The already tense relations between China’s Olympic authorities and the international media have taken another turn for the worse after a South Korean television channel broadcast illicit footage of the Games’ top secret opening ceremony.

In an embarrassing breach of security, journalists from Seoul Broadcasting Systems (SBS) walked into the “Bird’s Nest” national stadium and filmed closed rehearsals for next Friday’s spectacular ceremony, which will be attended by world leaders, including President George W Bush.

The footage, which was posted on the internet before being removed from several sites at the insistence of the furious Beijing organising committee, showed hundreds of dancers bedecked with ribbons, flying acrobats suspended from wires, musicians, actors and martial arts fighters, and vast visual projections of blue whales and an immense illuminated globe.

One section features musicians on a square float playing crashing cymbals in the style of the Beijing opera, and another consists of the unfolding of a giant traditional scroll painting of misty mountains on which gymnasts cavort. Hundreds of square columns are seen to undulate like the sea and at the climax, a vast crowd of people flash cards spelling out numbers in a countdown to the beginning of the Games. One detail that was not witnessed by the peeping film crew was the method of lighting the Olympic torch – the rumour is that it will performed by a flying dragon or phoenix.

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Update:  The video you’re not supposed to see…

Update:  China Angered by U.S. Lobbying on Rights

Update:  How internet Great Firewall is souring relations with the media

Note:  The more China screams and tries to shut down the video the more popular it becomes.  It’s popping up everywhere.  By the time it’s over they’ll have it all figured out — “We can’t control the net.”

Popularity: 17% [?]