It began with a single Chinese Special Olympics athlete and a drum that symbolised his heartbeat: it built up to a stunning spectacle involving unimaginable numbers of people in a drama of flowing movement and colour, writes Arminta Wallacein Shanghai
There was a princess adrift on a tiny fishing boat amid a heaving sea of turquoise silk umbrellas. There was a thunderstorm. There were fireworks. There was a mesmerising display of Tai Chi, complete with a yin-yang symbol formed by thousands of dancers. And, of course, there was a dragon.
Some 10,000 athletes from more than 164 countries - including 143 from Ireland - danced, laughed and fairly bounced into the 80,000-seater Shanghai Stadium yesterday for the opening ceremony of the Special Olympics Summer Games 2007, encouraged by a capacity crowd and a fistful of celebrities.
Movie stars Jackie Chan, Bruce Willis and Colin Farrell were there, as well as Arnie Schwarzenegger, Nadia Comaneci, Bianca Jagger and highly regarded Chinese classical musicians Yo-Yo Ma and Lang Lang.
There was even a Special Olympics song, I Know I Can, composed for the occasion by veteran R and B producer Quincy Jones. An advance copy of the lyrics and melody - in English, Mandarin and sol-fa - had, helpfully, been inserted into the official manual for journalists, presumably so that we could practise in secret and hum along on the night. We didn't.
We did, however, clap and cheer and blow our whistles and wave our flags and torches right on cue.
Cheesy? Of course it was. But as master of ceremonies Colin Farrell pointed out, the four pillars on which the Special Olympics philosophy has been built - courage, sharing, skill and joy - are very real, and so are the transformations which Special Olympics programmes effect in the lives of those who participate in them.
The idea of the whole shebang, according to the opening ceremony's designer Don Mischer, was to transform the stadium into a place where difference was appreciated and celebrated - to "shine a spotlight on the dignity of human life and the beauty of the human soul".
It was a dazzlingly colourful and genuinely emotional occasion, with Special Olympics delegations converging on Shanghai from all corners of the globe.
Among those who took their places in the vast stadium was a delegation from Burma.
But with the eyes of the world focused on China as it mounts what many in the West regard as a dress rehearsal for next year's Olympics in Beijing, questions have inevitably been asked about what lies behind the razzmatazz in Shanghai.
From a western perspective, China's record on human rights has been patchy; how, then, does it approach the question of intellectual disability?
The answer seems to be that in this, as in many other aspects of Chinese culture and society, things are changing with astonishing rapidity.
According to the vice chairman of China's Disabled Persons' Federation, Tang Xiaoquan, almost 83 million Chinese people have disabilities. More than 9.5 million have an intellectual disability.
It's hardly surprising, then, that for these games China is fielding the biggest national team in Special Olympics history, with 1,200 competitors taking part in every sport in the Special Olympics book, from golf and softball to power-lifting and cricket.
And in this, as in many other aspects of what locals call "the new China", Shanghai has been leading the way.
Since the announcement in 2001 that these games would be held in the city, there has been a massive overhaul of 30 of Shanghai's sports venues, revamped to include improved access for those with physical disabilities.
In 2005 the municipal authorities set up a community rehabilitation project, the Sunshine Home programme, which gives training in basic life skills and sports to students aged between 16 and 35.
There are now 240 of these centres, catering for 11,500 students.
Mayor of Shanghai, Han Zheng, said the Special Olympics were "not about fancy facilities and fat profits but about building connections among grass-roots citizens, especially those with intellectual disabilities, in order to create a civilised and harmonious environment for all."
The real action now begins, and Team Ireland's 143 athletes, who have been in Shanghai since Friday, are raring to go.
"At the end of the day, we came to Shanghai to compete," said sports co-ordinator Peter Fenton, "and that's exactly what we're going to do."