About 5,000 people gathered at the gate of a movie theater in Toronto early Friday morning, hoping to grab a seat and enjoy the spectacular opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics on the big screen in high-definition.

Although the show will not start until 8 a.m. local time, many people, young and old, arrived at the Richmond Hill Center for the Performing Arts well before sunrise.

As early as one year ago, the theater decided to open for free to audience who would like to watch the opening ceremony of the Beijing Games together, because many people have showed great enthusiasm.

"When I arrived at 5:30 a.m., there were about 700 people here," said Michael Grit, one of the organizers.

"We have about 3,700 people in the building, which is capacity, and we had to turn about 1,000 people away," Grit said.

Spectators were amazed at the dazzling performance, which they think not only demonstrated China's great ancient culture, but also its advantage in modern science and technology.

"It was amazing -- I liked it and I'm proud of it," said one young woman of Chinese origin.

Across Canada, people showed great interest in the ceremony and woke up earlier to watch them. In Vancouver, even as the show started at five o'clock in the morning, many people got up to watch TV or gather together to enjoy the show.

To celebrate the historical moment, several government officials and Chinese embassy staff gathered at the City Hall of Ottawa to raise the Olympic flag.

"Beijing and Ottawa are sister cities, the flag-hoisting ceremony is meant not only to congratulate the opening of the Games, but also to express our best wishes for the friendship between the two cities," said Ottawa mayor Larry O'Brien.

"The opening ceremonies are stunningly spectacular. That's not something you can see every day. It's really an exciting moment for Chinese and Canadians," said Federal Environment Minister John Baird.

It is surely a great time for both Chinese and Canadians. In the China town of Montreal, hundreds gathered before a big screen to enjoy the show.

The Chinese communities in Vancouver and Ottawa have planned to organize parties and parades in the coming days to congratulate their home country for hosting the Olympics for the first time.

Source:Xinhua