Beijing Winter Olympics opens with glittering ceremony

BEIJING: President Xi Jinping declared the Beijing Winter Olympics open in a glittering ceremony on Friday (Feb 4) as China tried to turn the page on a build-up overshadowed by human rights concerns, COVID-19 and a US-led diplomatic boycott.

Fireworks exploded over the "Bird's Nest" as the lattice-shaped stadium took centre stage, just as it did at the 2008 Games, as Beijing became the first city to host both a Summer and Winter Olympics.

Xi, under whose rule China has adopted a more muscular attitude internationally compared to 14 years ago, was given a rapturous welcome by the socially distanced crowd wearing face masks, for what his ruling Communist Party hopes will be a soft-power triumph.

The snowflake-themed ceremony got off to a solemn start when eight soldiers slow-marched with the Chinese flag, before the national anthem rang out into the cold night air.

"I declare the 24th Beijing Winter Olympics open," said Xi, who was joined by world leaders including Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, the two having met earlier in the day.

China chose a cross-country skier born in the troubled Xinjiang region to be a joint final torchbearer at the climax of the Winter Olympics opening ceremony on Friday night.

In the final moments of the opening ceremony, the last two torchbearers were Zhao Jiawen and Dinigeer Yilamujiang.

Born in Xinjiang, 20-year-old Yilamujiang became the first Chinese cross-country skiing medallist in an international ski federation-level event, having finished second in the opening women's leg in Beijing in 2019.

The US and lawmakers from multiple western nations have accused China of carrying out a genocide against its Muslim minorities in Xinjiang, a charge Beijing denies.

Washington is leading a diplomatic