Opening Ceremony

On Friday, the 08th day of August 2008 at 8:00 p.m. local time, the Asian giant - China, will declare the 17-day 2008 Beijing Olympic Games open in a glittering ceremony in Beijing. Summer Olympic Games not only provides a platform for athletes from all across the globe to perform at their best, but also spread the message of peace, prosperity and universal brotherhood.

Hosting such a mammoth and magnificent sporting extravaganza that comes once in four years is an honor for any country and pride for its citizens. That's the reason why there are always stiff competitions between Countries that contest the bid to win the right to host the Olympic Games. And China was bestowed with this honor of hosting the 2008 Summer Games after it beat the other candidate cities--Istanbul(Turkey), Osaka(Japan), Paris(France), and Toronto(Canada) at the 112th session of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) held in Moscow on 13 July 2001 in the second round of voting.

According to the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG), the hosting of the Games will cost them approximately US$ 2 billion and they are expected to make a profit of $20-$30 million. There will be 28 sports with 302 events in which approximately 10,500 athletes from two hundred five nations will be participating.

The glittering opening and closing ceremony of any Olympic Games is one of its major highlights that the whole world watches. 2008 Beijing Olympics opening ceremony will take place on 8 August at the majestic National Stadium.


The 2008 Summer Games opening ceremony will be of three hours. The Olympic Games opening ceremony will consist of flag-raising; march past by athletes, followed by speeches by China's NOC and IOC presidents, declaration by Chinese premier that theOlympic Games is open, pledges by athletes and officials and finally the main Olympic Games torch will be lit.

This program will be followed by the colorful cultural programmes presented by thousands of artists.

The whole opening and closing ceremonies of both the Beijing Olympic Games and Beijing Paralympics Games will be overlooked by Zhang Yimou--the chief director for the opening and closing ceremonies. Zhang and his team of 300 professionals are working round the clock to make the ceremonies a memorable event.