More than 4,000 athletes from 147 countries and regions paraded into the National Stadium at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Paralympic Games on Saturday night, marching, celebrating and enjoying for a happy party of their own.
Entering in a Chinese-characterized sequence into the 91,000-seated stadium, known as the Bird's Nest, the para-athletes put on diversed uniforms with each delegation's unique symbols, making the parade a fashion show.
The most common style is the reflection of colors of delegation's flag. Female Hungarian athletes worn white-and-red dotted one-piece dresses and Finlanders chose shirts with white-and-blue strips simlilar to their flags.
Angola's athletes were in trousers decorated by their African patterns, while Mexicans worn their traditional big strawhats.
Many athletes tried in various ways to be attractive at the ceremony when they used properties in marching. Slovenians shook their soniferous fans, Germans waved their national flags on which they wrote "Hello, Beijing" in Chinese characters.
Australian athletes, however, had brought their symbolic pet, Kangaroo toys: small ones in their hands and the biggest one riding on a male athlete's shoulder.
There have also been real animals at the opening ceremony. Two Portuguese and one Chinese athletes were guided by seeing eye dogs which snuffed the ground along the way to their positions.
Flagbearer of Canadian delegation, Donovan Tildesley was guided by a teammate and several other delegations' bearers had been in their manual or electric wheelchairs.
"I am very excited to see para-athletes from the world parade here, since their participation has given me confidence and great encouragement that the disabled could also have an opportunity," said Li Jie, a 24-year-old female spectator in wheelchair at the stadium. The Chinese amputee liked to play table tennis.
"It is great, I can hear and even feel how happy they could be in the parade," Lin Yi, a visually impaired spectator said. "I want to express my warmest welcome to them."
All the delegations entering the stadium one by one have received hails from the crowd including some leaders of the countries. Delegations from Chinese Taipei, Chinese Macao, Chinese Hong Kong, and China were among the most favorites.
(Xinhua News Agency September 6, 2008)