Theme Slogan
One World, One Dream' is the simple but meaningful slogan adopted for the Beijing Olympic Games, reflecting fully the Olympic spirit and a common dream shared by people worldwide. The value contained in one of the three concepts of Beijing Olympics - People's Olympics is also reflected in this slogan. With 1.3 billion people, China is endeavoring to build a peaceful world, in which people live in harmony and cooperate with each other.
Olympic Mascot
Fuwa' composed of five images; those of a fish, a panda, the Olympic flame, a Tibetan antelope and a swallow - has been created as the mascot for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. The mascot has been designed to convey a message of friendship and peace together with the dream that mankind and nature can live in great harmony.
Each of the five images has been given a nice name - Beibei, Jingjing, Huanhuan, Yingying and Nini. When these are read together thus 'Bei Jing Huan Ying Ni' it is actually Chinese for 'Welcome to Beijing'. Each image conveys different wishes and meanings: Beibei (the fish), symbolizes prosperity and harvest; Jingjing, a lovely panda symbolizes the harmonious existence between human and nature; Huanhuan (the Olympic flame), regarded as the elder brother of the five, expresses the Olympic spirit, while Yingying, the Tibet antelope wishes everyone in the world good health and the swallow Nini brings happiness and good luck. As the five images are colored blue, black, red, yellow and green respectively, Fuwa matches the Five Olympic Rings.
Olympic venues
The 2008 Summer Olympics were held in Beijing, China from August 8 to August 24, 2008.Over 10,000 athletes from 204 countries are participating in 302 events in 28 sports, held in 37 competition venues.
Beijing won its bid to host the 2008 Olympics on July 13, 2001.The first new venues to begin construction were the Beijing National Stadium, Beijing National Aquatics Center, Beijing Shooting Range Hall, and the Laoshan Velodrome, where major work commenced in December 2003.By May 2007, construction had begun at all of the Beijing venues for the games. A total of US$1.9 billion (RMB¥13 billion) was spent to build and renovate the venues.
National Stadiu
National Stadium, which is nicknamed the Bird's Nest because of the unique design, is located at Olympic Green and covers an area of 258,000 square meters (about 63.8 acres). Designed by the famous Swiss architect Herzog & DeMeuron and China Architecture Design Institute, the construction started in December, 2003 and will have a capacity of 100,000 upon completion. Besides the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, this grand and modern stadium will host Athletics and Football during the Games. This Stadium will be the stage for both national and international sporting events, as well as cultural and entertainment activities after the Olympics. The glittering National Aquatics Center, namely 'H2O3', is another highlight of Olympic Green. It covers an area of more than 65,000 square meters (about 16.1 acres) and have a capacity of 17,000 during the Swimming, Diving, Water Polo, and Synchronized Swimming events.
Opening ceremony
The opening ceremony was held at the Beijing National Stadium. It began at 8:00 pm on August 8, 2008.The number 8 is associated with prosperity and confidence in Chinese culture, and here it was a triple eight for the date and one extra for time (close to 08:08:08 pm).The ceremony was co-directed by Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou and Chinese choreographer Zhang Jigang.[59] It featured a cast of over 15,000 performers, and was dubbed beforehand as "the most spectacular Olympics Opening Ceremony ever produced". A rich assembly of ancient Chinese art and culture dominated the ceremony. It opened with the beating of Fou drums for the countdown. Subsequently, a giant scroll was unveiled and became the show's centerpiece. The official song of the 2008 Olympics was performed by Britain's Sarah Brightman and China's Liu Huan, and was titled You and Me, on a large spinning rendition of the globe.[61] The last recipient in the Olympic Torch relay, former Chinese gymnast Li Ning ignited the cauldron, after being suspended into the air by wires and completing a lap of the National Stadium at Stadium roof height in the air.
Closing ceremony
The 2008 Summer Olympics Closing Ceremony concluded the Beijing Games on August 24, 2008. It began at 8:00pm, and took place at the Beijing National Stadium. The Ceremony included the handover of the Games from Beijing to London. Guo Jinlong, the Mayor of Beijing handed over the Olympic flag to the Mayor of London Boris Johnson, followed by a performance organized by the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games.