The 21st Summer Deaflympics Taipei 2009 opened Saturday with style, spectacular fireworks, drum performances by 80 hearing-impaired students, performances showcasing the unique Taiwanese culture and, to the relief of the organizers, no rain.

The open ceremony, taking place at Taipei Stadium in Taipei Sports Park, featured a 12-act extravaganza created by an elite artistic group headed by Stan Lai, an award-winning playwright and theater director, and the introduction of over 4,200 Deaflympic athletes from over 80 countries.

The ceremony began with a percussion performance by 80 students from the Taipei School for the Hearing Impaired, led by the Taiwanese group U Theater and the renowned hearing-impaired percussionist Evelyn Glennie.

The only blemish on the opening ceremony came as Glennie wound up her performance. A part of the Deaflympics logo that had been lit up in flames earlier fell onto a vacant part of the stands and had to be extinguished by stadium workers.

Taiwanese divas also contributed to the glitter of the ceremony. Taiwanese model Patina Lin led Taipei School for the Hearing Impaired student Cheng Kun-hsing and students from the Army Academy in the performance The Legend of Sea and Land. Taiwanese pop queen A-Mei sang the Deaflympics theme song, Dreams You Can Hear, after descending to the stage from 20 stories off the ground.

Performers also included the 80-member Thousand-Hand Bodhisattva Dance Performance Group from China, comprised mainly of hearing-impaired young women.

There were also some lighter touches in the opening ceremony, such as when performers dressed as food ingredients danced in ensembles that showed off Taiwanese cuisine, such as beef noodles, rice with stewed pork, steamed dumpling and spicy hot pot.

The organisers also invited four people who risked their lives to rescue 135 people stranded by Typhoon Morakot in Jiamu village in early August to appear in the ceremony in a symbolic sign of gratitude to all those who participated in rescue efforts during the storm.

Hong Kong actor Jet Li stood with them as they prayed for the typhoon's victims and a successful Games. First lady Chow Mei-ching later appeared with a hearing-impaired young girl and used sign language to encourage her and other disabled persons to 'seize their inner power,' with which they could achieve anything.

The extravaganza climaxed with a fireworks display at the stadium, which were then followed by other fireworks displays at the Taipei Cultural Center, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, Taipei 101, Taipei Gymnasium and Songshan tobacco factory.

President Ma Ying-jeou, who officiated at the opening in his capacity as president of the Republic of China, later announced the opening of the Deaflympics using Mandarin, English and international sign language.

The president stayed for the entire two and a half hour opening ceremony that its director Stan Lai said was a "memorable event that will call forth the beauty of the human heart and reach out to the deaf community."

All 17,600 tickets to the opening ceremony were sold out as of Friday.

The Deaflympics is one of five international events recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) (along with the Olympics, the Paralympics, the Special Olympics and the Youth Olympic Games, which will be held for the first time in 2010).

Its events are similar to those of the Olympic Games and are governed by the same rules.

The 21st Summer Deaflympics in Taipei is expected to bring together about 4,000 athletes from 81 countries around the world.

The games will feature 20 sports: athletics, badminton, basketball, bowling, cycling, football, handball, orienteering, shooting, swimming, table tennis, tennis, volleyball, beach volleyball, water polo, freestyle wrestling, Greco-Roman wrestling, karate, judo and taekwondo, according to the ICSD.

THE CHINA POST / ASIA NEWS NETWORK