Another article I wrote:
On August 8th at 8 pm, every restaurant and shop in Beijing had customers and employees alike crowded around a TV set watching the Opening Ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics. That night, 26 venues and parks around Beijing had big screens for the general public to watch the Opening Ceremonies and 5 venues had its own additional fireworks. Some parks were at capacity by 5 pm and shut their doors to newcomers.
The Opening Ceremonies smartly stayed away from drawing attention to Mao Zedong, the Cultural Revolution, and current controversial events. Rather, they celebrated the other two centuries of Chinese history and culture, with performances containing tai chi, calligraphy, puppets, kites, and references to ancient Chinese stories. The show was extremely creative and well-done with an impressive torch-lighting at the end and very precise execution throughout. After the finale, the rumbling of the 
fireworks could be heard from all over Beijing.
Walking around the Olympic Green and Olympic Village yields a greater appreciation of what goes into the Olympics. The Water Cube and Bird’s Nest are certainly two of the most impressive stadiums. In the Olympic Village, athletes hang their country’s flags down from balconies and the media waits by the gates for the appearance of an athlete. On one corner, people gather around to exchange pins, one person exchanging fifty pins to get a more valuable one.
Corporate sponsor displays as well as Olympics history displays are set up, with the opportunity to get a picture with a torch from a previous Olympics. The Today Show sets up every night at 7 pm so that it airs at 7 am EST in the U.S. Along a road in the Olympic Village, people set up displays of calligraphy and other handicrafts celebrating the Olympics. One elderly man stands with his cart in which he spent seven years, since Beijing was awarded the Olympics, riding around China to promote a Green Olympics.
While many of the Beijing residents prefer to watch the Olympics on television in the comfort of their own homes, people from all over the world attend the games, from more popular sports, such as swimming and gymnastics, to the lesser known sports, such as handball and weightlifting. At the less popular sports, groups of Chinese students, seniors, and clubs are invited to fill up some of these seats and act as a cheering section to get the audience riled up.
Celebrities, athletes and political figures from around the world have also appeared at numerous events to show their support. At one handball match between Germany and South Korea, members of Germany’s Olympic basketball team, including NBA player Dirk 
Nowitzki, came to support their fellow athletes. In an odd cultural twist, Chinese cheerleaders come out with people dressed as the Olympic mascots, Fuwa, during intermission to engage the crowd and dance to the likes of “Hey Mickey,” made famous from cheerleading movie Bring it On, to “All for One,” from Disney’s High School Musical 2.
At events such as handball, judo, boxing and weightlifting, there are many empty seats. While the Olympics office was sold out of tickets, independent companies have been trying to sell tickets for much more than face value. The demand for Olympics tickets is still high, with foreigners and locals alike searching for reasonably priced tickets. However, since scalping tickets is not allowed, companies must sit in their hotel rooms or offices in Beijing and wait for people to come to them, resulting in an inability to fix the imbalance between empty seats and the huge demand to fill them.
Even with an excess of empty seats, it is amazing to sit with people from all over the world and cheer on the Olympics. From the nervous excitement of the coaches and athletes to enthusiastic fans, this is where the spirit of athletics comes alive. It is exciting to see pockets of people around the stadium erupt in chants as their athlete comes out to face off. Some fans even cheered for their country in Chinese! At one boxing match, enthusiastic Chinese inspired by US fans cheering in Chinese, joined in cheering “USA”, as the US fans completed in Chinese “GO!”. As the Olympic flame continues to roar in the Bird’s Nest, fans celebrate the hard work and accomplishments of every country’s athletes and cheer on a successful Olympics.
