BEIJINGS Olympic opening extravaganza drew rave reviews yesterday from media around the world. "An eight became a perfect 10 in Beijing tonight", the website of the Sydney Morning Herald declared. With eight the luckiest number according to Chinese, it was no coincidence the Games started on August 8th at 8 pm.

"The world may never witness a ceremony of the magnitude and ingenuity as that which opens the 2008 Olympics," it said.

London's Evening Standard ran the headline: "China Magic", and said the "most ambitious Olympics in history opens with the most spectacular show".

"Marvellous. Too marvellous", gushed Italy's Leonardo Coen on the website of the Rome-based daily La Repubblica (www.repubblica.it).

For some, the show drew attention to Chinas strengths and the Olympic sports after a politically charged run-up to the Games.

"Friends who come from far, how happy we are to have you here," was the message of greeting to the world, even the part of the world China has had harsh criticism from," wrote Elio Girompini, a correspondent with Italy's Corriere della Sera (www.corriere.it). "And in a stroke it made the latest polemics about Bushs words on human rights slide away."

To the Los Angeles Times, the show was not a welcoming ceremony for a resurgent China rejoining the world stage. Rather, it was "about China for at least the next 17 days becoming the world stage. The Chinese, accustomed to humiliation, real and perceived, by foreigners for centuries, are secure enough these days that they were willing, even eager, to share the spotlight."