Ｂｅｉｊｉｎｇ　Ｏｌｙｍｐｉｃｓ　Ｏｐｅｎｉｎｇ　Ｃｅｒｅｍｏｎｙ：Ｚｈａｎｇ　Ｙｉｍｏｕ　Ｋｅｅｐ.docVIP

Ｂｅｉｊｉｎｇ　Ｏｌｙｍｐｉｃｓ　Ｏｐｅｎｉｎｇ　Ｃｅｒｅｍｏｎｙ：Ｚｈａｎｇ　Ｙｉｍｏｕ　Ｋｅｅｐ 　　I really can’t tell you anything about the opening ceremony,” Director Zhang Yimou says with a smile. Presently, Zhang’s “official” identity is chief director of the opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics in August. More broadly, he is probably China’s best-known film director, who first came to prominence as part of the so-called “fifth-generation” in the late 1980s. He has garnered numerous awards globally, including the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes for To Live (1994) and the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival for The Story of Qiu Ju (1992) and Not One Less (1999). More recently Hero (2002), House of Flying Daggers (2004) and Curse of the Golden Flower (2006) have all been box office hits in China and abroad. 　　Although Zhang has decades of experience under his belt, the opening ceremony may well be his biggest and most public challenge. The final version of the event was approved a few months ago by the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC). “We can’t disclose any details for we’ve signed a confidentiality agreement,” explains Zhang. “But I can tell you the ceremony will start at 8pm and end at 11.30pm, and the artistic performance will last about one and a half hours. We also guarantee the quality of every minute,” he adds assertively. 　　So it seems the world at large won’t know what the ceremony holds until 8pm on August 8, 2008. But as the big day draws near, speculation about the ceremony’s content is rife. 　　 　　A “Meal” for Foreigners? 　　 　　Pleasing every one of the millions who will watch the opening ceremony is a big task. 揑f the audience can抰 read the visual performance immediately, i. t means we have wasted an opportunity,” says Zhang Yimou emphatically. “Of course, that’s a huge challenge!” he adds. Zhang’s primary aim is to ensure foreigners understand the imagery and symbolism he presents. “A go