AUG (08) 8 (08) 2008 (08) at 8:08:08 IN CHINA

AUG 08 2008 AT 08:08:08 LET THE GAMES BEGIN.
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Teams parade at opening ceremony AUG 08,2008

The opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics is taking place, as athletes from more than 200 countries prepare to parade through the Bird's Nest stadium. Drums, a light show and a display of fireworks began the three-hour ceremony at 1300 BST - basketball star Yao Ming led the host athletes into the arena. Rows of fireworks, representing each of the 29 modern Games, lit up Beijing. Chinese gymnastics champion Li Ning is expected to light the cauldron at the end the ceremony. US President George W. Bush and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin joined China's Hu Jintao to watch the spectacle. The initial firework display gave way to a cast of thousands of dancers, distilling 5,000 years of Chinese history into intricately choreographed and beautifully lit sequences.

Giant, illuminated Olympic rings and enormous pillars rose up from the floor of the stadium, followed by a piano duet performed by a five-year-old girl and famed Chinese pianist, Lang Lang. The ceremony was opened by 2,008 drummers conducting a light show
In keeping with tradition, Greece - Olympic founders and hosts of the first modern Games - led the 204 competing nations into the arena, followed by China. The procession of athletes takes place with nations appearing according to the order of how many brush strokes are required to write each country's name in Chinese. Team GB are therefore 115th into the arena, with Australia - traditionally third into the arena by alphabetical order - appearing third last. However, Brunei do not feature, having missed the deadline to register their athletes for the ceremony. Brunei had until midday Friday to register its two athletes - 15-year-old swimmer Maria Grace Koh and shot putter Mohammed Yazid Yatimi Yusof - with the International Olympic Committee, but failed to do so. A number of British athletes are also missing the ceremony in order to prepare for events on Saturday and Sunday. We cannot march as it goes on until very late, GB rower Frances Houghton told BBC Sport. It would be like going out for a big night out two days before racing.Britain's track and field athletes are also absent from the ceremony, as they are yet to travel to Beijing from the team's Macau training camp.

BBC OLYMPICS BLOG

The big talking point is how they will light the Olympic cauldron

BBC's Tom Fordyce in Beijing
A giant plasma screen enveloping the roof of the stadium produced a stunning virtual torrent of water - but fears of rain spoiling the ceremony appear to be unfounded. Despite a smoggy start to the day, visibility at the Bird's Nest improved in the hours before the event began. By contrast, thunderstorms have dampened celebrations in Hong Kong, the Olympic equestrian venue. The Games are expected to attract a record TV audience of four billion - over 100 million more than for the 2004 Athens Olympics. A capacity crowd of around 90,000 packed into the famous stadium, in the heart of the Olympic Green, to watch Chinese film director Zhang Yimou's opening ceremony. Seventeen of the 28 sports feature action on Saturday, with the Games running until 24 August. When events begin, judo player Craig Fallon will have the chance to win Great Britain's first medal of the Games. China's Du Li could win the first gold for the host country when she defends her title in the women's 10m air rifle. And American swimming star Michael Phelps also begins his quest to win an unprecedented eight Olympic golds in a single Games as he competes in the heats of the 400m individual medley.


The Bird's Nest stadium exploded into life with a spectacular firework display .The host nation is fielding its biggest ever Olympic team, with 639 athletes competing in all 28 sports at the Olympics for the first time, in a bid to top the medals table ahead of the United States. China has come under close scrutiny since Beijing was chosen in 2001 to host the Olympics. Demonstrations dogged the Olympic torch relay during its journey around the world.

China's treatment of Tibet has been the subject of much of the controversy, and campaigners such as Amnesty International claim that journalists in China are still detained and websites blocked.

Beijing has always promised to make improvements in human rights, media freedoms and the provision of health and education. There had been a security crackdown across Beijing in advance of the high-profile event, with thousands of armed police deployed and areas of the city centre locked down. Beijing's international airport was closed for the duration of the ceremony, and a no-fly zone imposed in the air above the city. The Bird's Nest stadium was protected by rows of tall fences, surveillance cameras and anti-aircraft missile batteries. Many of the city's 17m residents stayed at home after the Beijing authorities declared a public holiday to mark the auspicious start at 8pm (1300 BST) on 08/08/08 - the number eight is very lucky in China.

LUCKY 8 IN CHINA
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CHINA'S LUCKY DATE Thousands of young lovers plan to get married on 08-08-08, as it is considered an auspicious date according to Chinese traditions Aileen McCabe, at the Beijing Games , Canwest News Service Published: Thursday, August 07, 2008

BEIJING - Wedding bells will drown out the songs of the cicadas Friday as more than 16,400 couples officially tie the knot in China's capital on 08-08-08.It's those lucky Olympic numbers young lovers want to see on the marriage certificates they will be picking up at registry offices across the city - and the nation - Friday.To the Chinese ear, eight in Mandarin (ba) sounds like fa, the word for wealth or prosperity - a very lucky concept in anyone's tradition.Xu Panpan, 25, will marry Sun Xi on Friday, but she says she picked the day mainly because of the Olympics: 'There are many auspicious days, but the Olympics are like a chance in 100 years. Canwest News Service

That it's also the opening day of the Beijing Olympic Games is icing on the wedding cake.Xu Panpan, a 25-year-old Shanghainese who will marry her finance Sun Xi, said she picked the day mainly because of the Games.The three eights are not as important to me compared with the Olympics, Xu said. It's China's first Olympics. There are many auspicious days, but the Olympics are like a chance in 100 years.In the next breath, however, Xu concedes the eights also influenced her decision. She and Sun had matching wedding rings made, she said, with figure 8s carved around the bands.He Tieging, spokesman for the marriage registry office in Beijing's Chaoyang District, tries to explain to a foreigner the wedding craze that has caught on across the country.In Chinese tradition, eight, six and nine are lucky numbers. Dates including those numbers are considered good days for weddings, He said.It's not superstition, but Chinese tradition that made young couples want to get married (on Aug. 8).Also it's the time of the Beijing Olympics. The whole world is watching China. Young couples can match their big day with the country's big day. It's a day to remember.In a nation of 1.3 billion, numbers always tend to look phenomenal. But when you consider the countrywide trend - 6,000 couples, for example, made appointments to marry in Shanghai, 3,300 are collecting their certificates in Guangzhou, 1,000 in Zhengzhou, etc. - it is fair to expect newly wedded bliss to sweep the nation, at least until the Olympic opening ceremonies begin Friday night.

Xu says she is planning a family dinner after she picks up her wedding certificate, but by 8 p.m. she will be happily ensconced on the couch watching the ceremonies.While 08/08/08 will mark the official wedding day for tens of thousands, it's actually not the day for white dresses and lace veils in China. The finery is saved for the elaborately posed pictures that are taken in the weeks before the visit to the registry office and the social wedding - often a sumptuous banquet - is usually held several weeks or months after it.

Xu and Sun won't have their banquet until next May.

Rarely does a marriage in China entail any kind of a religious ceremony or even a judge or justice of the peace. A bureaucrat will merely give the couple the official certificate they have applied for and the deed is done.

The bureaucrats will do it with a smile, however.

Though it's an official holiday, our staff here is happy to give up their holidays to help young couples fulfil their wish of getting married on this special day, He said.The Chaoyang registry office is in a bleak, grey building in central Beijing. As of Thursday, however, it was boring no more.He watched as workmen erected a giant, inflatable scarlet arch over the doorway, depicting a dragon and a phoenix, traditional and deeply lucky symbols for a bride and groom. It was just one of the welcoming touches being added to celebrate the country's Olympic newlyweds.In Beijing, they will also be asked to sign a billboard for all to see and join in their happiness. It reads like a toast: A century of Olympics; a century-long dream; a century-long prayer for happiness; a century of perfect marriage.In keeping with such harmonious sentiments, many registry offices across China will not process divorces on Friday. He said his bureau would do them, but he didn't sound like he actually expected any quarrelling couples to come and spoil the day.

If they try, he warned, the lines will be long.Aileen McCabe is in Beijing as part of the Canwest News Service Olympic Team.With files from Jessie Zhou Canwest News Service 2008

LUCKY 8"S IN CHINA
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/05/world/asia/05china.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

July 5, 2006, 9:21 am Lucky 8’s in China By Stephen J. Dubner

We’ve posted before on the subjects of randomness and luck. Along those lines, there’s a fascinating article by Jim Yardley in today’s N.Y. Times about the Chinese appetite for lucky numbers — well, for 8’s, the luckiest of all numbers — and how the government now auctions off lucky license plates for thousands of dollars. It used to be that government officials and their families and friends got all the good license plates, but this was seen as a corrupt practice. So now the government auctions off the plates — AC6688 recently sold for $10,000 — with the proceeds supposedly going to the victims of automobile accidents. Considering that 100,000 people die each year in auto accidents in China (this is good news only if you are awaiting an organ transplant), this is probably a worthwhile cause. Yardley points out that the Chinese consider 8 to be such a lucky number that the Beijing Olympics are due to open on 8/8/08 at 8 p.m