As spectators in the Bird's Nest here were witnessing the historic opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympics on Friday night, people elsewhere pursued their own lives, fates and dreams.

CENTRAL CHINA'S AIDS-HIT VILLAGE

In Wenlou, Henan Province, which is one of the country's worst AIDS-hit villages, Kong Yichun and his wife were busy collecting mushrooms in his courtyard one hour before the opening ceremony. The HIV positive man, 39, makes his living by growing mushrooms, a comparatively lucrative business that the local government recommended to the village, where about 300 AIDS-infected people live.

At the persistent request of Xiaojie, their 13-year-old son, Kong and his wife finished their work hours earlier than usual.

"I want to be with them at the special moment, which is just like the Spring Festival, when family members sit together, leaving the work aside for a whole night," Xiaojie said, referring to the single most important festival in China each year.

"I really want to see my idol Yao Ming in the opening ceremony," he added.

Kong, with chopsticks and bowl in hand, sat in front of the TV set.

"I am lucky," he said, after shoving two pills into his mouth. The local government has begun providing Kong and his fellow villagers with free medicine.

"I will do my utmost to live on and be a useful person," he said.

For the future, Kong said he had two wishes: continued distribution of free medicine and good sales for his mushrooms.

"CINEMA FOR THE BLIND" IN A BEIJING HUTONG

The lights were dimmed in the room barely 20 square meters in size and the TV set flickered to life.

"Here comes the Chinese team with Yao Ming holding the national flag taking the lead," a middle-aged man said, speaking into a microphone.

"The male athletes are dressed in red jackets, yellow shirts and white trousers and the female athletes are wearing yellow jackets with scarves around their necks."

A dozen of the blind huddled together, listening attentively.

"They must be great," some said, beating their canes in time to the music.

Once a week for the last three years, Dawei, whose full name is Wang Weili, has narrated a film for the blind in the tiny cinema he set up at his own expense on Gulou West Street in a hutong (alleyway) just inside the Second Ring Road in central Beijing.

Dawei has shown more than 100 Chinese and foreign movies to a faithful group, currently numbering 30, in the Xinmu (Eyes of the Heart) Cinema.

"I want to give them an Olympic vision by narrating to them the opening ceremony," Dawei said.

"I was so overwhelmed when the [Chinese] team entered the stadium," said Zhang Qi, a 50-year-old regular visitor. "With Dawei's help, I feel I have seen these wonderful scenes and shared the joy with everyone else."

BAKING FOR SURVIVAL IN QUAKE-BATTERED SICHUAN

Shuai Lan, an entrepreneur in the southwestern Sichuan Province, where a 8.0-magnitude earthquake in May killed nearly 70,000 and left another 18,000 missing, was busy making cakes in a workshop.

Shuai, 44, has been living in a tent since the earthquake. She had to miss the opening ceremony because there was no TV set in the workshop.

"I lost almost everything in the earthquake, but life will get better and better with hard work," she said, without stopping. She still had 15 orders to go, which would take until midnight.

With relatives' help, Shuai set up a small shop after the quake. Even though the area has been hit by many aftershocks, Shuai is optimistic.

"My dream is that one day, the workshop will be better than the one I had before the earthquake," she said.

PLAIN LIFE IN A REMOTE NORTHWESTERN VILLAGE

Ma Yonghua, 78, a villager in the northwestern Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, trudged a long way with a flashlight in hand to a neighbor's home to watch the opening ceremony because he could not afford a TV set. Ma's wife is bedridden and his son does odd jobs in the city.

"I adore the ceremony. It is so grand and impressive," the farmer said. "I feel proud to be born in such a country."

Ma, whose medical insurance was covered by the local government, said he had no worry for the near future.

"But I wish one day I could have my own TV set," he said.

As poor as he is, he was still able to watch the event. Some 18 percent of China's population lives in such remote areas, there are no TV signals.

PRAYER ON THE "ROOF OF THE WORLD"

In the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa in the southwestern Tibet Autonomous Region, monks held a prayer ceremony on Friday night.

"We are praying for a successful Olympic Games in our own way,"said Ngawang Qoizha, vice director of the Jokhang Temple Management Committee.

"Monks in our temple are free to watch the event if they want to," he added.

ELSEWHERE IN THE WORLD

In Nyala, the capital of South Darfur State in Sudan, which is five hours behind Beijing time, people were peacefully enjoying the first day of the weekend.

Adam Mohamed Abdel-Rahman, a teacher at the Nyala Technical College, was invited to a family of Chinese friends to watch the live broadcast of the Games opening ceremony.

"I hope other parts of Darfur could be as peaceful as here in Nyala," he said in front of the TV set.

Days before the Games, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on all those who are at war to observe the traditional two-week Olympic Truce.

"Let them lay down their weapons, if only temporarily, so that humanity can lay claim to gold even before the Games begin," he said.

But clouds of war are still hovering over parts of the world.

Hours before the opening ceremony in Beijing, Georgia deployed SU-52 fighter jets to bomb a village in the South Ossetia, which the Associated Press called "the worst outbreak of hostilities since the province won de-facto independence in a war that ended in 1992."

Source:Xinhua