Opening ceremonies, or why Yao Ming is the MAN.

Please note: This post is not about the government of China--it's about the people of China. I do not agree with the human rights violations and other poor practices China's government has committed-but I have been happy to watch the citizens of China being able to shine.

Also: If you haven't watched the opening ceremonies yet and are planning to--beware, there are spoilers in here.

So I watched the opening ceremonies for the summer Olympic games at my friend's house last Friday, and they were really amazing. As someone who's spent time studying Chinese history, it made me very happy to see the people of China finally coming into their own. Despite a government that still has a lot to do to clean up their act, the people of our planet's largest nation finally got their chance to shine--and it was awesome!

Though one had to overlook the fact that so many millions were being spent on something frivolous--sports games instead of more social programs to help the greatest portion of China's population, the agrarian poor--the spectacle here was fantastic. My personal favorite was the part when square pillars moving up and down formed into moving art--patterns of ripples in a pool of water, for example. The best part was the discovery that this amazing effect was not being made by fancy computers, but by MEN inside those pillared shapes that were moving them up and down. It boggles my mind to think how hard that effect must have been to pull off.

It also touched me to see and hear about how much these games mean to Yao Ming. As China's most famous athlete, he's the symbol (albeit a very, very large one) of what hosting these games means to the Chinese people. He broke his foot several months ago and there were fears he wouldn't be able to play in the games. But he worked his tail off in rehabilitation to make sure he'd be able to be there and play for his country at this historic moment. Announcers talked about how much of a dream it was for him to be able to play for his national team, in his home country. And despite not being fully recovered, he's doing just that.

On TV, the announcers called this "China's Coming Out Party"--and it certainly is. These games are a Coming Out Party for almost a third of the world's population--people with great talents and abilities who've waited decades to show the world what they can do. They've been kept behind closed doors all this time--and their government is finally creaking those rusty-hinged doors open and allowing the curious world to peek inside. And more importantly, allowing their people a small peek out.

In ancient times, the Chinese were an intelligent, creative people who contributed a great deal to our world. Gunpowder & fireworks, the compass, paper--all Chinese inventions. Were it not for the incredibly rocky history they've had, I have no doubt that China could be an amazing country today. The world currently stands in awe of the Japanese, a small island nation with seemingly endless talents for creating high quality electronics, creative video games and entertainment, and cars and trucks of a workmanship that puts ol' Henry Ford to shame. Imagine if there were 1.3 BILLION of those people. Among that large a base population, how many brilliant inventors and creative artists might there be? How many new ideas? Had the histories of China & Japan been swapped--who knows what the creators of gunpowder, the compass and paper would have come up with by our modern century?

If this trend continues--it's going to be something to see when those doors open wide. Granted, there's a good ways to go yet. But when the Chinese people can finally join the rest of the world and share their talents and abilities, their ideas, just watch out. Our Chinese brothers and sisters may just have a lot to share with the rest of the human race. I'm looking forward to it.