China basks, but tensions lurk

2008-08-09 08:10

Beijing - China on Saturday basked in the glory of its stunning Olympic opening ceremony, even as the tensions that lurked in the run-up to the Games threatened to jump out of the shadows.

A jubilant Chinese press, which is under the control of the ruling Communist Party, dripped with patriotic sentiments and hailed Friday's ceremony at the "Bird's Nest" National Stadium as a potential turning point in world history.

"As the resplendent Olympic flame lit up the night over the Bird's Nest... the world not only saw a modern China that embraces a 5 000-year-old ancient history, but a fully confident, strong and wise China," the leading People's Daily said.

"This rare night in Beijing will become an important page in the history of world civilisation."

The People's Daily is the main mouthpiece of the Communist Party which has ruled the country since 1949 and overseen the nation's dramatic economic development over the past three decades.

The party has long cherished the Olympics as an opportunity to show the world China's new capabilities, and the four-hour ceremony was vast in its ambition, creativity and use of modern technology.

Acclaimed Chinese film director Zhang Yimou choreographed a dazzling 50-minute show involving 15 00 performers, while the final moments to the ceremony saw iconic sportsman-turned-businessmen Li Ning elevated to the top of stadium to light the cauldron.

Billions of people around the world tuned in to see the extravaganza, with some in the West in awe of the show and also in no doubt that it was a landmark event in the rise of China.

Sensitive issues

The British press was united in declaring the ceremony the best in Olympic history and a stunning display of China's new-found confidence.

"The age of Chinese power dawned in a spellbinding and futuristic curtain-lifter which featured 15 000 different types of costume and 14 000 performers, 9 000 of them on loan from the People's Liberation Army," Britain's Daily Mail newspaper wrote.

The Guardian said the ceremony "outdid all of its predecessors in numbers, colour, noise and expense, demonstrating to the world that the new China intends to make its presence felt".

Nevertheless, China could not escape the controversies over its attitude towards human rights and other sensitive issues that shadowed the build-up to the Olympics.

As the Games got under way on Saturday, an activist campaigning against China's rule of Tibet said security forced her to leave the equestrian venue in the southern city of Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong university student, who has a history of staging protests against the Chinese government, said she planned to unfurl a Tibetan flag inside the Olympic venue, but was forced to leave before she could do so.

Christina Chan said Olympic security staff first asked her to leave the venue, then called in police, who surrounded her and physically removed her.

Tibet is one of the most contentious political issues facing China, and Hong Kong authorities were determined not to cause embarrassment despite the territory's tradition of freedom of speech.

"I was only holding a Canadian flag, I planned to use that as a decoy. But they said I'd broken the rules and would have to leave. The whole thing was pretty ridiculous," she told AFP.

Thousands of people around the world had already staged protests on Friday to coincide with the opening ceremony, accusing China of relentless human rights abuses.

Demonstrators took to the streets of London, Brussels, Berlin, Amsterdam, Kathmandu, Bangkok, Hong Kong, New Delhi and Washington to voice concerns ranging China's rule of Tibet and Muslim Xinjiang, to its support for Myanmar's junta and media freedoms.

- AFP