For Geoffrey Calkins, a US journalist, he got a lot impressive to remember after watching the opening ceremony of Beijing Games in the Bird's Nest on Friday.
When he talked about the Chinese people, it's just the same as what the Olympic open ceremony has left in his mind.
Calkins, a journalist from Scripps Howard News Service based in Cincinnati, has witnessed Olympic Games opening ceremony four times, including Sydney, Athens Summer Games and Turin Winter Games.
For Olympic opening ceremony, Calkins usually remembers one thing. "I remember in Los Angeles, they had a lot of pianos. I remember in Barcelona, they had the archer to light the cauldron. Most of them (memories) fade away, but sometimes there is one thing stick with you. I don't know what that one thing would be to stick with me here, but just the moment I got a lot in mind and I got a lot impressive," he said.
For Calkins, the fireworks movement around the city is most creative. "The fireworks all around the city moved towards the Stadium. I thought that's something I've never seen before," he added. The fireworks shone up like the footstep of an giant running towards the Bird's Nest along the main axis of Beijing city from south to north.
But the lighting of cauldron was another spectacle striking to his mind. "It's so spectacular and imaginative with this, walking around the top of Stadium to ignite the cauldron," he said.
Besides the ceremony, the Chinese people also impressed Calkins.
"One thing impressive and I'm writing about is actually how nice the Chinese people have been and how eager it seems for them to help. The people in China extend their welcome to the rest of the world. That's what stand out for me the most," said Calkins, who has been a journalist for 15 years.
"To me the most striking thing is that enthusiasm for me and those like me. Welcoming the world, that would probably impress me the most. Wherever you go, the volunteers, the bus drivers, they're so anxious to make sure you're having a good time. Other writers have talked the same thing," he added.
(Xinhua News Agency August 9, 2008)