Beijing Beat: A Blog of the 2008 Olympic Games : Media and Message

Olympic Green: Is Tight Security Thwarting Sponsors?

Mary Hennock — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 13:14:14 GMT

Trapeze artists spun above the heads of the sparse crowd inside Volkswagen's pavilion on the Olympic Green, earning the approval of Yao Yuhong. "It's great," the retired scientist marveled as performers bounced, twisted and turned above Perspex half tubes displaying VW cars against a water fountain backdrop. "It's big and bold", her friend Liu Xinping agreed. The pair of elderly academics toured the Olympic Green on Sunday using an Olympic Green coupon. "How does one get one?" I asked, but Yao didn't know. She was given hers by her son.

It seems knowing someone who knows someone may be the best -- or even the only -- way to find one of these coupons. On Sunday, I asked Sun Weide, official spokesman for the Beijing Games organizers, or Bocog, the same question - how to get one - but even he wasn't too sure of the details. This is strange as Bocog has been telling journalists for a full week now that it's doing its best to increase visitor numbers to the Green.

The Olympic Green is big - about three times the size of New York's Central Park- so filling it is a hard task. But China is not short of people. Public spaces often veer towards uncomfortably crowded. That the Green remains stubbornly empty is embarrassing in the same way as empty stadium seats are (another topic of the week) but with a twist. It represents a missed opportunity for corporate sponsors like VW, McDonalds, Samsung and GE-- who've spent undisclosed fortunes on supporting the Games -- to woo the Chinese public, and they're not happy about it.

Sponsor have splashed out on lavish pavilions that were thinly populated as I strolled around late last week. GE's showcase had only about 20 other sightseers as I ambled through it Friday morning; VW's walk-through tube was only half full at showtime on Sunday. Coca-Cola drew a queue, as did Johnson and Johnson which was showing five genuine terracotta warriors from the Qin dynasty. (Not bad considering even the British Museum could only borrow 20 after long negotiations; then again, J&J makes chemicals to keep the 2,000 year-old sculptures mold-free.)

Access to the Olympic Green was originally limited to sports event ticket holders. But after pressure from unhappy sponsors IOC Marketing Commission chair Gerhard Heiberg met with Bocog last week to demand changes. IOC members also raised the issue in daily inspection reports written for the IOC-Bocog Coordination Committee."This is certainly something that could've been handled differently. I really hope the organizers flexen [sic] up a bit and they allow people to enjoy the Games much as possible", said IOC member Nicole Hoevertsz on Friday. Sponsors say they've seen improvements in footfall since the end of last week. It remains to be seen if this is just a weekend surge or something more lasting.

Much of what Bocog has done to improve access to the Green betrays the same hyper-anxiety about security that caused the problem in the first place. The Green is already well-protected by searches and scans at all access points. Bocog's loosening up moves underscores just how difficult it can be for authorities obsessed with control to lighten up and let the public in.

First, they relaxed restrictions on accredited Olympic pass holders so that all 300,000 of us could go to the Green. Trouble is, this doesn't improve access for the public, nor does it help the sponsors much since all these people are there to do a job - they're volunteers, contractors, journalists -- without much spare time to browse the exhibits.

Bocog says it also increased the number of coupons from 10,000 a day to 30,000 a day by Aug 13. "After the initial two or three days we increased [ticket numbers] because it's obvious the Olympic Green is very big and it can accomodate more visitors," Bocog official Zhang Jing said. Continued poor turnout midweek was blamed on rain, heat and humidity. Bocog officials now have high hopes that better weather and the start of popular track and field sports will boost overall attendance.

The Beijing City Ethics Office -- which is in charge of things like encouraging good manners and halting spitting in public -- is distributing the extra Olympic Green passes, Bocog says. It has given them to hotels and travel agents for use by tourists.

The biggest pool of potential visitors to the Green though remains ordinary Beijingers, and here the procedures are indeed complicated. The coupons have been distributed to Beijing's 18 district-level governments so "you have to talk with the local district or the local county," said Bocog spokesman Sun Weide. "My personal understanding is that it's for groups" as opposed to private individuals, he said. However, more information came from Ding Jun, director of the Public Area Management Committee of the Olympic Green, who said individuals and their families could ask for coupons through neighborhood committees, the lowest layer of local government. Getting tickets this way would take about three days, he said. It sounds as if access to the Green with these coupons is going to be mostly a perk for district officials.

Yao's coupon from her son covered a three-hour slot from 9am till noon. However, Bocog has loosened up on exit times. "There's no strict enforcement" of them, says Zhang. There's little information either. Many volunteers manning entry points to the Green knew nothing about the coupons when questioned on Saturday.

Chinese authorities have been highly security-conscious in organizing the Games; while security is important they've forgotten to factor in a way for locals to simply enjoy themselves by strolling around the Green. It's a pity. Not only are many of the exhibitions enjoyable -- hardly anyone could resist GE's interactive LED screens of dandelions that blow away when you wave an arm near them -- but the park's newly-planted pine trees and grass offer a relaxing respite from the heat-soaked urban landscape.

Sponsors are now putting a brave face on it. "In the beginning the traffic was a bit sparse", said GE's Peter Foss at a sponsors breakfast roundtable on Sunday. He claimed 6,000 people visited GE's exhibit on Saturday which was "as many as you'd want to have". Bocog says the numbers of people entering the Olympic Green rose to more than 230,000 a day on Friday and Saturday, which compares to about 160,000 earlier in the week. This doesn't necessarily translate into footfall through the sponsors' pavilions, however, since it measures total attendance at every venue (and the capacity crowd that watched the men's 100 meter sprint final on Saturday night didn't necessarily wander through the exhibits). "The People's Olympics" is one of the slogans used to promote the 2008 Games, but it seems organizers got a tardy start in trying to make that slogan a reality.

Field of Lost Dreams

Mark Starr — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 09:16:15 GMT

If the United States softball team was as smart as it is talented, it might have lost to China this afternoon in what was the final game—and a meaningless one—in the preliminary competition. The U.S. team's record was 6-0 and it had clinched the top seed in the medal round, while China was already destined for elimination.

That also happens to be the fate of the sport in the Olympics, tossed out of the games starting with London 2012*. The International Softball Federation (ISF) has launched a campaign—"Back Softball"—to seek reinstatement for 2020 at an International Olympic Committee vote in October, 2009. Several factors appear to have led to softball getting shut out of the the Games, but the one most frequently cited is the American ladies' total domination of the sport. They have won all three previous Olympic golds and are now riding a 21-game unbeaten streak in Olympic competition.

But our softball ladies are athletes, not diplomats. So they put up nine runs in the first inning and the game was stopped after five because of what we always knew as the "mercy" rule. And they bristle at the notion that, unlike Michael Phelps or the Chinese table tennis players or, once upon a time, the "Dream Team," they should be punished for their excellence. "The frustrating thing is we feel we're putting on a great show and all anybody wants to talk about is what happens when we're done," said Cat Osterman, the starting pitcher against China.

Just eight years ago in Sydney, the American softball team lost three games and barely squeaked by Japan for the gold medal. But unlike basketball, where the gulf between the United States and the world has clearly been narrowing since that Dream Team romp at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, softball has seen the American team become increasingly more dominant. The sport simply doesn't have the money of basketball, with those NBA riches, to spread its gospel and game around the world. Monica Abbott, whose perfect game against the Netherlands was the U.S.'s first-ever at the Olympics, says the other countries can't be expected to catch up overnight with what is, after all, "the American pastime", or at least the distaff version. Still, she can't understand why their excellence is held against them. "[Excellence] is what Olympics are all about," she said.

But the excellence doesn't assure a competition that is compelling or even good entertainment (and some suggest it borders on the unseemly). Theirs has been a scorched-earth performance. In seven contests to date, the team has allowed only one unearned run and, incredibly, just five hits—U.S. pitchers have thrown one perfect game and two no-hitters—while breaking the Olympic mark for home runs by a team. China managed one hit, a leadoff single today, but that actually raised the batting average of the opposition against the trio of American aces to .042. And not to be unkind to our very gracious hosts, but China—one Gold Glove caliber diving catch by the center fielder not withstanding—gave a performance in the field that could have passed for a tribute to the foibles of the '62 Mets.

American dominance isn't the only problem softball faces in convincing the IOC to reverse its decision. Though there are 131 national federations—Kosovo is the latest—for softball, the IOC appears concerned that the game hasn't reached more places and attained higher levels in those places it has already reached. And then there is the the problem of baseball, which is also having its Olympic swan song in Beijing. The IOC was exceedingly anxious to dispatch baseball—MLB refuses to send its best players, has balked at Olympic drug-testing standards and had the effrontery to establish its own World Baseball Classic—and also tossed out what many of its voters view as women's baseball. The baby with the bath water, so to speak.

At the IOC meeting next fall in Copenhagen (where the 2016 Games will be awarded to Chicago, Madrid, Tokyo or Rio de Janiero), the assemblage will consider the applications of both softball and baseball, along with five new Olympic contenders--rugby, karate, golf, squash and roller sports. At most, two will be added and while softball will spend a few million dollars on its reinstatement campaign before then, some of the other sports have a lot more financial backing. (Tiger at the Olympics anyone?)

Softball's future as an Olympic sport is very much tied to its future as a sport. The ISF reaped almost $7 million from the Athens Games four years ago, which is critical to its international mission. Moreover, it's far easier to attract sponsors when you can make your pitch on stationery bearing the five rings. "You have credibility when you're an Olympic sports," says ISF president Don Porter.

The players say they are entirely focused on Beijing, no matter how much everybody else tries to get them to focus on the future. "We're playing for the gold now," says Osterman. But the three pitching aces, the third of whom is the famously photogenic Jennie Finch, are well aware that Olympic glory may soon be a remnant of the past rather than a goal for the future. "I get five or six e-mails a day asking," Why is my daughter's Olympic dream vanishing," says Porter, at 78 a veteran of the sport's battle to get in the Games in the first place. "We're fighting for all the young girls around the world who want that Olympic dream."

*NOTE: As several commenters have pointed out, the London games are in 2012, not, as this post originally said, 2016.

Too-Heavy Medal: China's Hopes for Liu Xiang are Crushed

Melinda Liu — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 07:20:38 GMT

As soon as hurdler Liu Xiang, obviously in pain, yanked off his competition tag and walked out of the Bird’s Nest—dashing the hopes of a nation of 1.3 billion—Chinese friends began text-messaging me. “China’s just like Liu Xiang: Can’t run anymore”, commented one. When I asked why he thought that, my friend SMS’ed back, “Badly hurt from the past and too much pressure on him…not enjoying the pure fun of sports anymore. But it’s good 2 stop 4 awhile to take it slow and do it rite.”

In the end, his injuries—and perhaps the intense burden of China's gold-medal aspirations—got the better of Liu. He grimaced with discomfort even as he settled into the starting block of his 110m hurdles heat Monday. He stopped after a false start, stumbled forward for a few steps, clutched his leg, and then walked out of the stadium to a stunned silence from the expectant audience. China’s Great Hope had pulled out of the competition that had represented China’s best hope of an athletics gold medal. Not just his many fans but also Chinese security guards, journalists, and even his coach Sun Haiping broke down and wept with disappointment at Liu’s withdrawal.

Liu's stunning pull-out saddened many Chinese. The hopes of the entire nation had been riding on Liu, who came out of relative obscurity to win the gold medal at Athens in the 110 meter hurdles—probably the most unexpected of the 32 golds that China snagged at the 2004 Games. Never before had a Chinese man struck gold in a track and field event, and he quickly became the nation’s most famous athlete, more deified even than hoops celebrity Yao Ming.

It’s hard to overestimate how badly his compatriots wanted to see Liu repeat his golden performance on home turf. In a survey of more than 1000 Chinese respondents at the end of 2007, the majority said witnessing Liu win gold in the Bird’s Nest this August was their number one Olympic dream. Chinese columnist Ramond Zhou, who contributes to the official English-language China Daily, explained it to me this way shortly before the Games kicked off: “I only care about Liu Xiang. His winning the gold would be like Obama winning the U.S. presidency. It’s about shattering the stereotype that Asians can’t win track and field sports. People say that because Chinese don't eat so much beef that they don't have stamina—so therefore must rely on skill." Liu was supposed to put that stereotype to rest.

But at least for now that dream has died, leaving a lot of soul-searching in its place. People are beginning to question whether it was unhealthy to burden Liu, 25, with such heavy medal hopes -- and whether it was a sign of misguided old-school priorities to make him the symbol of an entire nation's new-found international clout and success. Even before his dramatic withdrawal today, Liu has had a troubled year. On May 31 he withdrew from the Reebok Grand Prix due to a tight hamstring. A few days later—on June 8, in fact, though the numeral “8” wasn’t so lucky for Liu in that instance—he was disqualified from the Prefontaine Classic Grand Prix due to a false start.

Then at the IAAF Grand Prix in Europe, 21-year-old Cuban hurdler Dayron Robles shaved one-hundredth of a second off the 12.88 second world record set by Liu in July 2006. Many analysts—including my colleague Quindlen Krovatin in this July 1 post in our "Countdown to Beijing" blog—began speculating whether Liu could overcome such setbacks—not to mention the intense psychological pressures which made the possibility of losing face in front of a home crowd so much more unbearable than the fear of losing a contest overseas.

Liu had not competed since May 23 due to a hamstring injury. But that injury had healed. Instead it was Saturday's recurrence of an inflamed Achilles' tendon—a condition that has plagued Liu for half a dozen years—that brought him "almost intolerable" pain, according to track association head Feng Shuyong. Domestic media also reported that Liu's mother worried he was getting muscle cramps from training too intensively—and that she was phoning him every day out of concern

Though most of his fans were devastated, some Chinese seemed to think perhaps Liu had become too famous and too spoiled too fast. Local media reported that lighting in the Bird's Nest National Stadium was readjusted to shine less brightly after Liu’s coach complained that the lights were too intense for his famous star. We'll bring you more on Chinese reaction; not everyone had been obsessed with Liu's winning gold. “In any case, Liu wouldn’t have won had he competed,” Beijing graphic artist Lu Bin told my colleague Jonathan Ansfield today. Lu took Liu’s pull-out in stride: “Of [all] the big sports stars, Liu Xiang’s the one who annoys me most. I bet now he’ll slowly switch over to the entertainment world.” After all, Liu's face has been plastered over gigantic billboards advertising Visa and other big name brands, and Liu was widely regarded to be the poster-boy of the 2008 Olympics. One way or another, it looks like Liu will be remembered for a long time to come.

Chinese Media: Behind the Headlines

Jonathan Ansfield — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 05:27:40 GMT

Two Sundays before the start of the Olympics, I was invited to a rap session with editors of one of China’s more provocative newspapers, the Global Times. It was what they call in Chinese a “free-talk” session, and in turn was off-the-record. Having been misquoted badly in the paper before, I made sure it was before attending. Subsequently, I requested and received permission from my hosts to mention the discussion here, provided that I not name names, delve into much detail, or come down, as one said, “too critically”. But I can tell you that the point was to take fresh stock of the Beijing Games, and the paper’s slant on it. They were clearly out to defuse the worst of the tension that had built up beforehand.

Defusing tension -- not a habit normally associated with the Global Times. It’s an international news and opinion arm of the Communist Party’s principal newspaper, the People’s Daily. But unlike the demure old Party paper of record, the Global Times is a sassy newsstand tabloid. As such it has emerged a staunch guardian of China’s global interests and image, there to knock down unfavorable portrayals by us mischievous overseas press.

Global Times coverage tends to be uneven - sometimes oblique, sometimes didactic, sometimes schizo. But it's distinguished by bombastic headlines, slippery splice-jobs of translated articles, and often standoffish op-ed, which have earned the paper notoriety as a reactionary font of jingoism amongst China watchers - not to mention many Chinese peers and intellectuals. By Western journalistic standards, its critics tend to judge the publication as a natural outgrowth of the system it defends. But the way the paper sees things, it’s certain foreign media who are the hacks – the ones who are “demonizing China”. The typical cover story presents world opinion either gushing over China or conspiring against it.

The paper’s divisive craft has only compounded its success (and vice-versa). It’s gone from a twice-weekly to a daily the past few years, and circulation has swelled to about two million, by the paper’s own count. That figure may be a stretch, but it would place it third among the nation’s dailies. Its impact on Chinese nationalism cannot be ignored. I find it helpful to view the Global Times as a daily soap opera, bringing to life the psyche of the Chinese foreign policymaking community, playing out a rising China’s ongoing identity crisis vis a vis a Westernized global order.

This year has been an especially divisive one. The Tibetan upheaval turned the Olympic torch rally into a whistle-stop publicity war over China’s human rights record. The Global Times duly stepped to the fore in Beijing’s defense. When protesters assailed the torch in Paris, its reporting from the scene was the Web link that inflamed anti-French furor. Then for months it pilloried Reporters sans frontieres founder Robert Menard, a long-time nemesis (recommend you read David Bandurski’s analysis).

In late July, as Beijing girded for August, the Global Times took American newspaper accounts of its heavy-handed security measures as a direct affront. “Do Not Taunt the Chinese People,” fumed a front-page headline. A day or two later, when Beijing organizers revealed authorities' plan to designate three parks as protest zones during the Games, the front page of the Global Times played up favorable foreign press about the move (So far, not one protest has been approved) From there the cover piece veered sharply into a recent Pew public opinion poll, which showed 86 percent of Chinese surveyed were content with the direction of the country’s development.

The free talk session came a couple days after that. What, the editors embarked, was so wrong with the Beijing Olympics? How had the coming-out bash devolved into such controversy? I’m a sucker for these sorts of behind-the-scenes affairs. At the rap session, as I’d experienced before, the editors were affable and diplomatic. In private they come off as significantly more flexible than their paper. Besides five or six of them, there was one young Japanese research fellow, one author, one U.S. affairs expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and one foreign reporter (me). We spent the afternoon around a long carved wooden table at a glassed-in teahouse. We chomped on sunflower seeds and talked over one another’s voices. Talking points included traffic, visas restrictions, security, and medal supremacy. Why did Beijing have to be so uptight? Political pressure had filtered down throughout the system, said a ranking editor. It could not be helped.

What about the Global Times? That was another area of particular sensitivity. “People say we’re a just a patriotic tool,” explained the ranking man. “But we aren’t. We have a duty to reflect the ordinary Chinese people’s views. That’s what we’re doing.”

More questions came up. Why were the foreign media “politicizing” the Games? In response it was pointed out that they were politicizing our “politicizing”, along with just about everything else. What could be done to improve the coverage? Lots of advice there: more original reporting, less cherry-picking; more full translations, fewer slanted excerpts; fewer one-sided polemics, more balanced array of commentary. The editors were open to most of those suggestions. But original reporting of foreign affairs (at the whim of the Party propaganda department and Foreign Ministry) would be hard, they suggested. What storylines would we be following? For one, the U.S.-China medal race. They liked that idea.

How did our feedback affect their Olympic coverage, if at all? No idea yet. It’s hard to tell. But our Chinese colleagues in the Newsweek bureau have been helping us keep up with Global Times. Here we've translated a smattering of excerpts printed in its pages over the past two weeks. We’ve tried to choose representative selections:

Aug 4

“In the Culture of Protocol, Don’t Always Adapt to the West”, by media professional Xun Xunlei:

Since ancient times China has been renowned as a country of protocol, but once the moment the Olympics comes along, people say we should adapt to Western protocol…Need Olympic protocol look to take after the West? In the past, Chinese have been educated, trained, and directed that when meeting foreigners, they shouldn’t ask casually about such private matters as marital status, job or faith. However, there is a big difference between Chinese sightseeing abroad and entertaining guests in the capital. One issue we’ve neglected is that the Olympics at their root are a chance to display Chinese culture and civilization. Those little clashes in the details of protocol won't change people’s views of China. On the contrary, if we cater singularly to foreigners, they will not see the characteristics of Chinese culture.

Aug 6

“Respect Ordinary People’s Passion for Gold Medals”, by Ding Gang (People’s Daily senior editor):

Ordinary people might not be able to spell out what the Olympic spirit is, but they do know who has a chance at gold; ordinary people might not care much about the grand significance of the Olympic Games, but they do care to the utmost about who wins a gold medal. In a certain sense, the “commoner’s Olympics” is precisely the “gold medal Olympics”. Think about it. If there were no furious scramble for gold medals, would there be thousands upon thousands of ordinary people scrambling to buy tickets, or glued to their television sets? Gold medals are not the sum total of the Olympics, but the contest for gold can bring ordinary people the greatest joy and stimulation.

“Focusing Solely on Gold Medals Tantamount to Blasphemy”, by Zhang Jingwei (Jiangsu-based scholar):

In 2004, a Canadian Web page designer set up an “Olympic failures” Web site and pledged to render eternal in cyberspace those heroes who had failed, especially those athletes from small countries. For us, these “failures” happen to be our most dependable friends. On the one hand, we too were once the “failures” who carried the humiliated marking of “sick man of Asia”. On the other hand, the majority of those failures happen to be the ones who gave us the most steadfast support when the Beijing Olympics met with politicized rejection by the West. Keeping in mind the need not to forget who we are and to repay the kindness of others, we should make those same friends feel at ease, not left out in the cold.

“Take First in Gold and We Can Stand Up Straight”, by Yang Yanfu

Is it developed countries alone who can represent the spirit of the Olympic Games, who can manifest it? They don’t want to be first in gold medals? You take first in gold medals, and they say “you’ve risen up and want to be a hegemon”; you miss out on one gold medal, and they ridicule you as the “sick man of Asia”. Why, when we’re going for first in gold medals, do we still have to worry that they won’t be happy, that they’ll all sorts of things about us? There are some developed countries who’ll complain about you being such a large country. You practice “family planning”, for instance, and they say your human rights situation is the worst. Then world grain prices soar, and they say it’s because you are eating too much meat and too much rice. Therefore, we must drive when we should drive the car, do [tubal] ligations when we should do ligations, eat meat when we should eat meat, and take first in gold medals when we should take first in gold medals. The only thing to fear is that for the moment we can’t do it. But if indeed we do, then it would be the good fortune of our people, an auspicious sign of prosperity, an exultant moment in our history.

Aug 7

“A Harmonious Olympic Games Needn’t Fear Isolated incidents” (cover piece)

On August 6, more than 10,000 reporters from all over the world focus on the torch relay in Beijing. From the red walls of the Forbidden City to the Olympic hairstyle of kids in the streets of Beijing, from the onlookers along the route waving flags to the many people not lucky enough to enter the sites but who stood in front of a big screen shouting “Jia You” for the homeland. These scenes were seen and heard by the entire world. “I can’t understand why anyone would want people brought trouble to such a country,” a foreign reporter who asked not to be identified told the Global Times. Indeed, on the morning of Aug 6, four foreigners climbed a telephone pole near the Bird’s Nest and hung a “Tibet Independence” slogan. Shortly thereafter they were “taken away” by police who rushed to the scene. On Aug. 6, the United States Olympic Committee criticized four cyclists who were wore hygienic mask on arriving in Beijing. The four athletes apologized to [Beijing organizers] BOCOG and the Chinese people. In every corner of Beijing, understanding between Chinese and foreigners is growing. Over the past couple days in Houhai, Wangfujing and other areas with a lot of tourists, the eyes of foreigners and Chinese are meeting in great numbers, and they’re smiling at one another. Our reporter even witnessed a Chinese and foreign men baring their bellies and shoulders for a group photo. The Olympics have brought Beijing residents some restrictions and inconvenience, but more so it has brought excitement and expectation…

Aug 12

“In U.S.-China Basketball, Strategic Positioning Makes For a Vast Disparity”

The Aug 10 U.S-China basketball showdown was a matchup of two teams with a wide disparity in ability. The aim of America’s “Dream [Team] Eight” is to be champion, while the aim of the Chinese basketball team is also “dream eight” – that is, to advance to the final eight [at the Games]. It’s just the same in the world today, where the U.S. is the global hegemon while China is only a regional power. China cannot possibly pose a threat to Dream Team Eight’s dream of being champion. Nor is the United States China’s true adversary.

This state of affairs is comparable to the current China-U.S. strategic situation internationally. The core of U.S. foreign policy strategy is the maintenance of its position as global leader, while the highest aim of Chinese foreign diplomacy is to create a positive international environment for peaceful development. Under the present system of economic globalization, China does not wish to challenge U.S. hegemony, and the prime strategic threat facing the United States does not come from China. Strategic asymmetry means that the two sides’ strategic interests will not come to a clash of life and death. So those people who had forecasted that this game would see a “rising country” challenge the “hegemonic country” were doomed to be disappointed.

…This China-US showdown in basketball was full of elements of globalization. All the players on the U.S. squad are from NBA, while in our lineup, Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian are from NBA and Sun Yue just signed on…They were rivals in the Olympic matchup, but on other courts they are teammates or friends with respect for one another. Thus we saw their friendly gestures and smiles after the showdown. Similar scenes will come in another “China-U.S. showdown”, because the head coach of the U.S. volleyball squad is China’s Lang Ping.

Aug 13

“World Integration Inevitably Breaks Sporting Monopolies”

When Chinese athletes break the monopoly of Western sporting powers in certain events, many people view it as a wonderful symbol of it casting off 100 years of humiliation. But at the same time we should note that it’s not only Western countries whose monopoly in certain events is being broken. In several of China’s stronger events, for example ping-pong, diving, and badminton, it is facing a challenge from other countries… When we face a challenge in an event in which we’ve traditionally held the advantage, shouldn’t we approach it with balanced mindset? In sport it is necessary to have a generous spirit, a global perspective, and a balanced mindset. In a global village, patriotism is important, but love for the world and human race is equally important.

Aug 15
"The Real China Better Seen Once Than Heard 100 Times”, by Liu Guochang (People’s Daily Senior Journalist)

At the Beijing Olympics there has emerged a phenomenon to relish: many foreigners' impressions of China have been overturned.

Just before setting out for Beijing, a German mother and daughter were told that Beijing may not be safe. But once they got to Beijing they found that was not the case…

…The reason these overturned impressions exist lies with distorted reports in the Western media. These media do not depart from the point of objective reality, but rather write recklessly through colored lenses. They’ve produced no shortage of trash and misled vast audiences. Nevertheless, rumor in the end is but rumor. More than 400,000 overseas visitors have come to China this time for the Olympics. While taking in the sporting competition, they have done sightseeing and shopping, and come in touch with the common citizens. They have perceived China’s real situation, and got a realistic impression.

“The Olympics Should Set Free a Spirit of Tolerance”, by Zhou Qing’an (Tsinghua University media scholar)

Historically we see that prior to any Olympics, most any host country has had to face a massive risk of negative coverage, to take the last five as examples…

…A country’s people must have the ability to cope with negative appraisal. China is a rising power. Even though China’s reform and opening is marking 30 years of history, China is still a newcomer to the post-war system of relative stability. In the process of integration with the world, it is hard to avoid clashes of values, lifestyle, and understanding of the rules of the game, as well as of national interests and political systems. These clashes have made an outside impact on that portion of Western nation with whom the central power to speak has long resided, and that in turn has produced an overreaction. This overreaction is often manifested in the form of negative coverage. To cope with negative coverage is to cope with our adjustment to the process of internationalization. In fact, one needn’t overly care about this overreaction from the West. Psychological growth is part of the maturation process of any people.

Aug 18
Olympics Produce a Different Style of Patriotic Expression”

…Some Chinese coaches have been abroad, and there are also foreign coaches who are working in China. They led Chinese team to victory over their own countries. “Peaceful war” aptly represents a sport game. No matter who wins, the nation’s glory will not be harmed. The Chinese Go player Nie Weiping criticized Lang Ping for leading US team to victory over China. His thinking lies 30 years in the past.

…We are able see patriotism from athletes, but in a different mode. Tong Wen, who got the gold medal after defeating Japanese athlete in judo, said she was fighting for national glory. Cao Lei, who won gold medal in weightlifting, said that her medal would be a present to her homeland and her mother (who died recently). Cao’s love for her country and for her mother run parallel. For Lang Ping, her love to China and volleyball are not contradictory at all.

We have moved to an era of multiple modes of patriotism.

Olympic "Oops": What You Weren't Supposed to Notice About the Games

Melinda Liu — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 17:30:09 GMT

Any public endeavor on the scale of the Olympics has its bloopers. Entries into the Beijing Games' hit list of "oops" began mounting up even before the last sparkler from Friday's opening ceremonies died out. For one thing, some of the extravaganza's pyrotechnic wizardry turned out to be computer-generated special effects. Nearly all but the last of those gigantic fireworks “footprints” in the sky, which were shown on TV—awing four billion viewers worldwide as they "walked" from Tiananmen Square to the Bird's Nest—were in fact filmed last year and spliced digitally into the televised version.

And that really cute little girl singing the iconic song "Ode to the Motherland", the pixieish 9-year-old Lin Miaoke, was actually lip-synching to the voice of that not-quite-so-cute 7-year-old Yang Peiyi. Apparently a Politburo member decided Lin's voice wouldn't cut it while Yang's orthodontically challenged appearance was not ready for prime time. (I kept telling people this would be a made-for-TV "virtual Olympics".)

If you're a geek you'll recognize the fatal Blue Screen of Death, symbol of bugs and glitches in the Microsoft operating system

As if that's not tacky enough, now we hear about the cameo appearance made that evening by the all-too-familiar Blue Screen of Death. The BSOD message usually opens with the sentence: "A problem has been detected and Windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer." Geeks consider it an icon of the many bugs and glitches in the Windows operating system.

Oh yes, the Chinese computer wizards who helped bring us the greatest show on earth Friday, and indeed the Olympics themselves, also confessed that all the computers used by Beijing Games organizers were programmed cautiously with Windows XP instead of Microsoft's newer Vista—because the latter has a penchant for becoming "not stable.” Bill Gates, who was in the audience at the opening ceremony, was apparently unaware that his presence was being eclipsed by these other stars of the Microsoft universe. Credit for zooming in on the Blue Screen of Death goes to the Website Gizmodo, where someone left a comment saying, “that's awesome, only a nerd would notice this.”

I should also mention that what looks like a rather smartly dressed human fly jogging 70 meters in mid-air, studiously ignoring the nearby Blue Screen of Death, is gymnast-turned-sportswear-mogul Li Ning, who is now space-walking all the way to the bank. As Fergus Naughton blogged about earlier, Li saw stock prices in his Hong Kong-listed Li Ning Co. Ltd..surge after he lit the Olympic torch at the highlight of Friday’s blowout. Li won six medals at the ’84 LA Games; he went on to head a sports apparel and accessories empire which, with 10.5 percent share of China's sportswear market, is now racing to catch up with Olympic sponsor Adidas's 15.6 percent and Nike's 16.7 percent share. Friday's one giant (CGI) leap for mankind made stocks controlled by Li USD 30 million more valuable by Monday—not bad for a single act of passive ambush marketing.

Apropos of Li Ning's $30-million-dollar space walk, his firm is providing athletic wear for the Olympic teams of China, Spain and Sweden. Which brings us to another of the Games’ bloopers. Everyone’s tut-tutting over the fact that the Spanish Olympic basketball team posed for a promotional ad that shows them—yup, all 15 of them—using their fingers to pull their eyes into slant-eyed squints. The image has been running in Spanish papers since Friday, part of a publicity campaign for team sponsor Seur, a courier firm in Spain. A Seur representative in Madrid said the firm meant no offense but had no immediate plans to pull the ad, which was slated to run until the end of the Games.

On his blog, point guard Jose Manuel Calderon—who also plays for NBA’s Toronto Raptors—said the team was responding to a request from the photographer and made what they thought “would be interpreted as an affectionate gesture." He added, "Some of my best friends in Toronto are originally Chinese, including one of our sponsors, the brand Li Ning." Frank Zhang, Li Ning's director of government and public affairs, played down the incident. "We don't think this is an insulting gesture to the Chinese…the gesture shows that the Spanish team is so humorous, relaxing and cute. They sat around a dragon pattern, which we think showed respect to the Chinese.”

Not everyone agrees. The Spanish team was consistently booed during its Tuesday game against China; world champion Spain won 85-75. The Chinese jeering was perhaps the most conspicuous public display of negative partisanship during the Games so far. Local residents have been instructed to be good sports by Chinese authorities, who have carefully vetted “approved” cheers that the audience may use. Booing isn't one of them.

Bombs in China's Restive Muslim West, Again

Mary Hennock — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 02:17:13 GMT

Two people have been killed in a series of explosions on Sunday morning in Kuqa County of China's western province of Xinjiang, the official Xinhua news agency reported, citing the local military. Gunfire was also heard. Beijing is clearly facing more trouble in the restive Muslim region.

Xinhua added that casualties may still rise. A woman worker at Kuqa People's Hospital said several people were in critical condition and described hearing several explosions from different places around the city, the Associated Press reported. Police have cordoned off the area according to locals, and the military are on high alert.

Xinjiang is about 3,000 kilometers from Beijing, but the message is still a worrying one for China's leaders. This is the second set of explosions in less than a week in the province, where discontent against Han Chinese migrants is widespread among Xinjiang's 8 million ethnic Uighurs. Last Monday 16 border police died when attackers drove a truck at them and threw grenades during a morning exercise session.

No one has yet claimed responsibility for Sunday's attack, though a group calling itself the Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP) released a video on Thursday threatening to carry out attacks during the Olympics. TIP earlier claimed to have carried out bus bombings in Kunming in July and Shanghai in May that killed a total of five people. Chinese authorities maintain they have prevented several plots to attack the Games as well as an attempt to blow up an airliner in March, but as usual details are sketchy and impossible to verify.

Little is known about TIP. Or for that matter about the East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM), which the US has recognised as a terrorist group. Security experts say that militants from Xinjiang have received training from Al-Qaida in northern Pakistan.

Chinese officials have used massive efforts to protect the Olympic Games from a terrorist attack. They must be a little more nervous this morning. However, there is another possibility that should perhaps be on the agenda of presidents George Bush and Hu Jintao when they hold talks today, but probably won't be. China's real worst-case scenario would be a low-level but persistent civil war in Xinjiang - something it has so far avoided.

China has successfully ridden on the coat tails of the Bush administration's "war on terror" to deflect criticism of its human rights record in Xinjiang. Meanwhile, the Bush administration's policy in Afghanistan is unraveling, with a rising death toll among US and allied troops, a situation that could make it easier for Xinjiang militants to receive training.

Opening Show Honors the Past, Fails to Summon the Future

Mary Hennock — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 12:49:11 GMT

The Chinese people have waited years for the Olympics. So did the lavish Beijing 2008 Opening Ceremony deliver? Five cultural commentators gave me their views: most gave a thumbs up to director Zhang Yimou’s portrayal of China’s ancient culture. However, they were less keen on the scenes of China’s modernized present and promising future which they found tacky or sentimental.

Basically, the opening ceremony was in three parts: a gorgeous series of tableaux covering China’s history and culture; an endless parade of athletes; and the stodgy ceremonials surrounding the Olympic flag and flame.

Part One was a magnificent light show that used hundreds of twirling dancers, switching from red and gold scenes to quieter blue and white ones, from wild drumming to delicate taichi. It acted as condensed guide to China’s history, Confucian culture and famous inventions – paper, printing, fireworks, and the first compasses for navigation. Luckily, I got walked through all of this by an expert, Prof Chen Xia from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

“It’s very beautiful, oh yes, very beautiful,” she murmured. Early scenes showed performers painting on paper by twisting their bodies like dancers. A scroll of lights unrolled itself across in the middle of the stadium, scripting the story like an old Chinese book as the picture on it changed from desert Silk Road to maritime exploits exporting tea and porcelain.

This bit was easy enough for a foreigner to grasp, but the invention of wood block printing, coupled with readings from the philosopher Confucius were tougher going. Prof Chen was so inspired, particularly by the fireworks, that at one point she set out from her home towards the Bird’s Nest for a closer view. Disappointment followed, as the taxi driver told her the roads were blocked off.

I was grateful though that she explained some of the more opaque sequences, such as the link between the scenes of musicians and Confucian beliefs that joyful self-restraint is internalized by playing music. Perfect for encouraging the harmonious society China’s leaders want to see.

Prof Chen’s verdict was mixed though. The history was beautifully done she thought, but “a little hard for foreigners to understand, and even some Beijing people”. More modern-day sequences showing the Bird's Nest, trains, tower blocks and school kids were cloying, with “too many things from the children”, she said.

Victor Yuan, founder of opinion polling company Horizon gave the show 65%, praised the fireworks and loved the writhing dancers who painted with their feet. Overall, though he was “really disappointed” that the show’s magic was limited to the past with “not so much imagination about the future” and critical of Zhang for failing to consult more radical artists. Journalist Yu Ping, who writes about culture and fashion, also dismissed tableaux of modern China showing children and space ships as “too simple”.

So far, three of my commentators had approved the show’s portrayal of China’s ancient culture, but I expected TV anchor Rui Chenggang to be a hard guy to please. He shot to fame after objecting to the presence of Starbucks in the Forbidden City as trampling on Chinese tradition. Did Zhang Yimou’s popularization win his approval? Overall, yes. “It’s appropriate, it’s imaginative”, he said.

While my commentators were mostly watching on TV, philanthropist Hiu Ng was in the Bird’s Nest, and bombarding me with excited text messages. “The atmosphere is unbelievably vibrant”, she yelled when I called her. Ng, co-founder of civic action groups 51SIM.org and 51give, saw the lavish portrayal of the past as packaging a message about the present. China “went through a phase when we were unhappy with our culture” and is now “at peace” with history. As a result, it’s poised to promote its traditional approach of harmony to the wider world, she says. As for the performance, “this is a show that everyone from all over the world can love”.

Ping was waiting to see the Chinese team stride out to test that theory. Chinese Netizens had failed to love their team’s yellow and red outfits, savaging them as a “tomato [and] scrambled egg” look. She’d interviewed the design company Hengyuan Xiang who’d protested that the clothes' vivid colors were meant to enhance the group in a big arena not flatter individuals. To her relief, she found that “if they are walking together they look very wonderful”. Here at least, harmony ruled. But based on my unscientific straw poll few Chinese will have found an enduring image of the future in tonight's events.

Who'll Light the Flame? Some Secrets Aren't So Sensitive

Jonathan Ansfield — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 08:31:29 GMT

The ID of the final torchbearer is supposed to be a well-guarded secret. So it might look odd that in China of all places the official news wire seems to be tipping its hand just hours ahead of time:

"Chinese legendary gymnast to light Olympic flame?

    "BEIJING, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- The hot tip on who will light the Olympic flame at the Olympic Games opening ceremony tonight is gymnastics legend Li Ning.

    "As sports stars Liu Xiang and Yao Ming appeared out of the possible candidate list, Li has been considered a prime choice to light the cauldron at the National Stadium, or the Bird's Nest.

    "Lighting the cauldron with the flame from Olympia is an immense honour and the most symbolic act of the ceremony.

    "The final torch bearer should be able to represent the image of China, communicate with the world, display the Olympic spirit, and be fully recognized by the public, Feng Jianzhong, deputy head of the General Administration of Sport, has said.

    "Li, 45, won three gold medals, two silver and one bronze in gymnastics at the 1984 Olympics. Known as China's gymnastics prince, he has been garlanded with success. And nowadays, he is a successful businessman with his own sports goods company."

Xinhua came out with the above item over its English wire at a little after three o’clock p.m. Beijing time today. There did not appear to be a corresponding report in Chinese.>

We shall see whether Xinhua spoke too soon or not. But clearly this matter is being treated as a sports secret, rather than a political one. Xinhua, among many others, has been speculating a lot in recent days. Already, the roster of torchbearers posted on web site of the State General Administration of Sport had hinted that Li would be among the last at the Bird's Nest tonight.

Li served his country proudly, then went on to build a lucrative brand out of it. Who better to represent the 'New Beijing'?

Bushes in Beijing to Focus on Ceremonials

Mary Hennock — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 05:53:28 GMT

President Bush has flown into Beijing to attend the Olympics opening ceremony Friday night. However, his first duty call was to open the new US embassy at 8.08 AM on Aug 8, mirroring the Games ceremonial start time of 8.08 PM on the same day. The gesture was "a nice tip of the hat" to China, says one US businessman invited to the dedication ceremony.

How far to tip the hat to China has been a tricky issue for the outgoing US president in recent days. He has garnered headlines by sprinkling his farewell mini-tour of East Asia with critical remarks about China’s human rights record. Yet he has made clear for months he won’t be repeating those comments publicly once he arrives on Chinese soil. Face-to-face chats with China’s leaders are more productive, he says. The new embassy’s muted colour scheme aims for a similar concept: "It’s...sophisticated and serious in keeping with the level of diplomacy”, State Department architect Jay Holleran who oversaw the project with designers Skidmore, Owings and Merrill told journalists during an open house tour on Tuesday.

As the embassy opening got underway, Reporters Without Borders tipped its hat in the other direction with an illegal radio broadcast in support of free speech. The 20-minute show went out in Beijing at 8.08 AM on the 104.4 FM frequency and contained interviews with an exiled journalist and other dissidents to highlight the “dozens and dozens of journalists and internet users in prison” in China, said RWB general secretary Robert Ménard who anchored it. The show used mini transmitters and antennae and is posted on RWB’s website. (The White House press corps accompanying the president had their own run-in with China's control-meisters; authorities kept them waiting for hours on the tarmac, until around dawn, to sort through red tape and "procedures" for disembarking).

The political juggling at the heart of diplomacy is embodied in the design elsewhere in the embassy compound. The central tower appears to be a glass-fronted office block. Not lack of imagination, but a deliberate "architectural statement about clarity", Bill Prior of the State Department's overseas buildings bureau told me Tuesday. But take a second look, because the real wall of the main building sits a few feet behind the glass curtain. It’s actually a concrete fortress pierced by small, oblong windows, like a gun turret. Transparency can be a tricky thing for diplomats and their governments.

And so it is with the White House dance over human rights in the last few days. Bush hosted five exiled dissidents (but no Tibetans) at the White House last week, and in Bangkok spoke of America’s “firm opposition” to China's suppression of human rights and religious freedom. This drew an equally ritualistic response from China’s Foreign Ministry; it condemned “any words or acts that interfere in other countries' internal affairs”. Hard to tell where the windows and walls are here too.

Both President Bush and his father will attend this evening’s Olympic Games opening ceremony in the Bird’s Nest stadium. In 1989, Bush Senior faced calls for boycotts and sanctions against China far more intense than anything his son has skated around in the months since the Lhasa riots. The elder Bush mostly ignored them, amid criticisms of toadying to commercial interests that every US president has faced since. But China prospered, opening the way to WTO entry accords (finally clinched by President Bill Clinton) that transformed the relationship into mutual economic dependency. Bush senior’s 1989 stance makes him arguably the most influential American president in shaping modern US-China ties. I'm pondering these uncomfortable truths: without his indifference to the human rights lobby China today might much poorer.

Next year marks 30 years of US-China diplomatic relations since Washington switched its embassy from Taipei to Beijing in 1979. Bush is leaving office with the US’ reputation weaker than at any time since WWII, its soft power sapped by its adventures in Iraq, its economy in distress back home. His legacy for US-China relations may prove as lasting as his father’s, but in a wholly different direction. China’s rise may be over-hyped but it’s real and there’s more space for it than previously as the US depends on the partnership much too heavily to offend.

Finally, it’s a shame that embassies are seldom open to the public because this is a fine building. It’s a fortress, of course. There’s a moat in front of the visa office, the gravel paths all double up as fire truck access roads, and the coyly-named dragon wall is a windowless band of black stone two stories high along the base of the building. But it’s also home to a stunning collection of modern Chinese and American art – and red lobby chairs in different heights and sizes that’ll make the place a paradise for behavioral psychologists.

Seek the truth from bomb scares

Jonathan Ansfield — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 17:06:32 GMT

Normal 0 7.8 磅 0 2 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } Remember when a Beijing street menace meant a drunken bicyclist? When all you didn’t know couldn’t hurt you? These past few weeks, barely a day has passed in China without word of a bomb scare or three. On the eve of the Games came the discovery of a new video in cyberspace from an obscure Islamic militant group on behalf of Uighur separatists in Xinjiang. The salient special effect is the Beijing Olympic logo in flames. A veiled speaker brandishing AK-47 assault rifle defends the “jihad that is declared against the communist regime” and threatens a plague of violence upon Beijing. The SITE intelligence group translates: "Do not stay on the same bus, on the same train, on the same plane, in the same buildings, or any place the Chinese are."

As for the piddly little bomb scares here on the ground this week, we still haven’t the access to ascertain quite what happened. But it’s nice to know that the Chinese press appear to be chasing down more (if not all) tips than before, and that officials are responding (somewhat) more promptly. And when they don’t, we have eager Chinese bystanders to point that out on blogs and bulletin boards (at their own peril, granted).

A few days ago I reported on one factor behind the steroid-like pump of speed. Government media are under orders from propaganda bosses to get a jump on the foreign media pack in the event of major disturbances, particularly during the Games. Timings have been up, but still everything’s relative. With Chinese state-run media, strategy and execution remain two very different things. That was evident was the week in pre-Olympic bomb scares. And what a week it was.

Beijing is a hot zone of Jerusalem or Baghdad-style magnitudes, and obviously a special case right now. Mechanical meltdown on at least two buses triggered panic on Wednesday. Both were accidents, but neither was a model of transparency. Shortly before noon, an air conditioner fritzed out on a route through the university district, sending three passengers to hospital with minor injuries. Seems that only The Beijing News reported this…the next morning.

About three hours on from that incident, the back of bus ignited on a route close to Chang’an Avenue, the central artery dividing Tiananmen Gate from the Square. Many Beijingers posted on it only to see some of those posts either expunged or disabled, and traffic officials gave the no-nonsense bloggers over that the Wall Street Journal conflicting accounts of what went wrong. There no immediate reports in local media at all. But again, that’s Beijing.

Sticking to bomb scares, it’s worth noting a couple more vigilantly reported instances outside the capital. On Sunday in Shanghai a black case suspected to be containing explosives lured a crowd of thousands outside at a grocery store. The web arm of the Shanghai’s official Wenhui-Xinmin group had filed an account live from the scene within an hour. The black case ended out to be empty. The official news agency Xinhua, incidentally, picked up the story the next morning.

Then there’s the case of Zhengzhou, officially the capital of Henan, and by reputation capital of cover-ups, a title earned based on a legacy of “AIDS villages”, mine disasters, local corruption, fake drug schemes, and, well, you name it (In fairness, neighboring provinces have experienced problems just as bad). On Wednesday morning rumors of an explosion on a bus there caused a hubbub online. Turned out the rundown engine at the back of the bus dropped out and the flying debris stuck a passenger in the leg – that according to clarification from the city propaganda bureau which was reported by the People’s Daily on its web arm at 6:30 p.m.. Nine hours late, but not bad considering the territory.

Far more disturbing – and stereotypically Zhengzhou - was the repercussions for one Web blabber. Around the same time that evening, police detained a 26-year-old man in the nearby city of Pingdingshan on charges of trigging social panic by spreading false rumors about the accident. After catching wind of it on the Chinese social networking mega-site QQ, the local Henan Commercial News reported, the man, a restaurant employee from Shandong, propagated a post an entitled “Blast Accident Causing Major Casualties”. To make matters worse, he attached to it an old photo of a bombed-out bus that bore “not the slightest connection” to the one in Zhengzhou, said the report. Just half a day later he was facing criminal charges, China’s latest rumor-monger to be bundled off by local authorities for flogging an overzealous imagination. How’s that for fast?

I'm told that on Tuesday, in one newsroom in Shanghai, the following enjoinder filtered down from on-high: “Safeguarding the Olympics is to safeguard the flag.” Which in effect means to uphold the rule of the Communist Party. “Everyone is anticipating your [news] organization’s performance,” journalists were told. Or lack thereof, as it seemed in the case of this particular financial paper. All along, brokerages and fund managers have been receiving Olympic orders in a similar vein to safeguard the stability of the markets.

Beijing’s authoritative outlets are already starting to flaunt their performance in the field. The day after Monday’s attacks on police in Xinjiang, the Xinhua News Agency was tooting its own horn for its breaking coverage of in an online commentary. “Openness Means A Bigger Challenge,” the sub-header enthused. And on Wednesday, the People’s Daily chimed in with its own opinion piece extolling recent “full and timely reporting” of breaking events since the May 12 earthquake in Sichuan. The title said it all: “Transparency is Another Form of Strength”.

Strength and Speed. The Olympic metaphors are trite. But come times like this, the Party-state only expects that its state media charges, and the general masses for that matter, will display a level of discipline and devotion to the nation comparable to that of China's Olympic hopefuls. Our friends in the Chinese press might refer to Pindar, the great versifier of the ancient Olympics, who most famously wrote: "O my Soul, do not aspire to immortal life, but exhaust the limits of the possible." Question being, what’s really possible?

Games and the Gulag: Let the Protests Begin

Newsweek — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 13:05:04 GMT

Aritz Parra/AP

The first skirmishes in the guerrilla war between Chinese authorities and human rights protesters took place on Wednesday. Plenty of what China doesn't want to happen has happened here today, but so far it's been small-scale, with a scrappy, subterranean feel, and very little of it has occurred in public. By the end of the afternoon, four Free Tibet protesters had been detained and a film show was canceled. Human rights groups staged at least four protests.

The day's most successful stunt came from Students for a Free Tibet. Two men--American Phil Bartell and Briton Iain Thom--climbed pylons near the showcase Bird's Nest National Stadium at dawn and hung out banners saying "Tibet will be Free" and "One World, One Dream, Free Tibet". Police detained the climbers and their two helpers–one man and one woman–who were acting as spotters at the base of the pylon, and there has been no word of them since. It's likely they've been deported. Despite the small scale of this incident, the stadium is the icon of the Games and will be the site of the opening ceremony on Friday. It's blow to the police for activists to get so close so such a sensitive site.

Free Tibet activists also organized film showings in hotel rooms, notifying reporters by text message. The first show went ahead, attended by Reuters and BBC reporters, but Newsweek's invitation was to the later event in a second hotel. There was a distinctly amateur feel to this occasion as two dozen reporters milled round the lobby of the modest Hotel G (no secrecy here, that's its full name) in east Beijing, trying to gain entry to Room 612. While management insisted that 612's occupant did not want us admitted, reporters dialed the room and were told to come up. After a while, though, Room 612 stopped answering. Seven journalists who did make it inside appeared and said that management had switched off the TV and ordered them out. The UK-based organizers included Dechen Pemba, a Tibetan woman with a British passport who was deported from Beijing in July. Before the film, Pemba gave a 10 minute introduction by video, Reuters reported.

Hotel rooms were a creative theme of the day. If the film show was art-house, the day's third event was more like an art school degree show installation. Selected reporters were invited to go to two hotel rooms a couple of miles apart, locate the room key taped to the back of the "Do not disturb" sign and let themselves inside for a private viewing. What they found, according to a photographer with the Spanish paper El Mundo, were walls daubed with slogans and a life-size black-clad figure laid out on the bed with a splash of red paint at its neck. Daubed directly onto the walls was the slogan "Speak out for those who have no voices", the Beijing 2008 logo and the names of five jailed dissidents. The names in both rooms were the same: AIDS activist Hu Jia, Pastor Zhang Rongliang who supports unregistered churches or "house churches", journalist Shi Tao, human rights activist and lawyer Guo Feixiong, and Falungong member Xu Na. There was no sign of the organizers (who presumably paid cash for their rooms) according to Richard Spencer of the UK-based newspaper The Daily Telegraph. It's not clear who organized these spectacles.

These guerrilla actions are small scale affairs, but the Games haven't started yet. There almost certainly will be more protests in the days ahead.

The Hotel G was shut down after this incident, according to an email from the film show's organizers. "According to many sources the guests of Hotel G. were forced to leave their hotel and find other places for the coming night," it said.

More Blasts Out West: How Big is the Terrorist Threat?

Melinda Liu — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 11:39:36 GMT

This is a cross-posting from the "Countdown to Beijing" blog on the run-up to the Games:

This morning’s attack, which killed 16 police in the far western region of Xinjiang, did not exactly surprise me, but it may have startled at least one senior official from the area, Kerexi Maihesuti. Just last Friday in a Beijing press conference for foreign media the vice chairman of the Xinjiang region described the threat of ethnic Uighur separatists there as a disorderly band of wanna-be’s “with limited power” who are “not competent make the attacks which some hostile forces wish".

Are authorities dangerously downplaying the threat? Well, not always. A People’s Daily editorial last month warned grimly that “The Beijing Olympics is facing a terrorist threat unsurpassed in Olympic history.” With such mixed signals – and the Beijing Olympics just days away – Chinese Netizens are buzzing with questions and speculation about the most recent incident. What seems clear – perhaps the only thing that’s truly clear – is that already stringent security precautions in China’s capital will no doubt become tighter still.

This morning Web postings on an Internet bulletin board popular with IT professionals revealed surprise, alarm, and conspiracy theories. One post starts out “F---! Xinjiang attacked by bombs. 16 armed police died, 16 injured. CCTV just reported it” and goes on to describe the 7:55 AM incident in which two vehicles tried to ram a group of People’s Armed Police engaged in their routine morning exercises, including jogging in formation. The drivers threw two grenades and slashed their victims with knives. “Terror” says one respondent. Update: later official reports said there was only one vehicle, a dump truck of all things.

A person using the cybernym Orion frets “I was even thinking of driving to Xinjiang in August. It’s not safe even in a non-Games region.” To which another Netizen says “They’re too bold, even picking on the border troops. It looks like the border troops don’t have enough fighting force, so many died and injured.”

Then someone posts a news report of the press-conference comments made by Kerexi Maihesuti saying the East Turkistan separatists aren’t as powerful as reported by some media. “When I watched this news the day before yesterday, I realized the terrorists wouldn’t let this go,” says William920. “They did this because of that news,” agrees Eggcom. “Was Kerexi Maihesuti bragging or [public security personnel] not doing their jobs?” Concludes another, “Obviously it was not appropriate for him to give those comments at that moment.”

　To be sure, the deadly incident in Kashgar – an ancient Silk Road oasis town in Xinjiang where Muslim Uighurs are the largest single ethnic group – has not been proven (yet) to have been the work of separatists aspiring to establish an independent “East Turkistan”. But the official Xinhua news agency said the incident was “suspected to be a terrorist attack”. Xinhua said local public security department officials received intelligence that the separatist East Turkistan Islamic Movement would seek to disrupt the Games or their run-up with attacks between Aug. 1 and 8. ETIM is a categorized as a terrorist group by both the U.S. and Chinese governments though its size, effectiveness, and even its existence is a source of much debate.

　　　 In other words, Uighur separatists have presented Beijing with a public-relations dilemma: is it better to scoff at them as incompetents, or hype them as a major security threat? At the moment we’re getting both messages, which leaves the public (and the foreign media) somewhat suspicious of official statements on the situation in restive Xinjiang.

　　For months Chinese authorities have cited a number of foiled Muslim extremist plots to tarnish the Olympics, including a scheme to blow up an airplane and kidnap foreign visitors and media. Hence the Hongqi 7 missile batteries set up near the Olympic competition venues. Last month, in a video released on the Internet, a militant group calling itself the Turkistan Islamic Party promised to “target the most critical points related to the Olympics” and claimed responsibility for recent bomb blasts in Kunming, Shanghai and other cities. (The group is believed to be based in Pakistan which borders Xinjiang.)

　　I’m waiting to see how that all plays out. Sixteen dead in a terrorist attack is an extremely high number for China, the most deadly in years.(Another 16 police were injured). Then again, Kashgar is 4,000 kilometers away from Beijing, where the intensity of security inspections, credentialling, and surveillance are already unprecedented. After living here for a decade, this is the first time I’ve seen helicopters over my residential compound, except for a ceremonial fly-past during the National Day parade rehearsal in 1999 (which doesn’t count). While entering the Olympics media center yesterday my wedding ring set off the medal detection device, which was a first for me and suggested perhaps the settings were a tad sensitive. I’m still not sure whether to be reassured, amused or annoyed.