Unlike the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics, spectators at the Opening Ceremony of the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games were not impressed by the historic theme and epic style of narration, but they were moved by human nature. Zhang Yimou, Chief Director of the Opening Ceremony and Zhang Jigang (no relation), Executive Director, both believe that the Paralympic Opening Ceremony was as lovely as a fairytale.

Every part of the Paralympic Opening Ceremony touched the inner sentiment of people – regardless of whether it was the 'sunbird' that awakened the singer with a visual impairment, the dancing girl with an amputated left leg or the scene where an old man experienced the four seasons with a pianist with a visual impairment.

All these scenes were shown on a bluish stage which, according to Zhang Jigang, reminded us of the sky and ocean, and even our planet is blue when seen from outer space. The Olympic Opening ceremony unfolded a scroll, while the Paralympic Opening Ceremony showed us a lively home.

Actors with a disability performed together with able-bodied actors in the Paralympic Opening Ceremony, which was similar to a journey through space, time and life. On the blue and white "jade platform", life is as vigorous as the thousands of tiny lives in the "Festival", and as elegant as the young girl in "Hello, Star". The performance of "Hand Ballet" by dancers with a disability demonstrated the quickness of life.

The Opening Ceremony was a combination of grace, enthusiasm, passion and sensation. Zhang Jigang tried his best to make the ceremony as graceful, ornate, touching, romantic and bright as possible. "This demonstrated that life is full of dreams, pride and value, which is shown in a happy way," said Zhang Jigang.

Zhang Yimou said there was a big difference between the opening ceremonies of the Paralympics and the Olympics. The latter mainly focused on Chinese elements, the 5000-year-old culture and the modern Chinese spirit, while the former delved into human values from a different angle.

"I prefer this humanistic angle," said Zhang Yimou. Since Chinese culture and history was fully embodied in the Olympic Opening Ceremony, attention was paid to common human values in the Paralympic Opening Ceremony. "We needed to look into the shared feelings of beauty, feeling and warmth to present the spirit of the Paralympics," said Zhang Yimou.

"Out of the four opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympics and Paralympics, Zhang Yimou said that "the style of the Paralympic Opening Ceremony was the one that I liked first – it was left unchanged for more than a year."

The style was spiritual, romantic and respectful, and it was a gesture that communicated with all universal lives. It was not about broad, grand narration, but focused on shared sentiment and human nature, and presented the gesture in a visual way that was similar to a fairytale. "In such a grand international event, it was lovely to use many different cultures, and I hope all the athletes with a disability enjoyed a fantastic night with us," said Zhang Yimou.

(BOCOG September 7, 2008)