Saturday, August 9, 2008

Opening Ceremonies at Wangfujing

Here's the scene from the Wangfujing district in Beijing during the night of the Olympic Opening Ceremonies. Tens of thousands of people gathered in front of the giant television screen as Chinese Central Television beamed images from the Bird's Nest Stadium. The video begins at the tail end of the Chinese national anthem, and then it shows Chinese shouting "Go China" throughout.

There were lots of cheering, mostly hot passion for China, though the crowd did cheer loudly for the US Team, the Bushes, and, not surprisingly, Vladimir Putin. But there were some booing as well. When the Japanese team marched into the stadium, the crowds gathered at Wangfujing immediately booed. Some locals were uncomfortable with the booing in the presence of foreign television cameras (NBC News had a crew there) and tried to encourage their fellow compatriots to settle down. They failed.


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