At the prelude to the section, Beautiful Olympics, a short film was screened depicting the making of paper, another of the Four Great Inventions, ending with a rolled up scroll painting to set the stage for the next segment. Ceramics, porcelain vessels and other Chinese fine arts artifacts were beamed on a giant LED scroll, representing the first of the Four Great Inventions of China, paper, and displaying animated graphics, slowly unfurling. At its center was a piece of white canvas paper, which then ushered in a performance of black-costumed dancers whose hands hid brushes that had been dipped in ink. They performed a dance while leaving their trails on the block of white paper, reminiscent of Chinese ink and wash painting. This was accompanied by the sounds of the guqin, China's ancient 7-string zither. The giant scroll was then moved aside to show a fluid array 897 movable type blocks that formed three variations of the character 和 (Hé "harmony"), representing the third great Chinese invention: the movable type press. The character was shown, consecutively, in Bronze inscription, Seal script and Kai Script (Modern Chinese Script). Performers in Zhou-era clothing representing the "3000 Disciples of Confucius", carrying bamboo slips, recited excerpts from the Analects: "Isn't it great to have friends coming from afar?" and "All men are brothers within the four seas." The blocks changed into a small version of the Great Wall, which then sprouted plum blossoms, the Chinese symbol for openness. The next segment saw ancient terracotta soldiers and Chinese opera, followed by a Beijing opera puppetry performance. The Wusheng type of Beijing opera performers was also enacted. Next, a female dancer dressed in Tang-era clothing entered, suspended by a rectangular extension held by hundreds of performers. On the giant LED screen was a depiction of the ancient Silk Road. This was followed by a procession of men, in blue costumes, who with huge oars formed formations of junks, symbolizing the expeditions of Zheng He. A performer holding another great Chinese invention, the compass, in its ancient form a metal spoon floating in a fluid suspensible vessel, danced in the center of the giant LED scroll that showed images of sailing junks and maps of Zheng He's seven voyages. The next segment featured Kunqu, one of the oldest extant Chinese operas, with two opera artists, a man singing and a woman accompanying on a guzheng. Another male performer then painted on the scroll painting with a Chinese brush in front of several guzheng players. The giant LED scroll expanded and showed several beautiful classic paintings in succession. At this point, two rows of huge royal dragon pillars called huabiao emerged and stretched skyward, with the performers dancing to the ancient tune Chūnjiāng Huā Yuèyè , as pink and orange fireworks were set off overhead. Then followed the modern segment where pianist Lang Lang and five-year-old Li Muzi performed a melody from the Yellow River Cantata. Around the pianists a sea of rainbow-coloured luminescent performers swayed in wave-like unison to suggest the flow of the Yellow River. The illuminated performers, symbolizing modern-day China, then arranged themselves in the shape of the Dove of Peace, which wings were then set into motion as the performers moved about. They formed the bird's nest shape of the Beijing National Stadium. When a young girl flew a kite -- also a Chinese invention -- above them in mid-air, the performers' lights flickered in an intricate pattern. A Taichi performance by 2,008 masters showed the fluid movements achieved when in harmony with nature. They demonstrated martial arts while combining to form geometric mass human formations. A skit was shown with schoolchildren drawing and coloring on the paper scroll and chanting poetry. They symbolized a Green Olympics. As their sequence drew to an end, the giant white paper was lifted vertically to reveal a drawing of mountains and waters with a smiling face as the sun. Then, there was a light presentation showing brightly coloured flying birds, symbolizing the rebirth of the phoenix and the bird-nest stadium itself. Performers dance on the surface of an illuminated sphere in the middle of the National Stadium The next segment was a celestial show and the arrival of astronauts symbolizing Chinese space exploration, with a gigantic, 60-foot, 16-tonned ball structure representing the earth. 58 acrobats tumbled rightside up, sideways or upside down on its surface, which was then transformed into a giant glowing Chinese lantern. Chinese singer Liu Huan and British singer Sarah Brightman stood on the central platform and sang the 2008 Olympic theme song: You and Me.

• published: 19 Oct 2013
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