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China's Olympic Bird's Nest On Thin Ice
Beijing's National Stadium is on thin ice - LA Times. $450 Million cost and it looks like no good way to make money. An explanation from the WSJ on the Bird's Nest:The Bird's Nest, for example, has no clearly defined purpose after the Games -- and no roof to protect it during the city's frigid winters and hot, rainy summers.As a great Los Angeles area resident, I appreciate how the LA Games broke even. From a prestige view point China did an amazing job of hosting the Olympics and showing the world how advanced they are. And a lot of infrastructure was built, but at a cost of $42 Billion Dollars. Labels: China Olympics
Open Mouth, Insert Foot - Olympics
A co-worker at the trade show from China asked me what made the most impression at the opening ceremony of the Olympics. So, I answered with what came to mind first. Milli Vanilli at the Beijing Olympics about the older girl who lip synced a song sung by a younger girl. And since she lives in China, she did not know about this (it's been censored) and said they just used pre-recorded music. I disagreed, and I showed her using my iPhone a picture of the two girls and an article Beijing Olympics: Faking scandal over girl who 'sang' in opening. And after some translation from another co-worker, she left to walk around the tradeshow. Not the type of conversation I really wanted to have.When she got back I mentioned how I found the most spectacular part to be the person running around the ceiling, but the entire opening ceremony was amazing. Which was the answer she was looking for! She replied she really liked the drumming. She thought the London opening ceremony may be very good, and I commented it won't match the Beijing opening ceremony, There will not be anything like it again. I need to watch what I say, because my answers can get a lot deeper than people expect, especially about subjects I have thought about a bit and done some analysis, like the Beijing Olympics. Part of the conversation also got into how much the Beijing Olympics cost, and I commented it's a good question if that was a good use of the money since there are so many other pressing issues in China (Sichuan earthquake, environmental, schooling, etc.), but I said that the world definitely saw how far China has advanced with the Olympics as a nation in wealth and technology. Labels: China Olympics
Olympics are done - now what?
My last post for a while on the Olympics, I thought yesterday was but this article came up. What Next for China?There are two schools of thought. 1 - The Olympics were so positive for China recognizing that China is now a major world power economically and this was evident to the major world leaders who attended, as well as the Chinese people. This helps sustain the legitimacy of the ruling communist party and their policies. With this the Chinese government will open up more since they feel less threatened. 2 - The Olympics were so successful because of the huge amount of state control from the huge police presence to keeping out potentially pesky foreigners to China's Gold Medal results to the amazing images shown world wide and to the Chinese people. This will actually result in keeping the increased tighter control of the media in order to move China forward economically. I am not sure. China has a lot of challenges in the years ahead, and the Olympics are done and can no longer be used as a justification. I wonder if China's government is going to look for some other justification to use in making decisions. Labels: China Olympics
Olympics - Success for China?
Were the Olympics a success for China? Will they help the self confidence of China overall, and reduce the worrisome extreme nationalism that pops up from time to time? Christian Monitor seems to think so. Using this measurement it seems a success. Only cost was $40 Billion. For those attending from the West, the degree of choreography also made an impression. For those who watched the opening ceremonies that was just amazing, the goose stepping soldiers were a low point. My Grandmother who I was sitting next to and built Liberty Ships during the war did not like the image at all. A few negatives also came to light, such as the lip syncing. Labels: China Olympics
Olympics - My mixed feelings
I am glad that China is getting a chance to show off to the world how far it has come in the world. And they have done an amazing job with world class sporting facilities, an amazing opening ceremony, and Chinese athletes winning a huge amount of Gold Medals. Some areas that I feel are hurting China's reputation that were avoidable: Labels: China Olympics
Olympic Bubble in Learning Chinese
I am curious if the HUGE amount of publicity for the Olympics in Beijing is causing a spike in Learning Chinese, and that the interest in Learning Chinese will go down after the Olympics is over. I have seen an increased interest in Learning Chinese at my site, but this may be due to other reasons than the Olympics. Or perhaps it's this wonderful blog - or may be something else that makes up for my blog :-) Labels: China Olympics
Milli Vanilli at the Beijing Olympics
Unfortunately, some official (politburo) decided that the 7 year old, Yang Peiyi, who really sang for a lip syncing 9 year old had teeth that were too crooked, so she was pulled at the last moment. And now the Chinese government is using the great firewall of China to remove all mention of this faux pa from the Chinese Internet, blogs, and web pages. Shades of Milli Vanilli. Quote that justified this... "We have a responsibility to face the audience of the whole country, and to be open with this explanation. We should all understand it is like this: it is a question of the national interest. It is a question of the image of our national music, our national culture. Especially at the entrance of our national flag, this is an extremely important, an extremely serious matter."—Chen Qigang, musical designer Coverage: On the fireworks, I blame NBC for not making it clearer these were faked. I watched the broadcast and I did not pick up from the wording it was faked. Labels: China Olympics
Texas Two Step - Olympics
I am glad President Bush made it to the Olympics, and also opened a bigger embassy in China for the US. This will have a lasting impact to improve US China relations. Some of the actions the last couple of days were interesting. President Bush in China makes speech in Thailand in areas China needs to improve. Arrives in Beijing and aides and reporters on jet were delayed 3 hours. Another speech in Beijing much nicer. Grand opening of new embassy. Great appearance at the Olympics, all smiles. My opinion, the speech in Thailand was to give political cover for having a pleasant trip in Beijing, and the 3 hours delay was China's quiet way of saying they did not appreciate the speech right before the Olympics. Labels: China Olympics
opening ceremony - wow!
Amazing spectacle that was very well done. What was your favorite part? Mine was when the printing blocks were revealed to be controlled by people! Labels: China Olympics
Learning Chinese & the Olympics
Olympic - Is China trying to hard?
Sometimes when you try to hard you can actually fail because of that. I have that feeling that China is trying so hard to have the perfect Olympics, that has resulted in negative publicity. Sometimes the best action is not to react, and just let people vent/protest. But by bringing attention to a protect, such as Mr. Cheek the head of Team Darfur and former Olympian, by taking away his visa, they have instantly given him a huge amount of free publicity. It's like with children, by giving attention to certain behavior, you are actually rewarding it. Some examples:
And don't even get me started on the bugging of taxis and installing spy gear in hotels. Is it really necessary? I can understand the need to avoid another Munich, but the cost is showing a negative image of China.
Labels: China Olympics
Hong Kong Report and Police scuffle
Sad - Scuffles at Olympic Ticket Sales between some Hong Kong Reporters covering it and police after problems with an out of control crowd trying to get olympic tickets stampeded, and there was a video of the fight. During the Olympics business is not as usual, and video cameras in cell phones are changing all the rules... Labels: China Olympics
Olympic Mascots Analysis
Here's Another Olympic Sport: from the WSJ - All about China's Olympic Mascots. I finally understand why they are so strange looking, and no, they are not aliens. They are mascots designed by committee. Just as a camel is a horse designed by committee. And of course there is also, Meet the evil Olympic Mascot.The Olympic Mascots say a lot about China - Mascots were designed by committee (group consensus)
- Negative comments about them in China have been suppressed
- 60% Chinese like them, and 40% don't.
- One of them symbolizes the Tibetan Antelope
Labels: China Olympics
Olympic rings transform China
Olympic rings transform China from the SF Chronicle. For better and worse, China is changing because of the Olympics. The question will the positives last? I hope the negatives don't. An interesting quote: "Competition and the desire to defeat one's peers would have been repugnant in classical China," Johnson said. "So the Olympics are profoundly un-Chinese."
But we are not in classical China, and I would argue since the 1949 revolution there has been many changes in the culture & society in Mainland China.
Labels: China Olympics
Olympic Data Risk
Olympic visitors' data is at risk - basically your PDA, laptop, and cell phone are at risk if anyone in China is interested in you. Viruses, bugs, etc. can all happen. A business executive found a couple of attempts on his PDA. A US government official may have had his laptop copied. Of course coming back through US customs, your PDA, Laptop, and Cell Phone can be looked at and the data copied by US customs. Labels: China Olympics
Victim or Victor? China's Olympic Odyssey
China's Odyssey from the WSJ. Interesting article about Chinese Nationalism, history of the Olympics, and recent events. The article makes a lot of good points, but I don't agree with it 100%. A quote from the article that is food for thought and would be a great prompt for a class: Chinese nationalism -- with its belief in the Darwinian struggle of nations -- is rather anachronistic, and so are the Olympic Games.My belief - It would be nice if this belief belonged to another time (anachronistic), but truthfully most countries don't believe this and certainly don't act that way. The comments about nationalism in the article are good. The author has a web site www.ianburuma.com/ and studied Chinese Literature. Labels: China Olympics, china's future
Learning to Speak Olympics
Learning to Speak OlympicsWow! The goal of having 35% of the population understanding English by the Olympics. Funny quote: My best student is the local constable, Officer Li. He approached me about a private lesson in English vulgarities, “so I know when a foreigner is cursing me.”
This is the stuff you usually don't learn in class.
Labels: China Olympics
Earthquake and 8's Symbolic Meaning
 This text message was sent around China: January 25 — Snowstorm equals natural disaster; 1+2+5=8 March 14 — Bald Tibetans equal man-made disaster; 3+1+4=8 May 12 — Earthquake equals seismic disaster; 5+1+2=8 8.8.08 — the Olympics. Coincidence? China will be hosting the 2008 Olympics, and the official start Date is August 8, 2008. The number 8 is considered lucky in Chinese, because it also sounds like wealth in Mandarin. The start date is on the 8th day of the 8th month of the 8th year of the century, a lucky day in what was supposed to be a lucky year for China. It's also Chinese Father's day, since 8 also sounds like Father. My local bank to celebrate the Chinese Olympic and has many of the paper 8's hanging from their ceilings. Directions below so you can make your own Chinese Olympic paper cut. Chinese Olympic Papercut Mobile Craft Project for hanging from your ceiling
- Celebrate China's hosting of the Olympics starting on the 8/8/2008
- Project only takes minutes to do!
- Make more than one for your bedroom or class room!
 Labels: China Olympics, chinese craft
Chinese Athletes Cashing In
For Chinese Athletes, Western-Style Perks - from the Washington Post. A sentence that capture everything: Attitudes about sports in China have undergone a dramatic shift from the days when the government focused on collective gain rather than individual accomplishment. Those changes have helped foster the development of a new kind of athlete, one whose sacrifices result in fame and fortune -- and, if the athlete has a distinct personality, national celebrity.Labels: China Olympics
More on anti-CNN Protest in LA
China Protests - Pro China and Tibet
Protesters target CNN after Jack Cafferty's remarks on China in Hollywood. Currently the most viewed article on the LA Times. Note in the picture the signs are well done with clear English (many Chinese protests in the US have signs only in Chinese) and their are a lot of older protests. And in Wisconsin, a Double rally on the Wisconsin Capitol steps: Free Tibet + Pro-China.Wisconsin I am surprised as a location for a pro-Tibet protest - apologies in advance to anyone from Wisconsin, this is probably showing my fourth generation California bias :-) The pro-China protesters from the age are probably college students. There are a lot of college students spread out across the US from China. I find all the protests to be extremely positive because people are using their right of free assembly and speach. Labels: China Olympics
China tries to limit Internet vitriol toward the West
China's Olympic Headache
Drip, drip, drip. Everyday seems to bring some more bad publicity for China concerning the Olympics. The latest drips today: So who is protesting against China? - Tibet associated
- Falun Gong
- Burma
- Darfur
- Reporters without borders
An article I read (that of course I can't find) mentioned they were even arranging their colors, so there was no confusion on which group should be which color. What I am not sure about, is what effect will this have upon China? The dream of some people was having China host the Olympics would have a positive effect on how China acted. My worry is how the Chinese people (who blog a lot) will react, and what longer term ramifications this will have. China's government is trying everything to be positive, but with the amount of protests (which only requires a small group), they may feel their effort is not being appreciated. There is a HUGE amount of national pride (nationalism) in China that has been fanned by the ruling communist party for their own purposes (staying in power). An article that touches on this from the WSJ. Torch Protests Ignite Chinese IndignationLabels: China Olympics
Darfur and China
Olympics near, China bends on Darfur - Los Angeles TimesChina's relation with Sudan (the country the Darfur area is part of) is a challenge. On the one hand Sudan supplies oil that China needs and buys arms and other imports from China. From an economic prospective, this is win win. From a public policy prospective, China's relationship to a the Sudan regime that is having a lot of nasty things happen to people in Darfur is not good, as China works on having the best image possible with the Beijing Olympics. The result has been Steven Spielberg resigning from artistic direction of the 2008 summer games and bad press for China. Today, China appears to be going on a charm offensive to show how they are actually working on helping the situation in Darfur. From what I have read, privately China has tried to help the situation in Darfur. China does have politic/ideologic constraints on what they can do in Darfur. Labels: China Olympics
Cost puts damper on this Olympic event
I noticed a link to the article on http://defreses.blogspot.com/ when I was looking for info. on Chinese New Year events in Alabama. Cost puts damper on this Olympic event For many Americans with adopted Chinese children, dreams of a visit during the Games in Beijing prove too pricey. By Mark Magnier, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer January 2, 2008 BEIJING -- It seemed like a good idea. Bring your adopted Chinese daughters (and they're almost all daughters) back to Beijing to experience the glories of the 2008 Summer Olympics, connect with the homeland and watch the Middle Kingdom at a key moment in its history. Then parents started checking the prices, which can run to $15,000 per person or more, including airfare, inflated hotel bills and tickets. "The Olympics are great exposure for China, which is changing so quickly," Brandon Cozier, from Houston, said recently outside the White Swan Hotel in Guangzhou with his wife, Juliette, having come to pick up Kyra, their second adopted daughter. "But $15,000 is almost as much as we spent for her adoption." For the rest of the article: http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-fg-olympics2jan02,1,3704914.story?coll=la-news-a_sectionLabels: China Olympics
China's 2008 Rose Parade Entry - Dissent Rains on Pasadena
Pasadena Rose Parade has a float this year for the 2008 Olympic Games. It seems to be attracting a bit of controversy, per this article in the LA Times, Dissent rains on Pasadena. So now the city council is being confronted with taking a stand on human rights in China, etc. Labels: China Olympics
China Airlines Rose Parade Entry
My view - I wish I could get better pictures of the China Airlines Float each year (which is actually from Taiwan. For some reason it is so hard to get good pictures online of it. Every year they do a beautiful job. In 2007 they won the International Trophy and did a nice press release, but no photos on their site! 16th time they have won an award. Pictures I found: 2007 - The Natural Beauty of Taiwan (scroll down 2/3rds of the page - they disables the right click finally). 2006 Magical Taiwan with more pictures here (scroll down) 2005 Enjoying our Native Family - Taiwan and from China Airlines Site. 2004 Taiwan's Sound of Joy2003 Dreaming of Taiwan International Trophy. 2002 Enjoying Taiwan, 2003 Dreaming of Taiwan, 2001 " Chinatown USA"Winner, International Trophy. I found it on the company that provided the Orchids for the float. If you are frustrating by the lack of good photo's on the China Airlines Site, here is some contact info. Johnson Sun Director of Corporate Communication & Customer Relation div., Spokesperson Chih Yu Deputy Director of Finance Div., Deputy Spokesperson Address: 131, Sec. 3, Nanking E. Rd., Taipei, Taiwan,R.O.C. TEL: (02)2715-2233 FAX: (02)2715-5754 And contact information for the US OfficesLabels: China Olympics, Rose Parade
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