Images from the Opening Ceremony
Update: NBC have also published a photo gallery of images from last Friday's Opening Ceremony.
Over at ESWN you can find some amazing images of the ceremony plus some translations of some responses from Chinese bloggers. Shanghaiist has collected some videos of the ceremony as captured by people on the street in various locations and also offer a handy compendium of news reports and initial reactions to the event from media around the world. Chinese blogger Wang Jianshuo has made some interesting observations and explanations about the finer details of the ceremony that you might have missed the first time round. Also, if you thought that really cool shot of the fireworks exploding along the central axis of Beijing was fake - you were right.
Two weeks back we linked to Boston.com's great 24-image gallery of the city of Beijing sprucing itself up for the big event. The same website has now put together an equally impressive gallery of images from last Friday's opening ceremony here - Boston.com: The Big Picture - 2008 Olympics Opening Ceremony
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/08/2008_olympics_opening_ceremony.html
The Guardian has also published a very impressive photo gallery of the event here.
The Wall Street Journal have put together a nice slide show that allows you to easily compare the fashion sense of the various competing countries. They also have an interesting piece about the lengths authorities went to in order to keep the rain away on Friday which can be found over at their great China Journal Blog.
According to ABC (the Australian ABC), somewhere between 393 and 842 million mainland Chinese watched the ceremony on TV with major city's like Beijing and Shanghai reporting that almost 99% of residents were watching the ceremony.
Links and Sources
Boston.com: The Big Picture - 2008 Olympics Opening Ceremony
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/08/2008_olympics_opening_ceremony.html
Wall Street Journal: Fashion Slide Show
Official Beijing 2008 Olympic Site: Opening Ceremony
EWSN: Chinese Internet Reacts To Olympics Opening Ceremony
Guardian: Opening Ceremony Gallery
