The 2010 Asian Games opening ceremony officially began at 8:00pm China Standard Time (UTC+8) on November 12, 2010.

[4] Prior to the opening ceremony, athletes and officials from 45 National Olympic Committees (NOC) were paraded by boat around the Pearl River with distance of 9.3 km to showcase the Cantonese culture.

Afterwards eight PLAGF Honor Guard Soldiers received the flag of the People's Republic of China from two children who then unfurled and raised it up, accompanied by the national anthem March of the Volunteers.

The song was sung by Zhang Ziyi[10] and written by lyricist Albert Leung and composer Li Hai-ying (李海鹰).

High wire performers then put up a series of acts in front of the giant screens to form waves, seesaws, smiley faces, birds and other shapes.

Taiwan (Republic of China) entered with the compromised name and flag of "Chinese Taipei" under T. Unlike last edition's opening ceremony, the two Korea's marched separately from each other.

Sun Nan and Mao Amin then performed the official theme song "Reunion" (Chinese: 重逢; pinyin: Chóngféng),[38] and flag of OCA was carried in by eight athletes.

The three were:[40] The final torchbearer, Olympic gold medalist diver He Chong (何冲) was accompanied by two children, Xiong Yuxiang (熊钰翔) and daughter of director, Chen Jiayu (陈佳雨).

The trio used the flame to light the fuse of a traditional Chinese firecraker that produced an explosion which ignited the cauldron tower directly above it.