The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
Chinese President Xi Jinping officially opened the Beijing Winter Games, amidst a burst of fireworks marking the start of an Olympics whose preparations were beset by the COVID-19 pandemic and criticism over human rights abuses.
The opening ceremony February 4 at the Bird’s Nest stadium – venue of Beijing’s 2008 Summer Games – was filled with imagery of ice and snow.
Held on the first day of Spring by the Chinese calendar, it began with a performance by dancers waving glowing green stalks to convey the vitality of the season, followed by an explosion of white and green fireworks that spelled the word “Spring.”
On a three-dimensional cube resembling a block of ice, lasers carved figures from each of the previous 23 Winter Games. The block was then “broken” by ice hockey players, enabling the Olympic rings to emerge, all in white.
That was followed by the traditional “parade of nations,” with each of the 91 delegations preceded by a women carrying a placard in the shape of a snowflake resembling a Chinese knot.
In keeping with Olympic tradition, the parade was led into the stadium by Greece with the rest ordered by stroke number in the first character of their Chinese name, which meant Turkey was second, followed by Malta, with host China going last and drawing roars from the stadium crowd.
Entrances for “Hong Kong, China”, and Russia also drew applause.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, was seen in the stadium without a mask. Athletes from his country were unable to carry its flag due to doping violations, marching instead under the standard of the Russian Olympic Committee.
The ceremony began after Xi and Bach entered the iconic Bird’s Nest stadium.
Bach hailed China’s arrival as a “winter sport country” as a “new era for global winter sport.”
Soon after the start, the Chinese flag was passed among 56 people representing China’s different ethnic groups before it was raised and the national anthem performed.
With temperatures of about -4C (25F) at the start – not enough to daunt the shirtless flagbearer from American Samoa – the show was set to be about half as long as the four-hour marathon that opened the 2008 Games, also at the Bird’s Nest.
The crowd was pared down, with organizers deciding not to sell tickets to Olympic events to curtail the spread of COVID-19. A “closed loop” separates competitors and other personnel from the Chinese public throughout the Olympics.