Both the emerging economies, India and China, compete with each other, having a population of over one billion. The political systems are different in the two counties, with India having a multi-party democracy and China having a one-party rule. The direction of the change in China was clear from the XXIX Olympics Games in Beijing. China wants to wed its past glory with its modern achievements.
At the opening ceremony of the Olympics at the Bird’s Nest Stadium on August 8, an army of 2,008 drummers chanted Confucius’s sayings—“Friends have come from a far, how happy we are”. The time chosen for inauguration was 8.08 pm Chinese time, as Chinese consider number eight to be auspicious, which brings wealth, prosperity and fortune.
China has invested over $45 billion on the event. According to some estimates it would be $70 billion, making Beijing Olympics the costliest so far. In the last Olympics in Athens in 2004, Greece invested $15 billion.
The inauguration witnessed 29,000 traditional fireworks and dance performances depicting ancient Chinese maritime adventure, silk-route trade and martial art by about 14,000 performers, including school children. With about seven million tickets sold, the event has a participation of 10,500 athletes from 204 countries in 308 disciplines from 38 sports.
The most spectacular scientific achievement came to the fore when the Chinese government fired a volley of rockets in the sky to disperse rain-causing clouds on Saturday—the largest such operation in China and first such operation in an Olympic event so far.
Written by: Neha Gupta
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