of fireworks, will surely catapult him to a level of international notoriety beyond that he achieved with his Oscar-nominated films Raise the Red Lantern (1991) and House of Flying Daggers (2004).

The ceremony is tipped to dwarf those of Athens and Sydney in terms of resources expended and expectations exceeded. If, indeed, these Games are as much a PR exercise on the part of the Chinese government as a sporting event, the first charm offensive of the fortnight should prove an overwhelming success, smog notwithstanding.

Prior to the ceremony, Zhang told Chinese media the event's central theme would centre around "the ancient and long history of the Chinese nation ... (and) reflect the cultural aspects of Chinese society and showcase what modern China and its people are all about." He delivered. In China's first large scale attempt to draw back its curtains and allow the world to peer in, Zhang delivered a production both impressive in scale, and insightful in its representation of homeland, new and old.

The Chinese filmmaker was aided by Ric Birch, Australia's own "master of ceremonies". Birch was the creative force behind Olympic opening ceremonies in Los Angeles, Barcelona and Sydney, but this surely was his magnum opus, choregraphing a small army of performers - some of which were from the army - to dovetail with a multi-million dollar laser and light show.

Birch, speaking prior to his arrival in China, brazenly predicted the world would be "gobsmacked" by the production. Again, he proved true to his word, and in so doing all but swept away the last remnants of bitterness prompted by Steven Spielberg's messy split with the Beijing organisers.

Spielberg had originally agreed to serve as an adviser to the opening ceremony committee, but withdrew in protest over China's failure to exert its influence over its ally, Sudan, during the Darfur crisis. His departure came as a body blow to image-conscious Beijing officials, but the triumph of Friday night's ceremony relieved any fears of a sub-standard parade before the world.

The organisers of the 2012 London Olympics will probably already be worrying how they'll match the Beijing performance.

Opening ceremony by the numbers

100 million - $US spent on the opening and closing ceremonies by Beijing officials.

15,000 - singers, musicians, dancers and other performers used during the three-hour spectacular.

5,000 - of whom were drawn from the Chinese Liberation Army.

1 - electric fan placed in each flag pole, thus circumventing the still conditions inside the Bird's Nest.

29,000 - rounds of fireworks.

230 - Australian athletes who marched at the National Stadium from a squad of 433.

90,000 - spectators, the stadium's capacity, attended the opening of the Games.

205 - nations attending the 29th Olympic games.

08/08/08 - the date chosen for the opening ceremony. Eight is considered a lucky number to the Chinese. The production began at 8.08 pm, local time.

4 billion - viewers worldwide who took in the ceremony.