Welcome to Travelerfolio! This special post is set to be published on 08.08.08 at 08:08 pm! Did you notice something? 08:08 pm is also 20:08, which is the year 2008 ! Be the first to comment now! All are welcome to post as many comments as you like!
When you are reading this post, you are either still watching or just finished watching the much anticipated grand opening ceremony of Beijing Olympic Games which also starts on the same day at the same time this post is published, that is at an auspicious time at 08:08pm!
Some interesting facts/stories about Beijing Olympic Games:
Beijing 2008, the Games of the XXIX Olympiad
“One World, One Dream ~ 同一个世界同一个梦想”
This Olympic Emblem known as the “Dancing Beijing“, is a Chinese Seal with the character “京” (pronounced as “Jing“) engraved for the Olympic Movement by China, a country that the largest population in the world, with 1.3 billion people from 56 ethnic groups. “京” | “Jing” is the latter of the great ancient capital of China – “北京” | “Beijing“. You will notice that the “Dancing Beijing” has open arms, a gesture to welcome the world to join the Olympics.
The “Bird’s Nest” is China’s new National Stadium that will serve as the main venue of the Beijing Olympic Games and the opening and closing ceremonies of the Games will be held in it too. It is considered as the most unusual and beautiful stadium in Olympic history.
This architectural wonder is the National Aquatics Center, also known as the “Water Cube” which has more than 4000 bubbles. It will host its first major swimming event this month – the “Good Luck Beijing”.
(Source: http://en.beijing2008.cn/)
Do you know Feng Shui?
The north-south Imperial Axis is believed to bring eternal stability. The “Bird’s Nest” and the “Water Cube” are positioned on either side of the 7.7 km Imperial Axis that runs through the emperor’s seat at the Forbidden City, through the middle of Tian’anmen Square, the Drum and Bell towers, and Yongdinmen.
The Official Mascots of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games – “Fuwa” (福娃)
The five Fuwa are Beibei, Jinjing, Huanhuan, Yingying and Nini, which actually means “Beijing huanying ni” (北京欢迎你), literally means “Beijing welcomes you”.
There is a popular Superstitious Belief that the recent misfortunes are related to the five Olympic Mascots for Beijing 2008.
Beibei (贝贝), represented by a Chinese sturgeon fish (中华鲟) that is thought to have lived at the same time as dinosaurs. This species is strictly protected by the Chinese government like a national treasure.
Beibei is linked to the South China floods on May 2008.
Jingjing (晶晶) is an athlete noted for strength who represents the black Olympic ring.
He is a panda which is closely associated with Sichuan province that is well known for its pandas. Sichuan is devastated by the 8.0-magnitude earthquake in May 2008.
Huanhuan (欢欢) is a child of fire, symbolizing the Olympic Flame. He excels at all the ball games and represents the red Olympic ring.
This fuwa is linked to the Olympic Torch which has been dogged by aggressive anti-China protests on its world tour.
Yingying (迎迎) represents the Tibetan Antelope which is unique to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, one of the first animals put under protection in China. Strong in track and field events, Yingying is a quick-witted and agile. He represents the yellow Olympic ring.
This mascot baby is speculated by some who believes that it is linked to the scene of riots in Tibet and the cause of international protests against China.
Nini (妮妮) represents a kite that is designed like a swallow. She is strong in gymnastics and represents the green Olympic ring.
This baby is linked to the world capital of kites – Weifang (潍坊) in Shandong, where a deadly railway accident occurred a month ago, killing 71 people and 416 wounded.
Who cares about how “unlucky” superstitious people say about these Fuwa? We were so delightful to see these Olympic mascots in a shopping mall in Singapore! Say cheeze and PEACE to Beijing 2008!
Darling!!!
I am here!!!
Also post something lolz!!!
Yeah!Olympic!08-08-08!what a great number! ^^
those 福娃 are really cute! ^^
蕾蕾~
GO CHINA! GO CHINA!
Anyone can watch this online all LIVE streaming 24/7 from Beijing (forget NBC!)
Watching the ceremony now at 9:20am EST from the USA! It’s awesome!
http://itsgametime.tv/OlympicsLive.html
yes, i am currently watching Beijing Olympics. Hehe. The opening ceremony was amazing and err… very much expensive. It shows. Hehe. Thanks for the information, I didn’t know that. By the way, the mascots are cute! 🙂
@Zara, HL, ten1o: Beijing Go Go Go!
@Michele: Thanks! U r so nice! However, I guess too many visitors for that site, it is slow and some problem loading due to over capacity.
@Miss Elle: Yes! Me too! Multi-tasking now, replying messages and watching this amazing opening ceremony. =) Enjoy!
hi eunice! great post, i learned a lot from reading it 😉 furious and i are watching the opening ceremonies now! i agree with ms. elle, the mascots are super cute! love the pic 😀
hi eunice!!!
the bird’s nest is beyond amazing!!!!
and oh nice info about feng shui!
Barbie really wanna see the Bed Nest Stadium for real ^ ^ Look incredible!
Hey, thks for this informative post, babe ^ ^ and, Barbie got the seat in this 8/8/08 at 8:08 PM today ^ ^ though I’m not so much into this, but just feel like wanna do sth lol…
so who among you guys are there live?
@Alex: Agreed! There are a lot more to be discovered in this Games, what a magical opening ceremony.
@Barbie: Yeah, feel so inspired to visit Beijing now.
@Jasper: Everyone is “live” here now hehe
wow…so much info about this great event as well as feng shui. 😉
Back after watching the Fabulous Opening Ceremony !! Absolutely lovved it !! I have seen the previous ones at Atlanta,Sydney and Greece , but i ve never seen anything like what i saw today !!! Although there were lotsss of favt moments in todays show , I still stick with the sight of the Indian Athletes walking into the stadium !! Was soooo proud at that moment !! 🙂
And One more info ! 8 is actually an unlucky Number in India !! he he :p
Also we had this “Save the earth” campaign today , here in Chennai ! We had to switch off all the lights at 8 PM tonight for exactly 8 minutes – inorder to create awareness about Global warming !! It was pretty succesfull.. We were also asked to switch of the TV’s , But i did nt !! he he :p
I saw the Opening Ceremony on TV last night. Simply extraordinary. What a show. China should be rightfully very very proud.
the fireworks are awesome. even my little girl who was watching with me was saying ‘wow, amazing!’ that’s coming from the mouth of a 2 year old.
re : the actor in the picture in my other blog. he started as a singaporean model and become a taiwanese actor.
and yes i bought the disney princess laptop for the little girl in ebay. and yes she is loving it. she is singing with belle and cinderella.
yeahh right! the opening ceremony at bird’s nest was AWESOME!! the fireworks, the lighting torches, the shows, WHOA~! ^O^
China must be VERY VERY PROUD!!! ^=
oh yeappp~ who cares about how “unlucky” superstitious people say about these Fuwa?? it’s all folks!!! guess that was the reason why I didn’t spot FuWa mascots!!!!
Beijing Hua Ying Ni! Shi Jie De Meng Xiang~ ^^
literally means Beijing Welcomes You! One World One Dream~ ^^
Chia You Chia You~!!!
@Enny: I just read about fengshui being applied in these architectural buildings only when I started blogging about this Games. I am very surprised too!
@KC: Oh, why must save the Earth at 8pm when the opening ceremony started? Why not 7:52? More people will “save the Earth” then, cos opening not started yet =P
@Mark H: This is the first time I watch an Olympic opening, and I am not disappointed at all, it’s simply extraordinary.
@Milet: Wow! A 2-year-old already knows how to appreciated that!
@Jasmine: China Jia You!
Hulloo.. It was 8 here in india , not in china !! It was well into the opening ceremony then.. It started here at 5.38 pm in the evening.. At that time , when we had to switch off, the athletes march past was goin on !
@KC: Not too bad yeah, if you were to switch off TV during the marching in of 200 over teams! Forgotten about your time difference. SG and Beijing have the same GMT.
Oh girl, you’ve got more spectacular photos that the ones I got from the internet! Me too, I’m still so much into the Olympics, in fact my present blog has something to do with it. I cant help to comment on the opening ceremony… That was sooo awesome! They must have spent millions of money for that, what do you think?
Wow thanks for sharing these things. Very interesting! keep it up.
@Bridge: Definitely, I think it is said to be the most expensive Olympic Games to be held in history.
@Tess: Enjoy the games!
wow, it’s amazing the amount of research you’ve done on this! great post eunice!