Wo buhui yong kuaizi.: ONE WORLD, ONE DREAM

Jiaozi (dumplings), kuaizi (chopsticks), bananas (gotta keep it real…), “Zhongguo Jiayou” headbands, and flags in hand, we headed out about 3:00 pm yesterday for the Bird’s Nest to stake out a spot to watch the festivities surrounding opening ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. When we went to scout things out last Monday night, we had found a great spot in a plaza where we could set up a picnic within viewing distance of the stadium itself so we could see the fireworks, and a big screen so we could see what was going on inside. However, after braving the subway packed to the brim and walking around the barricaded area for 45 minutes or so (barraged like never before by picture takers – we’re talking every few yards), we found that they wouldn’t let us within a literal mile of the nest without a ticket. So, after enjoying some pretty sweet Olympic-style people watching, we enacted plan B, and headed for Wangfujing.

Pre-ceremony festivities, excitement, hats, and haircuts

We set up camp (i.e. laid down the free blanket you get when you spend $7 or more in the café near our Chinese school) in Wangfujing around 5:30, and sat back and enjoyed the excitement. It felt a little bit like a Chinese version of July 4^th… on CRACK. These people were excited beyond belief for the moment that was finally within reach. We watched mini-parades, took pictures with decked out foreigners, and schemed as to the best ways to bring these adorable Chinese babies back home with us. After a little while though, we found out that the giant screen we were set up in front of there wasn’t going to work (figures…), so we enacted plan B and a half, and moved a couple of blocks down to a different one, where the atmosphere was escalated from a crazy wild July 4^th parade to a nationalism-themed New Year’s Eve on Times Square…on CRACK. By the time the official countdown started (um, how COOL was that?!), we were in the middle of at least 4,000 Chinese and others from around the world, screaming at the tops of their lungs. Mass euphoria.

What a SPECTACULAR show. A day and 14 hours of sleep later (I was EXHAUSTED after 6 hours in that crazy adrenaline-drowned environment!), I’m still blown away by the sheet scale of the production (though I can give you my thoughts at another time as to a) exactly how wise (or not) I think their choice of style was in shaping the world’s perceptions of China, b) how representative (or not) it was of the position and life of the everyday working Chinese person), and c) how some of that money could have been better spent, BUT regardless, it was one of the most impressive scenes I’ve witnessed, and I’m incredibly happy for all of the Chinese people who had been hoping for and dreaming about those few hours for the last 7 years. They definitely didn’t disappoint.

For the first hour and a half or so, the soundtrack to the show was a 4,000 voice, goosebump-inducing Chinese choir screaming “Zhongguo Jiayou! Ao Yun Jiayou! Beijing Jiayou!” at a level of enthusiasm unknown in Chinese culture. The parade of nations was also super interesting, because each country that came out got different reactions from the crowd (Japan, for example, was not so positive), but for the most part, it was really cool, because every third country or so had a native present in the crowd, so when they would stand up and go crazy, all of the Chinese would start cheering in support of them. It sounds really corny, but if the Olympic slogan “One World, One Dream” could be manifested anywhere, it was last night in Wangfujing. The enthusiasm never waned up until the torch was lit (again, COOL?!?!), and after a frantic but failed rush to get a view of the city-wide fireworks show (the building the screen was on was blocking our view, but we did get to see reflections in another, and we definitely heard them), we finally made it home, exhausted and awed at about 1:00 am.