Whatever my opinion of China the opening ceremony was undoubtably one of the largest spectacles the world has ever seen, but then again it did cost US$100,000,000 - 2 times that of the Athens ceremony. Or 10 cents US from everybody in China, in Greece it cost $5 per person - it's all about economies of scale.
As for an aviation interest/link, if you didn't watch the ceremony then you wouldn't have seen the helicopter flying along as 29 sets of fireworks were fired from the ground forming 'footsteps' across Beijing and into the stadium, representing the 29th olympiad - very creative.
Regards,
N1 Vibes