National Stadium
Stadium · Xiaoguan ·
Architectural marvel, Olympic venue, hosts concerts and sporting events
Information
1 Guojiatiyuchang S Rd, Chaoyang, China, 100107 Get directions
Architectural marvel, Olympic venue, hosts concerts and sporting events
1 Guojiatiyuchang S Rd, Chaoyang, China, 100107 Get directions
"I recall the August 8, 2008 opening ceremony of the Beijing Summer Olympics in the National Stadium, otherwise known as the Bird’s Nest—directed by Zhang Yimou—which served as a watershed moment in China’s relationship with the wider world. The spectacle had a reported $300 million budget, featured 15,000 volunteer performers including 2,008 choreographed drummers, packed the stadium with global leaders such as US president George W. Bush and Russia's then-prime minister Vladimir Putin, and was watched by an estimated 2 billion people on television; one of the Games’ themes was “Beijing Welcomes You,” capturing the era’s sense of a rising, outward-looking China." - Mitch Moxley
On August 8, 2008, the Bird’s Nest, officially Beijing National Stadium, hosted an Opening Ceremony that many regard as the best ever, dropping jaws with its sheer scale and precision. The show offered acrobats tumbling Cirque-style on a 60-foot suspended planet, black-clad dancers painting Chinese characters across giant scrolls like living pens, and smiley-face fireworks, all delivered with meticulously choreographed spectacle. It also generated a Communist Party micro-scandal when it emerged that Lin Miaoke, seen singing ‘Ode to the Motherland’, had mimed to another little girl’s recording after a Politburo member decided the real singer’s voice was good but she wasn’t photogenic enough, and the entire extravaganza reportedly cost around $100 million. - Joel Meares
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