8:27am Wednesday 20th August 2008
By Martyn Hannah
I was disappointed with the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics.
Yes, I know, it was very spectacular, very entertaining and understandably very communist. There were the 2008 drummers hammering the bleeding life out of ancient instruments, there were the military spec fireworks and the unforgettable sight of that withered athlete hung like a puppet 200ft above the stadium floor, torch in hand, on his way to light the giant Olympic flame.
But for me it was lacking in substance, controversy and politics. I was hoping for some sort of protest during the four-hour extravaganza – a riot preferably – as I was interested to see how the Chinese would handle the media side of such unexpected disruption.
Having censored the poverty and hardship the communist regime has generated in Beijing, it would have been nice for a little payback.
Instead of newspaper columns praising the cleanliness and organisation and technology the Chinese have put behind the games, we would have a fantastic front page photo of the sight of 91,000 angry protesters producing a vast array of slogans and logos on the giant scroll laid out on the stadium floor. Anyway, such drama was not to be.
However, since the ceremony drew to a close, a few cracks have appeared in the glossy surface the Chinese painted. The sweet little girl with the voice of an angel who filled the stadium with unchallengeable innocence was not, after all, what she appeared to be.
The harmonious warble belonged to a girl so apparently heinously unattractive that the Government decided she would have to sing from behind the scenes. She would be replaced by the lip-syncing pixie that drew a slight tear from us all.
When asked if this was the case, the Chinese Government sheepishly nodded like naughty children and plead guilty.
So far, the games themselves have been a wash-out, with China pretty much clearing house. This was to be expected, of course.
There is something very terrifying about the way China has approached the Olympics. The whole nation, all 2.3 billion of them, is said to be obsessively behind the games and the Chinese team.
The stench of patriotism lingers above the Bird’s Nest stadium like a mad, deranged phantom. When you compare this with the support given to our over-hyped second-besters, as a nation we should be filled with shame.
In four years from now it will be our turn to host the opening ceremony, where again I will be hoping for a riot.
However, if this doesn’t go down, I have a horrible feeling the entertainment supplied by Britain won’t be a patch on that given by the Chinese.
In fact, the latest I’ve heard is 300 Morris Dancers are lined up to open the games. Let the games begin.
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