The Boston Globe’s Bigger Picture has a series of images of the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony. I missed it on TV as I was travelling, so I’ll have to watch it later, but I’ve heard a bit about it. I can’t quite remember all the hyperbole, but apparently it was spectacular, ground-breaking, amazing, mind-boggling and other great superlatives.
The only negative thing I read about it was that while it meant to represent the history of China, modern China was barely represented at all and that this omission was down to ‘lack of time’. I disagree. I think the whole thing was about modern China - the glitz, glamour, spectacle, all the money and technology poured into the event, it’s all about how China is today. Also, the very means of presentation are a clear and dramatic demonstration of what the country is about nowadays: mass production. Take a look at Edward Burtynsky’s Manufacturing series of photos and you can see what I’m on about:
You can see his work here, though I warn you, the site is one of those idiot ones that resizes your browser for you without asking.