The Beijing Summer Olympics opened
On this day · 8 August 2008
On the auspicious date of 8-8-08, China unveiled a four-hour opening spectacle that announced its arrival on the world stage.
On the evening of August 8, 2008 — the date chosen because eight is China’s luckiest number — the Games of the XXIX Olympiad opened inside Beijing’s National Stadium, the lattice-steel arena nicknamed the Bird’s Nest.
Directed by filmmaker Zhang Yimou, the ceremony filled the 91,000-seat stadium and ran for some four hours. More than 15,000 performers traced China’s history through movable-type printing blocks, calligraphy, and fireworks, before gymnast Li Ning was hoisted skyward to light the cauldron while seeming to run through the air.
Watched by a worldwide television audience estimated in the billions and attended by dignitaries including U.S. President George W. Bush, the show reportedly cost over $100 million. It set a new benchmark for Olympic openings — lavish, meticulously drilled, and unmistakably a coming-out party for a confident China.
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