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Digital Beijing Building

2007 establishments in China2008 Summer OlympicsBuildings and structures completed in 2007Buildings and structures in Chaoyang District, BeijingData centers
Museums in BeijingSustainable buildings and structures
数字北京大厦 20130610
数字北京大厦 20130610

The Digital Beijing Building (simplified Chinese: 数字北京大厦; traditional Chinese: 數字北京大廈; pinyin: Shùzì běijīng dàshà) is located northwest of the intersection of Beichen West and Anxiang North roads, on Olympic Green, in the Chaoyang District of Beijing, China. It is a 57-metre-tall (187 ft) block-shaped building erected to serve as a data center during the 2008 Summer Olympics. Since then it has served as both a museum devoted to the use of computing in the Olympics, and exhibition space for digital technology companies.It was the only major facility on Olympic Green not to be an event venue for the games, and the only major Olympic facility designed by a Chinese architect. That architect, Pei Zhu, was interested in the connections between traditional Chinese design and digital technology. He produced a sustainable building that resembles a circuit board when viewed from either side and a bar code when viewed from either end, in the process using some new materials for the first time in China. It has been both praised for its avoidance of kitsch and criticized as resembling Orwell's Ministry of Truth. At the 2008 World Architecture Festival it was shortlisted in its category.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Digital Beijing Building (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Digital Beijing Building
Beichen West Road, Chaoyang District

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N 39.99396 ° E 116.38173 °
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北辰西路

Beichen West Road
100000 Chaoyang District
Beijing, China
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数字北京大厦 20130610
数字北京大厦 20130610
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2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony
2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony

The 2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony was held at the Beijing National Stadium, also known as the Bird's Nest. It was directed by Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou and began at 20:00 China Standard Time (UTC+8) on Sunday night, 24 August 2008. The number 8 is associated with prosperity and confidence in Chinese culture. The musical acts included Plácido Domingo and Song Zuying singing The Flame of Love (lyrics by writers Song Xiaoming and Yuan Yuan) Wei Wei and Sun Nan singing Beijing Beijing (wo ai Beijing). Leona Lewis, Jimmy Page (with David Beckham making an appearance), Elspeth Hanson as the violinist and Kwesi Edman as the cellist. Andy Lau, Emil Chau, Jackie Chan, Karen Mok, Kelly Chen, Joey Yung and Nicolas Tse. Wang Lee Hom, Stefanie Sun and Rain. Han Hong Klaus Badelt wrote the music for the closing ceremonies.The Ceremony also included the handover of the games from Beijing to London. Guo Jinlong, the Mayor of Beijing, handed over the Olympic flag to the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson. There was also a performance organized by the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (LOCOG). While the opening ceremony was described as an artistic and serious introduction of China's ancient past, the closing ceremony was described by Western media as "much more lighthearted", "silly" and "fun" than the opening ceremony.By the end of the 16 days of NBC's coverage of the Beijing Olympics in the United States, it had also become the most-watched U.S. television event of all time, with over 211 million American viewers tuned into the Olympics on NBC according to the Nielsen Media Research; this is 2 million more than the 1996 Atlanta Games, the previous all-time record-holder.

2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony
2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony

The 2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony was held at the Beijing National Stadium, also known as the Bird's Nest. It began at 20:00 China Standard Time (UTC+08:00) on Friday, 8 August 2008, as the number 8 is considered to be auspicious. The number 8 is associated with prosperity and confidence in Chinese culture. The artistic part of the ceremony comprised two parts titled "Brilliant Civilization" and "Glorious Era" respectively. The first part highlighted the Chinese civilization and the second part exhibited modern China and its dream of harmony between the people of the world. The stadium was full to its 91,000 capacity according to organizers.The ceremony was directed by Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou, who was the chief director and was assisted by Chinese choreographers Zhang Jigang and Chen Weiya. The director of music for the ceremony was composer Chen Qigang. It was noted for its focus on ancient Chinese culture, and for its creativity, as well as being the first to use weather modification technology to prevent rainfall. The final ascent to the torch featured Olympic gymnast Li Ning, who appeared to run through air around the membrane of the stadium. Featuring 15,000 performers, the ceremony lasted over four hours and was reported to have cost over US$100 million to produce. The opening ceremony was lauded by spectators and numerous international presses as spectacular and spellbinding, and by many accounts "the greatest ever in the history of Olympics". It drew rave reviews from media around the world, and was praised for its magnitude and ingenuity, attracting a huge worldwide TV audience. The opening ceremony can also be considered an important branding initiative for China. At four hours and nine minutes, this was one of the longest ceremonies, second to Sydney 2000.