The Opening Ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games will begin at 8 p.m. local time and will last about 3-1/2 hours, with China’s Liu Huan and Britain’s Sarah Brightman singing the theme song, Zhang Heping, director of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies Department told a press conference.
A 75-minute “pre-ceremony” performance will end at 7 p.m. featuring folk and ethnic art from 28 teams across the country, Zhang said.
The artistic part of the performance will last one hour and is divided into two parts – one to highlight China’s age-old civilization and the other to highlight China’s modern era. The theme song will come at the end of the performance, and there will be an address by officials followed by the entry of the Olympic flag.
The post-performance part of the ceremony will last two and a half hours and comprise various Olympic rituals and traditions, including a declaration from Chinese President Hu Jintao opening the Games and a two-hour-long parade of athletes. Delegations from 205 national and regional Olympic committees will enter the stadium according to the order of the simplified Chinese characters.
