Beijing Olympics: Games Living

(18 photos)
  • At Wangfujing shopping district, thousands watch the live broadcast of the opening ceremony of the 29th Summer Olympic Games on a building-sized screen, Beijing, China, Aug. 8, 2008. Multiple live venues with big plasma screens were set up throughout the city where thousands could watch the ceremony together. Besides some 160,000 people who watched from inside the National Stadium, or Bird's Nest, the performance was televised live to 840-million Chinese, and an estimated 4 billion viewers all around the globe - the biggest ever audience in history for a sports event.
  • Locals gather at the south terminal of the National Stadium, or Bird's Nest, every evening to enjoy the giant glow in the dark, Beijing, China, July 2008.
  • The owner of a "nail house" - homes that refuse to make room for development - battles the government's eviction order by turning his front door into a protest display on Dianmennei Avenue, Beijing, China, July 2008. The display consisted of multiple posters of Hu Jintao, Wen Jiabao, Mao, Deng, the Chinese flag, the Communist flag, and the Olympic flag - for it was thought that the court's order was triggered by an effort to clean up the streets for the Olympics.
  • Spectators climb trees trying to see past thousands gathering at the west gate of Tiantan (the Temple of Heaven), the final stop of the first day torch relay in Beijing, China, Aug. 2008. Some 30,000 people gathered along the 16 plus kilometers route to watch 433 torchbearers run the first day of the three-day torch relay passing 7 districts in Beijing.
  • A boy gears up before the Olympic torch arrives at Tiantan (the Temple of Heaven), the final stop of the first day torch relay in Beijing, China, Aug. 2008. Some 30,000 people gathered along the 16 plus kilometers route to watch 433 torchbearers run the first day of the three-day torch relay passing 7 districts in Beijing.
  • Five locals gather under the Olympic Fuwa - the five mascots of the Beijing Olympics - outside Daguanyuan, one of many live sites with big plasma screens broadcasting Olympic games all day long, Beijing, China, Aug. 2008.
  • Elders exercise ballroom dancing outside the north gate of Worker's Stadium - the Olympic boxing game venue - in Sanlitun, Beijing, China, July 2008. Such public exercises and dances flourished in the celebratory mood of the Beijing Olympics.
  • A crowd stand for the Chinese national anthem during the live broadcast of the Beijing Olympics closing ceremony at Ditan Park, China, Aug. 2008.
  • A construction site is fenced off by Olympic-themed billboards in Beijing, China, July 2008. Game-action figures were found throughout the city as workers labored seven days a week preparing the city for the Olympic Games.
  • Shi Changlin parks his "Olympic tricycle" near the National Aquatics Center, or Water Cube, to cheer for the Olympics, Beijing, China, Aug. 2008. Mr. Shi claimed to have traveled all around China on his tricycle collecting good wills for the Beijing Olympics.
  • Janitors mop the roof of a restaurant next to a Olympic-themed sportswear billboard in the main commercial district Xidan, Beijing, China, July 2008.
  • Ticket buyers line up at the east gate of the Worker's Stadium for the last 7000 of the phase 4 Olympic soccer match tickets, Sanlitun, Beijing, China, July 2008. Ticket seekers arrived as early as 6 a.m. in the morning, more than 24 hours before the tickets went on sale.
  • In the spirit of the Olympics, a family has all the boys' hair shaved into the five Olympic rings before an outing to see the National Stadium, or Bird's Nest, Beijing, China, July 2008.
  • A construction site, like many throughout the city, operates day and night revamping public facilities in preparation for the Olympics, Xidan commercial district, Beijing, July 2008.
  • A worker cleans the walking streets in Qianmen, an area famous for its Hutong, or ancient alley communities, that is overwhelmed by visitors before the much anticipated opening ceremony of the 29th Summer Olympic Games, Beijing, China, Aug. 8, 2008. The Chinese government declared the day a holiday but many worked restlessly for the unprecedented event.
  • Spectators share the live broadcast of the opening ceremony of the 29th Summer Olympic Games on a portable television, as a crowd gather along the north Sanhuan road to watch the climax fireworks at the end, Beijing, China, Aug. 8, 2008. The ceremony went overtime into the next morning of August 9 and it was said that most Beijing locals did not sleep.
  • Children play as locals gather at Yuting Square, one of many live sites with big plasma screens broadcasting Olympic games all day long, Beijing, China, Aug. 2008. It was the night China played the first ever Olympic Women's Hockey Gold Medal Match against Holland.
  • Hundreds gather at the square along Beichen bridge to have the last sight of the burning Olympic fire atop the National Stadium, or Bird's Nest, the day before the Beijing Olympics close, China, Aug. 2008.

The Beijing Olympics were a dream. Not the dream coined in China's Olympic slogan "One World, One Dream" as unity, and not the American-style dream that could come true or -- to many Chinese indeed -- had come true. It was a dream in the literal sense that too many spectacles too absurd happened too fast in a fixed yet elusively felt period of time.

One woke up afterward, and all the statistics, records, praises, bashes, shame and pride, seemed fuzzy and irrelevant;...
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