The Beijing Paralympic Games opening ceremony started on Saturday night. The following are some facts and figures about the ceremony.

The venue

The opening ceremony was held in the National Stadium, also known as the Bird's Nest, in the Olympic Green in northern Beijing.

The stadium was jointly designed by Herzog & de Meuron Design Office, and China Architecture Design & Research Group and ARUP. Its construction began on Dec. 24, 2003, and completed on June 30, 2008. Altogether 45,000 tonnes of steel was used to build its framework.

The stadium's seating capacity is 91,000, including 11,000 temporary seats. The floor space is 258,000 square meters.

The stages

The center stage is in the shape of a disk, 72 meters in diameter and 1.47 meters high. Weighing nearly 1,000 tons, it contains 360 driving devices and thousands of control nodes. It has the function of elevation, swelling as well as rotation and change of scene.

Star scattering devices

A total of 10 star scattering devices scatter 80,000 "stars" in five minutes.

Music

A total of 180 hours was spent on recording the music for the opening ceremony, totalling 98 minutes and 21 seconds.

Lighting

Altogether 2,503 special lights are used and lighting equipment weighing more than 300 tonnes has been installed. Electricity load for lighting totals 6,440 kilowatt.

Costumes

A total of 4,934 sets of costumes in 13 styles.

Rehearsal

The rehearsal has lasted nine months. Volunteers began their first mass rehearsal in August 2008.

(Xinhua News Agency September 6, 2008)