Chinese media on Saturday hailed the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympics as a "legendary performance" that showcased the nation's cultural heritage, reported dpa.
"Beijing puts on a legendary performance," People's Daily, the official mouthpiece of the ruling Communist Party, said in a headline.
"The Divine Land (China) is full of nice surprises," the newspaper said in another headline.
"The nation opened the Olympic Games last night with a spectacular burst of wizardry and fireworks that wove ancient Chinese history with state-of-the-art technology," the Shanghai Daily newspaper said.
The Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post called the opening "a scintillating scroll through history to a dream finish".
China Daily said director Zhang Yimou and the other organizers had turned the 91,000-seat Bird's Nest Olympic stadium into a "cauldron of Chinese civilization".
"The rich tapestry of Chinese civilization came alive in a constantly evolving and abstractly fascinating scroll painting," China Daily said.
A public opinion poll found that 90 per cent of 1,500 Chinese citizens interviewed were happy with the opening ceremony, Beijing-based CTR Market Research said in a press release on Saturday.