Olympic Blog - Day 1

I'm going to attempt to blog for every day of the Olympics. I'm not in Beijing, I dont have a press pass and I don't have people fawning over me to make a good impression. I'm seeing it the same way as most people in China are - on t'tele.

Last night's opening ceremony was pretty extravagent. The main thing that struck me was how over-blown the Olympics is. I thought it was meant to be a meeting of amateur athletes to partake in a sporting event. But now it is a huge corporate event, regardless of where it is held. The ads on TV are constant. The Chinese hurdler who won gold in Athens, Liu Xiang, and who is now hugely famous because of it, has probably not had anytime to train with all the different products he's been endorsing. There's something quite odd about Olympic athletes encouraging people to drink Sprite and eat at KFC. But then the Games is hugely bloated, where governments and companies can acheive their differing aims. I must have seen the word 'Haier' (an electrical goods conglomerate) a million times today, as it bestrides the desks of every broadcast studio.

The ceremony itself was as expected, I imagine. What some guy has flying/running round the outisde of the stadium roof has to to do with Olympic spirit, I am yet to realise. There was the presentation of China's 5000 years of civilised history. The best sight was when the Chinese team entered the stadium.The American contingent was huge, but was dwarfed by the enormous Chinese team, which occupied fully half the track. China has competitors in every event for the first time. It seems the stage is set for a mass hoovering-up of medals by China.

This feeling was reinforced this morning. The first gold went to Croatia, but it wasn't long before China nabbed a couple of golds to go head of the medal table, I position I think'll they keep throughout. I've moved my desk into the living room, so I can study and watch at the same time, a perfect recipe for effective study. And I also have an Olympic guide to tell me when the next un-missable bout of fencing will take place.

My morning was spent watching the Woman's 48kg weighlifting, live from the Beijing Aviation University Sports Centre. There always seems to be someone out of their depth in events like these - like that swimmer from Equatorial Guinea in Sydney. This time it was someone from the weightlifting power house of Nicaragua. She came and went so fast I'm not sure it was the airfare.

This was in stark contrast to the Chinese competitor, Chen XiaXie. While the others where busy failing to pick it up, dropping it, and wobbling around, the Chinese competitor succeeded in all her attempts and won by a canter. An ominous sign for the rest, I think.

The second gold was earned by PangWei in the Men's 10m Air Pistol. For an event classed under 'Shooting', it was extremely dull and safe. If they used one of those toy guns that fires ping-pong balls, it would be more entertaining. A North Korean guy got bronze ahead of two Americans, so don't know whether he gets in trouble back in DPRK or not.

Coverage on TV is blanket. There's CCTV1, CCTV2, , CCTV7, and CCTV Olympic channel, as well as related programmes on local satelitte stations. You can watch everything for free on the Internet, although you'll also be watching a lot of adverts for a select few products. Some shops have set-up TVs outside so you can sit on the pavement and wonder how beach-volleyball is an Olympic event (along with softball and Equastrian). Sports no-one ever watches suddenly become fascinating - taekwondo, cycling, air pistol. The gymnastics remains one the better events to watch, although there's something slightly voyeuristic about watching people centimetres from paralysis.

In the woman's 'Shooting', the Chinese competitor came fifth and cried in her interview, a rare admission of failure. But with so many competitors in so many events, a few 5th places aren't going to dent the confidence. I'm currently watching the first round of the Woman's Volleyball, where the tallest women in China are pummelling the tallest women of Venezuela. Although the Olympic flag is white, you get the feeling that the colour of this Olympics is red, red, and more red.

Excellent article on surveillence and business in China and America

Excellent article on surveillence and the business of surveillence currently booming in China and America (and Britain). Well worth a read. The content touches on aspects other than the main topic, such as life in Shenzhen, the undescribable creation that is testiment to state capitalism in Southern China. The second to last paragraph is most salient:

"China-bashing never fails to soothe the Western conscience — here is a large and powerful country that, when it comes to human rights and democracy, is so much worse than Bush's America. But during my time in Shenzhen, China's youngest and most modern city, I often have the feeling that I am witnessing not some rogue police state but a global middle ground, the place where more and more countries are converging. China is becoming more like us in very visible ways (Starbucks, Hooters, cellphones that are cooler than ours), and we are becoming more like China in less visible ones (torture, warrantless wiretapping, indefinite detention, though not nearly on the Chinese scale)."

I think this is an extremely insightful view, albeit actually fairly obvious with clear thinking, and one that I have entertained for a while.

Having said that, a friend has just sent me one of those 'embarassing George W Bush' pictures, only this time of former President Jiang Zemin picking his nose in forceful fashion, so this surveillance still needs some work...

Enjoy!

Excellent article on Chongqing and the changes in China's cities

Chongqing is an enormous city in South West China, and by some counts is the world's largest, yet a lot of people have never heard of it. The article below is a really interesting insight into Chongqing, and some of the changes in China's cities. Definitely worth a read.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/portal/main.jhtml?xml=/portal/2008/07/12/sm_china12.xml

Enjoy!

New Statesman article on the Olympics

A disappointing piece of journalism by Lindsey Hilsum, about the 'no-fun' Olympics.

http://www.newstatesman.com/asia/2008/07/beijing-olympic-rights-china

Yeh, OK, the 'authorities' are pretty paranoid about what bad things might happen during the Olympics, particularly involving foreigners. And, yes, they're keen that no-one starts 'disstenting' before or during the Olympics, because they know the whole world will be watching - who would want to be embarrassed? But that is about the only reasonably sensible point that I can find in this article.

Above all, the article displays the cultural ignorance and pre-decided stereotypes that mars so much of Western impressions of China, not just journalists. Comparing the atmosphere in Sydney 200o to Beijing is ridiculous. Maybe its fine in Australia to go out and "party", drink in parks, and engage in what many Westerners see as just a bit of fun. But cultural attitudes, not just paranoid politics, is probably the main reason why the authorities don't want people "partying" all the time. Rarely in China will you see people enjoying themselves the way people apparently did during the Sydney Olypmics, so to suddenly expect Chinese people and authorities to allow and promote it is a bit much.

And lets's no forget, it's only 30 years ago that China was a country with virtually no contact with the outside world. To judge it by standards afforded to countries like Australia, and to expect it to adapt to our cultural expectations, is extremely short-sighted.

The article continues: "The Chinese government, it seems, does not care how much it costs, nor whom it pays, provided the Games look good on television. The aim is a picture-perfect Olympics". Well, dur. Who wouldn't? They have a choice - leave the pollution as it is, or do something about it. It's pretty obvious what is going to be chosen, and its also pretty obvious the reaction of Western journalists if they didn't take these measures. Also, linking these pullution cutting measures, however temporary, to the 'no-fun', 'paranoid' attitude of authorities makes no sense.

The Chinese government doesn't want foreigners causing trouble. What about London 2012? Do you think the British government would allow foreigners with a gripe against the government - Iraqis, Afghans, Palestinians, etc - to protest during the London Olympics? I think not.

Such journalistic attitudes as expressed in this article reach China, and more and more people are aware of these attitudes. And they're not impressed, which only further leads them to support the ugly patriotism and nationalism that the government very actively fosters. Attitudes like these, rather than encouraging the Chinese government to be more responsive to its people, play into the hands of the Chinese government, allowing them to stoke up irrationalist nationalist sentiment, which is of little benefit to anyone apart from the authorities this journalist so derides.

Guardian article about UK graduates working in China

Good article on UK graduates working in China published recently in the Guardian. I think it's spot on with most of the points it makes, particularly about the language, the culture and 'doing business' in China.

The thrust of the article is the sense of opportunity for people here, particularly Westerners. I think it's generally true, I personally also have the feeling that there is something interesting going on here, and that feeling helps make up for the pollution and over-crowding.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2008/jun/07/graduates.workandcareers3

Enjoy!

Interesting China blog

Below is the web address for a fantastic blog on China, which everyone with half an interest in China should take a look at.

www.danwei.org

Very professional, very insightful, with a huge range of interesting articles, videos, etc.
I had a quick browse just now, and found this funny 2 minute video about Chinese people learning English. Check out the policeman at the end...

http://www.danwei.org/events/speak_a_english.php

Enjoy!

Sunday in Huxian

Huxian is a small town about an hour and a half from Xi'an. The father of my friend who's wedding I attended earlier this year lives there, and he invited me over to see look at some ancient relics that are frequently found in the surrounding farmland.

I'm never ceased to be amazed by the changing landscape here. Not so long ago, Huxian would have been a small town, surrounded by small villages and miles and miles of fertile, flat farmland, with the Qingling mountain range to the south in the distance. Now, the last half an hour of a the journey, much like the first half an hour, is noticeable for the landscape - a mishmash of huge flyovers, highways, farmland, cleared lands waiting to be built on, the remains of old villages, and the blurred silhouette of the mountains. From the bus, you can see farmers working the land right up to the enormous 4 lane expressway that has been scytched through their fields. Huxian town itself is like a mini-Xi'an, hard to imagine what it was like 30 years ago.

I address my friend's father as 'shushu', uncle, in accordance with custom. He's very keen on ancient Chinese history and culture, and revels in tellng not just the 'laowai' (foreigner) about it. He's also extremely hospitable and generous, as most Northern Chinese are. I guess you could call him 'old school' - bought up in the Cultural Revolution, and with almost nothing in common with young Chinese. A lot of the time its hard to understand what he's saying, but I wouldn't want to disagree anyway, so a lot of head-nodding aids conversation.

He wanted to show me a small shop, which specialises in collecting and selling items that have been dup up around Huxian. In ancient times, Xian was the capital of China, and Huxian, being close to Xian, was also highly advanced, meaning its an archeologists paradise. The shop was located down a small, leafy side street, and without local knowledge, I would never have known about it.

Inside was a treasure trove of often remarkably preserved items, packed onto shelves in no particular order. Being the site of the ancient central bank, the land around Huxian is awash with old copper coins, with more than a few more than 2000 years old. Most of these coins are on sale for less than 20p. Also on display were all sorts of everyday items, bowls, plates, etc, including one item that looked like a squashed, flat hour glass, but turned out to be a container for spitting into. Outside were similarly old stone ornaments used for tieing up horses with monkeys carved on top, as monkeys were the guardians of horses in ancient China (so I'm told). Several items, kept out of view, were of such value as they are not allowed to be taken out of China.

However, there was a catch. Even though my 'shushu' is friends with the boss of the shop, he wouldn't normally allow people just to come and look. So my shushu said that I was the Xian representative of an English travel company, looking to bring foreigner tour groups to Huxian. He seemed to have no qualms about telling whoppers to his friend, and by the end of it, I was getting quite into it, asking the boss about what he could promise my clients, future investment opportunities, etc. I felt a bit uncomfortable 'pian' - lying to - this guy who was being very hospitable and giving me 1500 year old coins as a gift, but there wasn't much I was going to do about it. And besides, they make a fantastic souvenir.

I wanted to know how they could be so sure all the items were genuine and how they knew how old they were. It seems they just 'know', and I didn't press it too much. The stuff is literally dug up in the field by farmers, who then sell it to the boss. When I was there, a boy comes in with a grubby looking pot, unearthed that morning. The boy wants 50, the boss is not budging from 30. It's sold for 30, and later I'm told that its worth at least 200 in Xian, maybe 500 in Beijing. I feel less bad for lying. It may be a place for culturalists, but there's also money to be made.

In the afternoon, we walked down the same narrow street which houses many different workshops and residences of various artisans, collectors, etc - a street of genuine culture, I found, rather than the awful 'bigness' of Chinese cities. One shop had on display old shoes, about 8-10cm in length, of the type worn by Chinese women over a hundred years ago. In feudal China, upto about 1911, all women from the age of two or three had their feet bound to prevent them growing. I'm told that is was mainly done because small feet were considered beautiful, so much so that a woman with 'big' feet would 'jia bu chu qu' - not be able to get marrried off. How times have changed - know the key is to be tall, which is a lot less pain-inducing than foot-binding.

One workshop was that of a middle age woman doing traditional Chinese paintings. The workshop itself was nothing more than a room with walls covered with hanging paintings, calligraphy, a table for painting, a whirring ceiling fan to alleviate the heat, and behind a curtain, a small area for living quarters. The table looked onto a window, from which could be seen people playing mahjiang outside under the shade of the trees. A girl about my age came out and started talking to me. For consistency, I kept up the 'tourism' facade, but when my 'shushu' came out with the tea, he said who I really was - turned out the woman was his sister, and the girl her daughter, and we didn't have to lie to them. Conversation was in Mandarin to start with, but then drifted to their first language, local language, at which point I gazed around at the huge paintings of flowers and mountain scenery, and indecipherable characters written in black brush on red backgrounds. After some more tea (and an ice-cream with the daugther) and browsing more antiquities, it was back to the home to the smog and breath-defying heat of Xian.

It was great to actually see some of the 'culture' that people here love to talk about, but rarely experience in everyday lives. There is a lot of culture here, you've just got to dig a little to get it.