Published : 2024-08-08

On August 8, 2008, the opening ceremony of the 29th Summer Olympic Games was held at the National Stadium (Bird's Nest) in Beijing, the capital of China.

The Beijing Olympic opening ceremony lasted for three and a half hours, officially starting at 8 o'clock in the evening, and finally conducting the final torch lighting ceremony at 11:30pm (Beijing Time).

The entire opening ceremony can be summarised as nine major highlights, namely the drum formation, airborne "big footprints", historical scroll, dazzling stars, Tai Chi circle, blue planet, theme song with "smiley faces", entrance of the Chinese team, and the final torch lighting.

Post-event statistics showed that the viewership of the Beijing Olympic opening ceremony was astonishing, making it one of the most viewed opening ceremonies in Olympic history.

In China, 840 million people watched the live broadcast on TV, with the audience scale accounting for 68.8% of the total population in China, setting a new record since China began measuring viewership ratings.

During the final moment when Li Ning (李寧) ran around the Bird's Nest to light the torch, the viewership share even soared to 90%.