[Atena369]

Beijing opening was more grand and no offence to anyone, accentuated how numerous the Chinese are.
London, on the other hand, was 100% British. It showed up that the Brits are proud of every aspect of their historical and social events (and made me proud to be soon studying in such an amazing country). They even included the punk movement! The show was symbolic, extremely original, and all in all superb.

[lambert1]

I say Beijing simply because a lot of the London one was just random. WHY WAS THERE A FLYING GORILLA?

[James0507]

(Original post by Jim_Metrin)
All i can say is your retarded if you found that Bond segment funny. Only people in Britain found the olympics good whilst the majority outside of the world thought it was just a mess. The only good thing was the Torch lighting which admittedly was spectacular.

"retarded". Classy. Not even gonna point out your humerous mistake.
You might believe yourself, but the evidence suggests otherwise. The international press have given an overwhelmingly positive response, I'm yet to see one truly negative article. On one Australian website, a poll showed 75% of Australians rated the ceremony as good or outstanding, only 5% around said it was bad. It was the most watched opening ceremony of all-time in the US, the only nation from which I've heard negative comments (and if they thought it was a mess, it was probably down to the fact they got a 6 hour late, cut-down version with advert breaks every 10 minutes), and I'm still yet to read anything negative in the American press. Last night, hashtags such as "#amazing, #spectacular" were trending on twitter, not "#mess".
Clearly, the world hated it...

[Atena369]

(Original post by Teenage Pirate)
It means that Confucianism is thought to be the main "religion" of 400-500 million people worldwide (and has influence on Chinese culture in general) whereas Mary Poppins is a nanny who flies around with her umbrella that's somewhat popular in the Anglo-Saxon world (but mainly in the UK).

But hey, go ahead and say the UK ceremony paid more homage to cultural values and was more meaningful and human. Because nothing is more touching and human than a nanny who flies around with her umbrella.

Sorry, but if everything you have comprehended from this opening is Mary Poppins then you're really muddle-headed. The whole point of the scene (which by the way includes other stories like Harry Potter and Peter Pan) was to show that the Brits do have good children stories which are important here in Europe.
In regards to the Chinese culture, its importance and greatness is indisputable, but it's just as important as the British one. GB is an awesome country without which there'd be no women rights, today's most popular means of transport, the internet, and many others.
Anyway, this is all subjective. People who like CH say Beijing's opening was better, and the ones who like GB prefer London's. It seems to me that despite your having lived both in the UK and China, you really need to learn to equally respect them.

[Teenage Pirate]

(Original post by Atena369)
Sorry, but if everything you have comprehended from this opening is Mary Poppins then you're really muddle-headed. The whole point of the scene (which by the way includes other stories like Harry Potter and Peter Pan) was to show that the Brits do have good children stories which are important here in Europe.
In regards to the Chinese culture, its importance and greatness is indisputable, but it's just as important as the British one. GB is an awesome country without which there'd be no women rights, today's most popular means of transport, the internet, and many others.
Anyway, this is all subjective. People who like CH say Beijing's opening was better, and the ones who like GB prefer London's. It seems to me that despite your having lived both in the UK and China, you really need to learn to equally respect them.

No, I dislike arrogance, especially if there's not much to back it up - such as the British attitude towards their opening ceremony vs Beijing. Saying the Beijing ceremony had no "culture" or "human element" (which many of this thread do) just because they happened to grow up on Mary Poppins and probably wikipedia'd Confucius when they saw this thread.

I also dislike your arrogance with regards to the inventions of your country. Pointless nationalism. Example: women's rights. Coming from the first European country to have actually granted women's suffrage, I find it pretty insulting that you attribute that to the UK. And Britain invented the car ("most popular means of transport")? Interesting - of the major powers at the time (UK, France, Germany and the US), the UK has the weakest claim to having invented the car...

Britain's given a lot to the world, and the ceremony showcased some of that nicely (music etc.) - but at the same time, it was worse than Beijing (IMO and in the opinion of a lot of the international press) and a lot of the comments here by Brits seem extremely misguided.

[Eloquai]

Like any piece of visual art, the ‘best’ ceremony will be a subjective choice from person to person; what works for some won’t work for all, and even if a majority falls one way or the other, it doesn’t mean that that ceremony was inherently a better performance than its counterparts.

Of the three opening ceremonies I can properly remember, I enjoyed Athens because of its homage to its classical and Olympic history, Beijing for its sheer scale and unparalleled majesty, and London for its diversity, humour, and sometimes critical but ultimately celebratory journey through our own heritage.

Each one worked because it played to the host country’s own strengths, and because the planners probably realised that simple copycat events would fall horrifically flat no matter how hard they tried. The opening ceremony is a chance for each nation to make its own distinct mark on the Olympics before the TV coverage moves on to rather anonymous sporting venues. Therefore, whilst I personally felt London had more heart and warmth than the strict choreography of Beijing, I am aware that such a judgement stems from my own Britishness and lack of local Chinese cultural knowledge, and in much the same vein, I’m sure that a good chunk of the world found our ceremony quite barmy and bizarre at times and a pale comparison to Beijing’s grandeur.

But there’s nothing wrong with that, just so long as every nations remembers that foreign events are always viewed through the prism of our own cultural constructs. We shouldn’t be worried with trying to outdo each other; we should simply enjoy every international ceremony as a celebration of our own global diversity.

[Teatania]

(Original post by Teenage Pirate)
Britain's given a lot to the world, and the ceremony showcased some of that nicely (music etc.) - but at the same time, it was worse than Beijing (IMO and in the opinion of a lot of the international press) and a lot of the comments here by Brits seem extremely misguided.

How can somebody else's own personal honest opinion be misguided? It's all a matter of taste. Some people preferred London's ceremony to Beijing's, the same way some people prefer tea to coffee. It's not a big deal, I think you're getting too worked up over nothing.

[TB.93]

Some people are very easily pleased.. Compared to Beijing it was a joke. In general it was a fair effort but it was really random and wasn't memorable. I doubt we will remember it in years to come.. I was disappointed if I'm to be honest but I am hard to please. The most interesting part was watching the Queen pick her nails - I felt it was hilarious how disinterested she looked.


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

[Atena369]

(Original post by Teenage Pirate)
No, I dislike arrogance, especially if there's not much to back it up - such as the British attitude towards their opening ceremony vs Beijing. Saying the Beijing ceremony had no "culture" or "human element" (which many of this thread do) just because they happened to grow up on Mary Poppins and probably wikipedia'd Confucius when they saw this thread.

I also dislike your arrogance with regards to the inventions of your country. Pointless nationalism. Example: women's rights. Coming from the first European country to have actually granted women's suffrage, I find it pretty insulting that you attribute that to the UK. And Britain invented the car ("most popular means of transport")? Interesting - of the major powers at the time (UK, France, Germany and the US), the UK has the weakest claim to having invented the car...

Britain's given a lot to the world, and the ceremony showcased some of that nicely (music etc.) - but at the same time, it was worse than Beijing (IMO and in the opinion of a lot of the international press) and a lot of the comments here by Brits seem extremely misguided.

First of all, I'm not British. And it's pretty much natural for Brits to say London was better just as the Chinese say Beijing was. Of course that every patriotic person chooses his country over all the others. It's not "stupid nationalism", it's just a matter of liking and fondness to one's country. I bet that the Chinese forums' posts are very similar to these - only in favour to Beijing.
Secondly, UK had indeed a major part in industrialization. I never said they invented the car, I said "means of transport", as the locomotive was really a British invention. As for cars, the internal combustion engine,a very important part of them, was invented in 1820-ish by an English engineer. And is regards to the women's suffrage, sorry, you are right, they weren't first given in the UK.
Again, it's just a matter of preference. I for one, found Beijing's ceremony nice but grand and impersonal, just as many others did. London showcased they history and social movements which were often strongly connected to their music (like the Beatles years, the punk movement, disco music, new wave), and that's what people liked, mainly due to growing up with such music. I'm sure the Brits don't like London's opening more just to spite you - but for the emotional content.

[green.tea]

Stunning really.

I don't think its fair to accuse us of arrogance regarding inventions. We've given a lot more to the world than "music etc." and its right that brits should be proud of that. Tho I agree that saying our ceremony was better is pointless. Its like saying englands football team is the best because their missing penalties makes them more human. We should at least be sporting enough to acknowledge that china did it better than we did.

[spacepirate-James]

(Original post by green.tea)


Stunning really.

I don't think its fair to accuse us of arrogance regarding inventions. We've given a lot more to the world than "music etc." and its right that brits should be proud of that. Tho I agree that saying our ceremony was better is pointless. Its like saying englands football team is the best because their missing penalties makes them more human. We should at least be sporting enough to acknowledge that china did it better than we did.

that bit with the printing blocks falling away into the pink blossoms

[Galano]

(Original post by Four Queue)
Patriotic Brits will say London.

Bitter Brits will say Beijing.

Chinese people will say Beijing.

Not really.
It depends on what you prefer IMO. London's ceremony seems to be more about industrialization history after 1750 whereas Beijing's ceromony looked more like a brief intro of ancient history of China before 1700...

[Rosslyn]

Look, Beijing ceremony was a show for the world. London was a party mainly for the Brits. You enjoy it if you pick up all the references, but otherwise it's a bit wtf. Even the BBC said "well at least everybody knows Mr. Beans". I liked London's atmosphere. China was formidable. But I think it'd be like comparing apples to oranges.

[Tombola]

(Original post by Piisbetterthantau)
I am Chinese but a BBC so I actually understood the London one more than the Beijing one. However, my parents fully appreciated the Beijing one and enjoyed the various messages in those scenes so I bet to one part of the world population (i.e. the Chinese and probably other parts of Asia) it was very meaningful. Even so, I appreciated such scenes with fireworks because it was invented in China (which actually makes it more appropriate in the Beijing one than the London one) and the scroll which symbolises the invention of paper and the Chinese culture of black ink art.

There's so much more I could talk about from what I remember so it is just like the London Ceremony but each country's culture was expressed in a different style (Beijing having expressed it in a grandiose manner whilst London was more personal).

You might think its boring but THE FACT is that there are many symbolisms in the Beijing one AS WELL so you can't say we need our head examined for disagreeing with you.

It's a losing battle.

People don't seem to fully understand that the Beijing olympic ceremony was extremely meaningful to many Chinese individuals. To many, it might be daft to be proud of things that they personally weren't involved with, but it's different in Asia, people are extremely proud and personally touched when they are reminded of all the achievements their "family" had accomplished over time. It's the difference between collective and individualistic society essentially.

Some might think it's weird that China would showcase traditional dynasties since it's out of touch with modern Asia. But if people have ever been to Asia, they'd realised that TV over there are constantly bringing out dramas within those time periods. It's hardly a forgotten period of time.

(Original post by Galano)
Not really.
It depends on what you prefer IMO. London's ceremony seems to be more about industrialization history after 1750 whereas Beijing's ceromony looked more like a brief intro of ancient history of China before 1700...

Thought I'd just quickly comment on the history aspect.

[student_london]

(Original post by Jim_Metrin)
All i can say is your retarded if you found that Bond segment funny. Only people in Britain found the olympics good whilst the majority outside of the world thought it was just a mess. The only good thing was the Torch lighting which admittedly was spectacular.

I've been reading a few reviews in other countries and they have been overwhelmingly positive. Check out lemonde.fr // hln.be // bild.de // etc......well I would assume you can read/understand a few more languages other then English, can't you? Otherwise, maybe you're the most retarded down here.

[SunnyHon]

(Original post by green.tea)
Chinas was a bit like saying "we're becoming a superpower, and heres why"

Ours was a bit like saying "we used to be a superpower but now we're not, and heres why"

Yah, that's the message the world got.

[matthewoingram]

(Original post by Dj628)
Not for nothing the Beijing ceremony was amazing and so was the London one but I just think that Beijing was more entertaining and better organized. London's was all over the place. And personally I think people are saying London's was better because they're white. No offense.

It's not about race! Why do people always bring things back to race?!

This was posted from The Student Room's Android App on my GT-S5830

[Go.Infi]

Beijing ceremoney was spectacular indeed,but as a chinese I have to point out aspects that beijing didn't cover. The Beijing ceremony was totally an introduction of ancient Chinese culture, which non-chinese people may find interesting, but there is too little things about modern , change and adaption, which is most important in my country nowadays.
Comparably,London has more meaningful shows, I did learn British history, and I was mostly touched by the spirit of change and progress, which Britain bought to the world. In addition, the women rights movement and the national health service had shown a great sence of concern of people,and the children literature had shown your concern about education.
So London show has conveyed the message of progress and humanism,especially when I saw people, sorrowful for the victims in WorldWar. I wonder, China lost 15 million people in WW2, and there is still mass Japanese bombs under the surface of north-east China, Beijing just forgot them all.
Beijing was just a gathering of tens of thousands of people performing a FORM of culture, from this perspective, I favor London.(sorry my English is not that good

[GEEKSruletheworld!]

well, aren't you biased.

[Converse Rocker]

(Original post by GEEKSruletheworld!)
well, aren't you biased.

How is he be biased when he's Chinese and preferred our opening ceremony?