The delegations of participating National Olympic Committees then marched into the stadium under the Olympic Rings, with their respective flags shown on a giant screen high above, and were warmly welcomed by volunteers and spectators on the stand.

To rousing cheers from the home crowd, the Chinese delegation marched in to the accompaniment of the famous song Ode to the Motherland, with men's Olympic bronze medalist speed skater Gao Tingyu and women's skeleton racer Zhao Dan bearing the flag for the host squad.

China will send 176 athletes, the most since the country's Winter Olympics debut at the 1980 Games, and 211 coaches and officials for competition in 104 medal events out of a total of 109 at the Beijing Winter Olympics. The Games will take place in three hosting areas－Beijing's downtown, its northwest Yanqing district and co-host Zhangjiakou, Hebei province－until Feb 20.