The opening ceremony officially began on November 12, 2010 at 20:00 local time(當?shù)貢r間）. For the first time in history, the ceremony was not held inside the stadium; instead, it was held along the Pearl River（珠江） on Haixinsha Island（海心沙島）. The ceremony was directed by Chen Weiya（總導(dǎo)演陳維亞）, who also the assistant director of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing（北京夏季奧運會）, and featured the cast of about 6,000 performers. It was attended (出席）by the Premier of the People's Republic of China（中國國務(wù)院總理）, Wen Jiabao, President of Pakistan（巴基斯坦總統(tǒng)） Asif Ali Zardari,Thai Prime Minister（泰國總理） Abhisit Vejjajiva, Chief Secretary for Administration of Hong Kong（香港行政區(qū)行政長官） Henry Tang, as well as President of the Olympic Council of Asia（亞奧理事會） (OCA), Sheikh Ahmed Al-Fahad Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah and President of International Olympic Committee（國際奧委會主席） Jacques Rogge. The ceremony lasted for four hours, and spent ￥380 million ($53 million), the fee [fi:]（費用） including the closing ceremony.（閉幕式）

   Athletes were paraded（列隊行進） by boats along the Pearl River. The ceremony featured the water-themed （以水為主題的）arts show and culture of Guangzhou. The last torchbearer（火炬手）, diver He Chong（跳水冠軍何沖） lit up the cauldron [?k?:ldr?n]（圣火臺），after ignited（點燃） the traditional Chinese firecrackers（爆竹） whose flare shot up （一飛沖天）until the tower.

The ceremony was regarded as （認為是）successful, as IOC President Jacques Rogge describe it as "absolutely fantastic", and have ability to host the Olympics. OCA director general Husain Al-Musallam praises it as unique [ju:?ni:k]（獨一無二的）, fantastic and "just better than the Beijing Olympics".