ABOVE: Beijing's natural beauty and stunning skyline will only enhance the grandeur of the Olympic Games. Have you ever seen a more impressive skyline? Beijing's skies offer a wide spectrum of grays.
As recently as yesterday, the air pollution index (API) in Beijing was 91. Anything over 50 is considered high, while 100 is the official "unsafe" level. Of course the always reflective and honest Chinese officials dismissed the media hysteria over the pollution, calling what we see in the photo above "mist," not pollution. Beijing officials have tried all sorts of measures to get rid of said "mist." They have banned half of the 3.3 million cars in the city on any given day (license plates ending in odd numbers banned one day, plates ending in even numbers the next). The Chinese military even tried firing substances into the atmosphere from what look like anti-aircraft guns in order to make it rain to clear out some of the pollution. A forest twice the size of Central Park was created next to the Olympic Stadium in order to battle pollution, and factories have been closed for hundreds of miles around the city.
The Chinese government has spent a staggering $43 billion to give Beijing and its population a facelift in order to impress the outside world. While the construction has been impressive indeed, I'm more interested in the efforts to improve the population. Beggars and various workers in the sex trades have been removed from the city for the Olympic Games. Dog meat has been removed from restaurant menus. Pirated Hollywood movies have been temporarily taken off the shelves from video stores throughout the city. The popular Chinese pastime of spitting on the street is now a fineable offense. The often unintentionally funny English signs throughout the city have been cleaned up as well. One of my favorite examples, reported by the L.A. Times, is the once "Racist Park" that has been renamed the "Ethnic Minorities Culture Park."
ABOVE: cute Chinese girls are chosen and trained how to greet foreign guests to the Olympic Games
But the etiquette training has been my favorite aspect of this whole effort. On a recent newscast, I saw great footage of etiquette classes in Beijing that are all the rage. Students in the class role play, with one student wearing obnoxious wigs and glasses to play Americans, Italians or various other foreigners, while the other students practice greeting and conversing with them. I liked the "typical American greeting," where the Chinese student was encouraged to give a firm handshake, slap on the back, and say "hey man, what's up?" But I wonder how friendly those folks would be whose homes were demolished without compensation to make way for Beijing's historic new construction effort before the Games? Don't know, since many of them have been relocated from the city.
7 comments:
I will happily admit that I am a huge fan of the Olympics, as well. Of course, being the predictable "homer" that I am, I always end up just rooting for the U.S. Pocky, who do you like this year? Do you choose one country to root for? Or, do you look at each sport individually and choose your country based on the team with the highest moral standards?
On a side note, does anyone have a favorite Olympic moment? Mine is easy. 1996...Kerri Strug clinches the gold medal for the U.S. gymnastics team on her second vault. All she really had to do was stick her landing, which she did. Adding to the level of difficulty, however, was the fact that she had sprained her ankle on her first vault. I was watching the coverage in a sports bar that night, and it was one of those moments from the movies where everyone just jumps to their feet cheering.
By the way, you're going to need to clear your calendar this year, Dez. Between TV and online streaming, NBC is planning 3,600 hours of coverage for this year's Olympic Games. The coverage of ALL OTHER Olympics COMBINED has been 2,500 hours!
Another moment I liked "off-the-field" was during the 2004 Opening Ceremony. George W. Bush went to hang out in the stands with the American athletes, and at one point he was seen talking with Sasha Cohen's (young female gymnast) friends on her cell phone.
By the way, that was supposed to mean that Sasha Cohen was a young, female gymnast. Not that her friends on the phone were all young, female gymnasts.
I have to be more specific with my parenthetical commentary.
Great post Dez. I laughed and laughed at "Ethnic Minorities Park." I think we used to have those here too. Also Ethnic Minority schools, bathrooms, and drinking fountains.
Have you heard about any Americans being trained for Chinese introductions and etiquette? For instance, it is considered very rude to stand defiantly in front of tank columns. They HATE that.
This is a great post. But the Olympics have been ruined by more things than I can list. I'll keep a half an eye on them, but anything more than that is too much for me.
Well Walter, one of my favorite moments was from the 2000 Sidney Olympics, when a guy from some African country was competing in the 100 meter swimming, and he had just learned to swim a couple of months before. He not only finished last, but struggled to even finish the race. I remember the crowd cheering as loudly for the dude to finish as if he were competing for the gold. That was one of those feel good moments.
No walter, you are allowed to root for the Americans since we have the highest moral authority in the world. You can also root for the Australians, Canadians and the Brits. Basically any english speaking white people. It is still perfectly correct to hate the Russians, Chinese and French. You are allowed to also root for countries you have never heard of and will quickly forget about until the next Olympics opening ceremonies, as long as they don't compete with the WASPS.
That being said, I have mixed emotions about this year's basketball team. If they win, great. If they get shown up by angola, I am going to laugh my arse off.
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