Special report:   2008 Olympic Games 

    BEIJING, July 2 -- Imagine a 100-m-wide red flower opening up its petals; picture 10,000 bicycles circling the Olympic stadium and transforming into hi-tech robots; then envisage Peking Opera performers morphing into hip-hop dancers and singing in English.

    Finally, picture a 50-m-tall giant inflatable panda, which turns its head and winks at the world.

Peking Opera, China's national treasure with a history of more than 200 years, may feature at the Olympic ceremony.(Photo Source: China Daily) Photo Gallery>>>

    These powerful images of rapid change and spectacular icons are the possible eye-candy in the Middle Kingdom's biggest ever ceremony.     

    China's record-breaking social and economic changes over the past 20 years will become one of the major themes of the Olympic opening ceremony, according to one of the key members of the team.

    Although opening ceremony organizers are sworn to secrecy, Games ceremonies guru Ric Birch has hinted that China's great changes will be a dominant theme.

    "The fact China has achieved so much in one generation is so extraordinary, we can't compute it," he told China Daily.

    "There has never been an equivalent, so we don't have benchmarks.

    "All these issues will come together for me in Beijing for the opening ceremony."

    Australian Birch is a key adviser to Zhang Yimou, who wields full creative control over the ceremonies.

    After giving an exclusive interview with China Daily recently, Birch said he was flooded with interview requests and was forced to escape Beijing to avoid the media glare.

    "Now everyone wants an interview. So I left Beijing and went to Athens, Doha and currently Zaragoza (Spain) to shake off pursuit," he said.

    But Birch's hideaways also hint to further Games opening ceremony ideas, because all three are in previous Olympic and Asian Games cities and nations - Athens, Greece, Doha, Qatar, and the Spanish city of Zaragoza, which is not far from Barcelona.

    Birch is the brains behind the biggest and most successful live productions ever mounted, so expect to see many features from the past Games.

    

(Photo Source: China Daily) Photo Gallery>>>

    Throughout the Olympics, the opening ceremony has always told the story of the host nation's history, and Zhang has said it would always be challenging to squeeze 5,000 years into 50 minutes.

    But Birch's ideas and technical know-how will complement Zhang's creative concepts, which will showcase the country's great dynasties, culture and 56 unique ethnic groups.

    Birch's success at the Los Angeles Games opening in 1984 cemented his reputation as the master of ceremonies.

    He also worked on the Barcelona and the Sydney Games - declared the best ever by former International Olympic Committee (IOC) chief, Juan Antonio Samaranch.

    One of Birch's claims to fame was the use of a 50-m-tall winking kangaroo at the opening ceremony of the 1982 Commonwealth Games in Brisbane, Australia.

    The inflatable kangaroo was called Matilda and became the darling of the Land Down Under.

    Asked if we could expect to see a giant panda grace the Bird's Nest stage, Birch remained tightlipped.

    But he has guaranteed one thing. "The world can expect, of course, to be gobsmacked," he says. "I'm not sure how to say that in Mandarin."

    (Source: China Daily)