The Water Cube gets it's first post Olympic scrub down.

Links and Sources
The Star Daily： 奥林匹克公园要建成5A级景点

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.

The above photo was taken on July 16 and is part of a great 24-image gallery that was published on Boston.com earlier this week. You can view the rest of the gallery at Beijing 2008 Preparations - Three Weeks to Go

by Paul Pennay



Most of today's Beijing papers feature large photos of an impressive fireworks display that lit up the Bird's Nest last night. The fireworks, more pictures of which can be found here and here (there's also a rather wobbly video available here), lit up the sky at 8.02pm in what was obviously yet another clue as to what the opening ceremony is going to involve. Earlier this week, pictures of performers taking part in the opening ceremony were also leaked online (see below), although the report is no longer able to be accessed.

 

As we approach the XXXth Olympiad in London, I am reminded of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the way sports have developed in China over the years.

My earliest “Chinese” sports memories are of the famed Li Ning, the gymnast who collected six medals at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. I remember an image of him suspended on the rings in what is known as the “Iron Cross” – muscles bulging, straight-faced, determined. As the first Olympiad in which the People’s Republic of China participated, the 1984 Summer Games marked the rise of China’s obsession with the Olympics.