After years of planning and preparation, a flawless execution. Beijing bid farewell to the world as the 29th Olympic Games came to an end Sunday.
Appropriately, the sporting birds were all there at Bird's Nest before flying back from here with some of their happiest moments of their life.
Again in fitness of things, China topped the gold tally with 51, leaving the United States way behind.
The Beijing Olympics were stunning at the closing ceremony as they were at the opening. Interestingly, China have rounded off their medal tally to hundred. The United States were second with 36 gold, but they are ahead overall at 110.
The Chinese, with a rich heritage continued to blend their skill with imagination, use of technology and a display of fireworks to make it a visual treat that future hosts will find it hard to match.
Boxing bronze medalist Vijender Singh carried India's flag at the closing ceremony.
An hour-long pre-ceremony featured sequences with Fuwa, the mascot, as the creative theme. Then followed pyrotechnics and display, which only the Chinese could have provided. Using imagery and technology of the highest level, they have now taken Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Olympics to new heights.
Add to it the crowd involvement, not just inside the Bird's Nest but around the entire Olympic Green, which also houses the spectacular Aquatic Complex, called the Water Cube.
Thousands of Chinese assembled around this gigantic city, and positioned themselves in front of giant screens, some of them as big as six stories in height and 100 metres in width. It was a city in the throes of joy.
China's image of a reticent nation not open or receptive to the outside world will never be the same after the Games. The spontaneity itself may have been planned meticulously, but its execution provided unrestrained joy.
The stadium was in a thrall for an entire hour and never once did it seem that they were stretching.
As soon as it ended, China's President Hu Jintao and president of the International Olympic Committee Jacques Rogge entered the stadium to signal the start of the main ceremony.
With it started the prelude, countdown and the fireworks display. With the countdown music as the background, videos played out images simultaneously on the screens.
The countdown started from "29", indicating the 29th Olympic Games, and went on till 11 with the highlights of these Olympics being shown with countdown numbers on the screen.
All this was accompanied with sound effects and then began the countdown from 10. The numbers appeared in the sky as it were, accompanied by fireworks.
The fireworks at the top of the Bird's Nest flowered out forming a great circle in the sky, symbolising the success of Beijing Games. The circle in traditional Chinese culture is a symbol of harmony and renewal.
President Hu Jintao and Rogge were welcomed formally and the Chinese flag was raised to the national anthem.
Rogge called Beining Olympcs an "exceptional Games which took it beyond being the best ever"
Soon after the lights went out in the stadium and a video was played on the large screen to explain the theme of the closing ceremony.
The video reviewed the memorable moments of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and with it began the celebration.
Two hundred drum performers lined up in a circle on the steps of the main stage. Two large heavenly drums flew in from the north and south. The drum beating itself was magical in nature and scintillating as the two heavenly drums met in the centre above the stadium and slowly came down to the main stage, suspended about 15 feet above the stage.
The drums in the Chiense tradition signal the start of a grand celebration and 1,148 dancers wearing silver bells gathered around the main stage.
The silver bell performers dancing to the tune of the heavenly drums then greeted the guests. Following them were eight drum carts in different shapes entering the stadium.
Rotating poles, whirling cycles in the form of lights and light wheels shuttling, and 200 bouncing and flying men ran and rolled over in celebration. It was sheer joy as the crowd soaked it all in and clapped non-stop with roars of approval.
Then followed the national flags of all delegations. The Greeks came in first and the Chinese came in last.
Once the flag-bearers assembled, the medal-winning athletes followed and then the other athletes came in from all four gates with no distinction in nationality, signifying the togetherness of the world.
The next big segment was the handover of the Olympic flag to London for 2012 Games.
Soccer superstar David Beckham, accompanied by a British girl of Indian origin Tayyab Dudhwala, kicked the handover ball. The eight-minute slot also included cyclists Chris Hoy, Victoria Pendleton and Shanaze Reade.
Also performing at the ceremony were musicians Jimmy Page and Leona Lewis. Three dance groups -- the Royal Opera House, street dance theatre group ZooNation and CandoCo, a contemporary dance company of disabled and non-disabled dancers, also put up a show.
London's gig started with a symbolic red London double-decker bus driving around the Bird's Nest chased by Hoy, Pendleton and Reade on their bikes.
The bus transformed itself with the top half folding down in segments to show a hedge cut into shapes of the London skyline with landmarks such as the Tower Bridge, Battersea Power Station and the Parliament.
English pop singer Leona emerged from the roof to sing and then guitarist Page appeared to perform with Lewis a new version of Led Zeppelin's 'Whole Lotta Love.'
Beckham stood on another lift and kicked a football into the crowd of spectators in the stadium, switching everyone's attention to the handover party outside Buckingham Palace in far-off London.
That handover symbolically marked the start of a new four-year Olympiad and the celebrations, which so highlighted China over the past four years, will now move on to the new hosts, London.
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