Clowns roll out red carpet

Games are supposed to be fun, after all.

The Chinese contingent was officially welcomed to the London Games with a ceremony that differed wildly from past Olympics.

Following a group of performers dressed as jesters out to the ceremony on Wednesday, the Chinese athletes found themselves in the middle of a carnival featuring dancers singing poems and actors whistling on bicycles at the Olympic Village.

Some 70 brightly dressed members of the National Youth Theatre performed on stilts and bicycle chariots before Tessa Jowell, the village's deputy mayor, delivered a welcome speech.

Though vastly different from the traditionally solemn ceremonies of the past, the event was uniquely British.

"Yeah, it feels really different from the other welcoming ceremonies I've attended," Chinese beach volleyball player Xue Chen said.

"It's not like a serious one that follows standard procedures, it's more like a party that made us very relaxed and cheered up. Plus, we can really feel the Games are coming after that ceremony."

Xue was among 98 Chinese delegation representatives, which included the men's and women's basketball teams and the shooting and judo squads. It was led by delegation chief Liu Peng.

The Chinese delegation attended the ceremony together with Samoa, Kenya and Suriname.

Liu, China's sports minister exchanged gifts with Jowell before the national flag-raising ceremony and greeted the actors and athletes.

National basketball forward Yi Jianlian drew the spotlight when vice sports minister Duan Shijie implied on Tuesday that he would be the flag bearer at the opening ceremony on Friday.

Yi confirmed the appointment on Wednesday, saying it was "a great personal honor".

The former NBA player said the ceremony was a mental tip-off to the Games.

"It means the Olympics have really started and we have to get ourselves ready for the big show," he said. "The performance … perfectly demonstrated the culture here."

Lu Shanzhen, coach of the women's gymnastics team, echoed Yi's sentiment, saying he was impressed by the local flavor.

"I've experienced a lot of welcoming shows at big events, but none was like this," Lu said. "There are no certain patterns here, everybody were surprised by the actors' costumes, and then easily got caught up in the mood.

"The typical British style really reminded us that the London Games are coming and everybody looked motivated."

The Village has already performed more than 50 welcome ceremonies since kicking things off with the British Virgin Islands on July 17.

It will deliver a total of 100 to welcome over 200 delegations.

The performers will prepare customized tricks to entertain athletes from different countries.

"We prepared in rehearsals for a month before the opening day, and we will add some special elements according to the different culture of different teams," said Cyrus Barghchi, an Australian performer.

"Like today, we all learned how to say 'hello' and 'welcome' to make the Chinese players feel warm like home."