Beijing 2008 Olympics

The Mayor of London receives the Olympic flag Photo credit Xinhua

Closing ceremony (Photo credit: Xinhua)

Fireworks of the closing ceremony in the National Stadium Photo credit Xinhua

Closing Ceremony of Olympics (Photo credit Xinhua)

(Photo credit: Guang Niu/Getty Images)

(Photo credit: Guang Niu/Getty Images)

(Photo credit: Guang Niu/Getty Images)

Closing Ceremony of the Olympics 2 (Photo credit: Guang Niu/Getty Images)

Per the Michael Bristow of BBC News, Beijing:

During the opening ceremonies little Lin Miaoke won the hearts of worldwide audience as she sang “Ode to the Motherland”. However, little Lin wasn’t actually singing, it was in-fact Yang Peiyi. Unfortunately the powers that be, didn’t allow Yang Peiyi sing because she isn’t “flawless.”

Musical director Chen Qigang said the organizers needed a girl with both a good image and voice:

“The reason for this is that we must put our country’s interest first,” he added.

“The girl appearing on the picture must be flawless in terms of her facial expression and the great feeling she can give to people.”

There is nothing that really needs to be said after that as every child’s smile has a special beauty to it.

Stunning was the word most said of the opening ceremonies but as per the Chinese newspaper, the Beijing Times, the giant footprints in the fireworks display were computer generated graphics, inserted into the feed that the Beijing Olympic Committee (BOCOG) supplies the rest of the world.

The head of the visual effects team, Gao Xiaolong, said it took a year to create the effect and to ensure it was not recognizable as computer generated, this included replicating the smog-ridden sky of Beijing and making the image appear if it was shot from a camera.

For such an extraordinary opening ceremony, the decision to insert computer generated graphics and dupe the public was a foolish error by organizers. While it was only a small part of a stunning ceremony, the foul residue of being part of this charade harms the integrity of these Games and cuts the core of censorship issues.

British classical vocalist Sarah Brightman and Chinese pop star Liu Huan sang the song “You and Me” at the Olympic Games opening ceremony.

Here’s the video:

More info at:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080806/music_nm/olympics_brightman_dc

Edit:  Since they took that one down, here’s some other footage from the opening ceremonies:

Enjoy! 

If you’re hankering for photos, check out the high quality images from the Beijing 2008 Olympics opening ceremony on Boston.com:

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/08/2008_olympics_opening_ceremony.html

Simply spectacular!  You’ll be glad you clicked! 

More photos on the Bodybuilding.com forums:

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=109765601

Incredible opening ceremonies - all photos from The Official Website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games (Xinhuanet).

incredible images from the opening ceremony supplied from The Official Website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games (Xinhuanet).