A memorable visual spectacle during the Opening Ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics were the 29 gigantic footprints formed by fireworks ‘walking’ down the central axis of the city north-bound towards the National Stadium.
The entire distance of 15 kilometers was covered in less than 60 seconds, with each footprint fireworks going off at two-second intervals.
Design Concept
Titled ‘Footprints of History’, the creative concept was proposed by 51-year-old Chinese artist Cai Guoqiang. It was selected in 2005 among hundreds of proposals submitted by 13 teams. The significance of fireworks is the representation of gun powder, one of the four great Chinese inventions.
There were many incarnations of the concept, including 2008 footprints to represent the Olympic year, 205 for the number of participating countries/regions (it was 204 in the end as Brunei Darussalam failed to register its athletes) and 56 for the number of ethnic groups in China.
During the test phase in July 2007, the pyrotechnics team found that having too many footprints would cause clutter and diminish the visual effect. There were also safety implications arising from the large amount of explosives to be used, both on human lives and historical national monuments.
In the end, the organizing committee decided on 29, representing the number of Olympiads to date. There is the sense of travel through time and history, from the very first modern Olympic Games held in 1896 to the current one. The footsteps also symbolized the link between historical and modern Beijing, the coming together of East and West, and people around the world arriving in Beijing.
Although the number of footprints had been reduced dramatically, the size of each became larger, and lasted longer in the sky, making them more spectacular.
Firing Points
As reported in China Daily, the fireworks were launced from these locations:
- Yongdingmen South - The first footprint was ignited here at 8.03 p.m.
- Yongdingmen North
- Yongdingmen Square (South)
- Yongdingmen Square (North)
- Tianqiao Theatre
- Tianqao neighbourhood
- Xianyukou hutong
- Chairman Mao’s Memorial
- Zhenyangmen
- Tiananmen Square
- Working People's Culture Palace
- Shenwumen Square
- Duanmen
- Dianmen Street
- Temple of Fire God
- Bell Tower and Drum Tower
- North 2nd Ring Road
- Workers' Daily Office
- Taiji Huaqing Building
- Huarong Hotel
- Science and Technology Museum
- Beijing Police Academy
- Tucheng Park
- Beichen Road
- Olympics Sports Center (West Gate)
- Olympics Sports Center (Soccer field)
- National Stadium (Periphery)
- National Stadium (Periphery)
- National Stadium - The fireworks showered the stadium with clusters of falling stars, which gathered to form the five Olympic rings.
The fireworks were ignited from vehicles fitted with 32 launchers each. They were driven off immediately after ignition in order not to disrupt traffic.
Real or Fake?
There was misunderstanding over this matter. The fireworks were indeed set off, as evidenced by various recordings uploaded on the internet. However, for the international live telecast, the footages of the footprints fireworks were actually computer-generated images pre-produced by Beijing’s Crystal Digital Technology Company.
The organizers explained that this was done out of safety considerations. It was too dangerous to have a helicopter and camera fly along the route to capture the aerial view while the fireworks were ignited. It was also technically difficult to have the right angle to capture all the footprints in a row. In addition, poor night visibility would have produced bad images.
With the successful completion of the Beijing Games on 24 August 2008, let us look forward as the next footprint brings the world to London for the XXX Olympiad in 2012.
Kris Lee Wai Loon - Kris Lee has made a mid-career switch to freelance writing, and does not have any published/printed works to-date. Prior to this, in ...
