At the Millennium Monument last night, Beijing rang in 2008 by striking a giant bell twenty-nine times (representing the 29th Olympiad) and singing that classic Olympic anthem, “We Are Ready.” The First‘s main front page picture shows revelers at the event braving harsh temperatures and bitter winds to welcome the new year.
At lower left is a photo of Olympic volunteers illustrating a report on the launch of the international edition of Olympic “smile wristbands”, which come in five colors and are inscribed with the slogan “Volunteers’ Smile, Beijing’s Image.”
At lower right is a photo of the pop duo Yu Quan, who appeared in a New Years concert at Workers’ Stadium. They performed covers of beloved karaoke standards, amusing the crowd with lyrics rewritten to reflect events of 2007—their version of Jonathan Lee’s “It’s Been Frustrating” mentions the turbulent stock market and replaces a reference to now-retired Japanese AV star Ai Iijima with one to newly-minted mainland AV star Tang Wei.
The final front page headline reports that fireworks were banned inside the Fifth Ring Road last night; the city had nearly 200,000 people out on patrol to enforce the ban.