China opens Winter Olympics with peace doves and a mighty provocation

Such was the bewitching beauty of the ceremony that opened these XXIVth Winter Games in Beijing, it almost performed a trick on the mind. But as this two-hour show reached its spectacular denouement, and two young athletes bounded forward to light the Olympic flame, there proved to be a sharp sting in the tail. One of those performing the symbolic act was the Chinese cross-country skier Dinigeer Yilamujiang, who is of Uyghur heritage.

That, to put it mildly, was a highly provocative act. Human rights organisations have branded these Olympics “the genocide games”, and accused China of holding a million Uyghurs against their will in re-education centres. China’s response told those groups it didn’t care, and these Games would be held on its terms.

Ironically, before then, the overwhelming message of the opening ceremony was all about peace. At one point placard holders of all 91 countries competing in Beijing came together to form a giant snowflake and symbolise all people living in harmony. At another, hundreds of young children danced and smiled and held white doves in the air as this spectacular show reached its denouement.

In between, John Lennon’s Imagine played as speed skaters created harmonic images on the stage, and Thomas Bach, the president of the International Olympic Committee, called for an Olympic truce between warring nations.

It was masterfully put together by the film director Zhang Yimou, who also directed the opening and closing ceremonies in 2008, and amounted to a sensuous tugging of the heartstrings. But it was also a mirage.

For no amount of odes to peaceful coexistence can hide the fact that these Games will be the most controversial and difficult since Moscow in 1980. Perhaps even Berlin 1936.

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