After repeated civil behavior campaigns, bare-chested and pajama-wearing residents are now rarely seen in public. The level of civility has been greatly improved in our community. To correct unfavorable old habits of the Shanghainese, we even opened a community school teaching etiquette.

This reminds me of the overhauling that occurred almost 2 years ago during the Beijing Olympics. There was one essay by Associated Press writer Anita Chang that really struck me up until now. It told of the rush transformation Beijing had in time for the Olympics. Nothing wrong with that definitely. It’s just obvious.

Remember the controversies surrounding China’s biggest event last 2008? 

Controversies make everything so much interesting, don’t you think so?

What people generally would do to look good (and not just China).

In the past week, one of the headline stories on TV news has been the rehearsal of an extraordinary parade expected for this coming National Day holiday (国庆) on October 1st, to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China.

According to Xinhua news on People’s Daily Online,  it is shaping up to be a much bigger show than the Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony in terms of the number of people involved. It will also be only the 14th military parade since 1949:

President Hu Jintao will give a keynote speech, commemorating the 60th anniversary of the founding of the new China.

A military parade and mass pageant would follow, said a spokesperson for the 60th National Day celebration preparation committee of the Beijing municipal government Monday. The timetable for the celebrations is not yet available.

The military parade will highlight the achievements China has made in its defense sector during the past six decades and showcase its resolution to safeguard world and regional peace and stability.

The mass pageant would involve about 200,000 citizens and 60 floats, with the theme of “Motherland and I Marching Together”.

Beijing Review reported that five types of missiles will debut during the parade:

…including nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles, conventional cruise missiles and medium-range and short-range conventional missiles, will be displayed for the first time at the highly anticipated military parade, said the expert, who asked to remain anonymous and has been closely following the preparations of the strategic force of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

I am not a fan of any kind of weapon, but I think this is going to be something fun to watch if you are not going out during the 8-day public holiday. Given that most of us are not in Beijing,  a member of the Tianya discussion forum posted a reminder and exhortation to the live broadcast director of CCTV:

The 60th anniversary military parade is very important to every one of us, so take good care of the live broadcast!  Don’t ruin it! ( 60年阅兵式对我们每一个人都非常重要，阅兵式的电视转播一定要注意呀! 千万别被搞砸了).

I guess most of us still remember that NBC made the Beijing Olypics Openning look better than CCTV.  No wonder!

Travel agents have gotten notice that Beijing is not open for tours during the first few days of the October 1-7 holiday. However, we’re not sure about tours from overseas.

If you are already curious (like me), we’ve included some additional images of the rehearsals below. A news report video, in Chinese, can also be viewed on Sina.

Now that it is Shanghai’s turn for next year’s World Expo, a 20-page guidebook has been published to correct mistranslations. As the AFP reports:

The city is preparing to hold the biggest-ever World Expo from May 1 to October 31. The city expects 70 million people, the vast majority of them Chinese, to attend the event, featuring pavilions from nearly 190 countries.

Now, I wonder if the same treatment is being offered towards the notorious Chinese spit. Some say spitting is as Chinese as chopsticks. Chinglish may also be rightfully so.

But maybe the other notoriety would not be much of a problem in Shanghai. Somehow though, I just have this itching premonition of what will happen next.

From The Huffington Post comes a good piece by Alexander Davenport that we’ve reprinted in full below  (interrupted by my comments) for the benefit of our Chinese readers behind the GFW for which The Huffington Post website is blocked:

Fair and Balanced: Urumqi Vs. Lhasa

When violence rocked Lhasa in April 2008, the Western media had a field day. For weeks, American news outlets reported on the violence and the subsequent Chinese response. Despite the rather low death toll (19 people), political leaders across the Western political spectrum called for sanctions, an Olympic boycott, and more. Protests that followed the path of the Olympic torch were given added vigor and scrupulous press coverage.

After the recent deaths of hundreds of Hans and Uighurs in Urumqi however, many media outlets covered the case and then quickly moved on. Even articles from the predictably sino-phobic New York Times have dwindled just two weeks after the riots and have lacked the anti-China vitriol that pervaded the Tibet reporting last year. And just days after the violence, the rioting in Xinjiang was moved out of the spotlight on CNN.com, NYtimes.com, Washingtonpost.com and Reuters.

This is puzzling. From a purely superficial view, the two instances are intriguingly similar: both involve disgruntled ethnic minorities attacking Han migrants and instigating widespread rioting. Moreover, American press was predisposed to run away with the story as the Xinjiang riots fit perfectly into the predictable, tired narrative that of the PRC as a ruthless, bloody oppressor. To be sure, the circumstances and context of the protests were different and the PRC has been a less than benevolent ruler of its border regions. This, however, does not wholly explain the differing press coverage. Why does rioting in Lhasa generate more interest than rioting in Urumqi?

I think he answers at least part of his own question with his first introductory paragraph: The Olympics. One key difference between the 2008 Lhasa riots and the 2009 Urumqi riots was that 2008 was China’s big Olympic year, whereas 2009 is not. While China was doing everything it could to prove something (or show off) to the world, it is human nature for others to resist it. This includes going so far as tempering and humbling China’s “moment”, bringing it down a notch to remind the Chinese, others, and themselves of China’s flaws, weaknesses, and dirt. Lhasa got more press coverage and spawned more reactions than Urumqi partly because many parties had an interest in making statements about China while everyone cared to watch China. Not surprising, is it?

While it is certain that China has become much more sophisticated in its engagement of the press since Lhasa, this does not explain away the American media’s reaction to the Xinjiang riots. It is possible that the press is predisposed to report about the Tibetans and predisposed against reporting about the Uighurs given the underlying cultural attitudes towards both people in America.

For starters, Tibet is romanticized in American popular culture. Certainly, the Tibetan cause is worthy of attention and concern. But let’s be completely frank here: there are millions of oppressed minorities across the globe. Few of them have Green Day play benefit concerts, Richard Gere as a spokesman, and near universal notoriety and support across college campuses. Simply put, Americans are besotted with the vision of Tibet as an idyllic land of monks and nirvana.

The Uighurs on the other hand, do not have a charismatic Nobel laureate leader, a Hollywood following, nor a political support network. Moreover, the Uighurs are — dare I say it — Muslim. And as a restive Muslim minority with a streak of violent separatist attacks, Uighurs are unlikely to engender much political goodwill on Capitol Hill or from the Washington Post editorial page in a post-9/11 world. A random sampling of American reader comments on Xinjiang articles recently shows an antipathy towards the Uighur cause as a result of its conflation with anti-American terrorist organizations. Whether America’s less than balanced press coverage stems from this sentiment (or perhaps vice versa) is unclear. What is clear, however, is that American media has deemed rioting Tibetans a more worthy topic of sustained coverage than rioting Uighurs.

Right, the ascetic Tibetan Buddhists are more cuddly than terrorist Muslims dichotomy. To Davenport’s credit, this was much better presented than the Glen Greenwald of Salon‘s frightening geopolitical lamentation that the Uighur’s “Muslimness” got in the way of “the opportunity they present to undermine the Chinese government.”

The secular pseudo-Christian Western world is indeed less sympathetic to the Muslims. It is also indeed far too starry-eyed about Tibet. For Americans, for both, perhaps more so.

To be sure, the discrepancy in the reporting on both incidents is not in and of itself a cause for concern. After all, American media attempts to provide what the American public demands — no matter how warped the beliefs that fuel these demands are. It does, however, bear examining precisely why we feel the way we do towards one minority group but not the other — perhaps equally as important but slightly less photogenic — group. We should be sure that given the finger wagging approach commonly used by Americans towards China in regards to minority human rights, we have founded these beliefs on accurate and balanced information, not ingrained cultural stereotypes nor media misrepresentations. Whether our fourth estate is up to the task remains to be seen.

Wait, did he just suggest that Uighurs are “slightly less photogenic” than Tibetans? LoL…what the…why? Are we talking about the people themselves or the settings (you know, mosques vs. temples)?

Subjective declarations of photographic attractiveness aside, Davenport’s big point is worth highlighting:

1. Are Americans and the West being hypocrites?
2. Are Americans and the West biased, selective in what they believe, support, and fight for?
3. Has the press, as the fourth estate, done its job in presenting “accurate and balanced information”?
4. Or has it merely fed and reinforced the “ingrained cultural stereotypes” and “media misrepresentations”?

Davenport’s piece isn’t unique, as similar articles with similar sentiments have been written by others both in the traditional media and on the web. However, the best way to appreciate it is to compare it to another piece also recently published on The Huffington Post, this time written by a certain Alison Kilkenny.  The subject is again about the Urumqi riots and, like Mr. Davenport’s post above, it argues that the Western media didn’t pay enough attention to the Urumqi riots. The reason it offers, however, is slightly different: The West cares but, you know, they just didn’t hear enough of the Uighurs’ side of things. If only they knew…

If Only the Uighurs had Twitter

More than 4,000 Uyghurs have been arrested by the Chinese government since July 5. Almost 200 have been killed. Thousands have been injured. This violence follows the pattern of arbitrary detention, imprisonment, torture and execution that has enraged Westerners when it has occurred in places like Iran. Yet there is little attention being paid to the suppression of the Uyghurs, a Muslim minority, in the Western media.

It strikes me as either suspicious or intellectually dishonest that Alison rattles off these numbers as fact with nary a single citation or link to where she got these numbers. It isn’t as if she’s an old media writer who doesn’t know what hyperlinks are, she just selectively picks and chooses which statements she feels obligated to substantiate while leaving the others as indisputable assertions of fact (see below). Apparently she felt fine implying in context that only Uighurs were arrested, killed, and injured in her opening paragraph, when reports clearly indicate otherwise (even better Urumqi riot coverage here, here, and here).

Despite the vomit gargling in my throat, I’ll go ahead and reprint the rest of Alison’s article in its entirety for consistency and, again, for the benefit (in this case, perhaps intelligence-deflating detriment) of our GFW-blocked readers in China. Emphases are all mine, and again interspersed with my comments:

The Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) is now concerned that mass executions of Uyghurs will soon be carried out, as promised by Chinese officials.

You mean like how public prosecutors seek the death penalty against criminals who do really, really horrible things?

“We believe that the Chinese government’s spin has influenced the reaction of the world community … causing Uyghur repression to receive less attention than events such as the suppression of the Iranian people,” wrote Amy Reger, a researcher at UHRP, during our email correspondence. The Chinese government has also been successful in cutting access to cell phones and the Internet, including Twitter. The government did this “in order to prevent a spread of citizen journalism such as that which occurred in Iran. We believe that, had this not occurred, news of the mass killing of Uyghurs by Chinese security forces may have been able to reach the outside world more effectively,” Reger added.

Others like Davenport suggest the reaction of the world community had something to do with the Uighurs being Muslim, but Amy Reger of the “Uyghur Human Rights Project” believes the world community bought all that Chinese government “spin.” Last I checked, pretty much no one except mainland Chinese people bought the Chinese government’s statements. And even amongst the Chinese, they’re generally pretty skeptical (though like most, pretty willing to buy into whatever fits into their biases).

I do think there’s a point about cell phones, internet, and Twitter being cut. The thing is, if we use last year’s Lhasa riots as a guide, there’s a good chance the citizen journalism that would’ve come out would more corroborate Uighur violence on Hans (and apparently themselves too) than the other way around, just as citizen journalists and actual journalists in Tibet last year came out tempering the Western media and community’s imbalanced presentation of Tibetan violence in Lhasa.

UHRP is also concerned that there have been no reported arrests of Han Chinese who have reportedly beaten and killed Uyghurs in two days of violence in Urumchi. In early July, Han Chinese residents of Urumchi took to the streets with clubs, sticks and other weapons to seek revenge on Uyghurs who had injured and killed Chinese people on the previous day. “We condemn the killings and injuries of Han Chinese people. However, we also believe that large numbers of Uyghurs were killed and injured on July 6 and 7, and their deaths have not been reported,” says Reger.

No reported arrests of Han Chinese? Either we’re not reading the same reports or there’s a lot of selective reading going on. The reports I’ve read from the mainstream media (again, great collection of reports here, here, and here) seem to all include Uighur death tolls and arrests that implicitly include Han Chinese though largely Uighur. Is it really that surprising that those suspected of starting the violence get arrested?

Reger and UHRP accuse the Chinese government of engaging in spin by providing only images of violence instigated by Uyghurs against Han Chinese, in an effort to “fan the flames of nationalism and divert attention from the serious, underlying grievances that drove Uyghurs to protest, at first peacefully.” Reger cautions Western journalists to critically analyze any information given to them by the Chinese government and media as it is likely state propaganda.

State propaganda? From the Chinese government? No way! Okay, while I doubt any Western journalist needs to be reminded to “critically analyze” the information the Chinese government and media feeds it, I’ll accept this as good general advice…er, caution.

But here’s the thing: I’m not entirely sure Amy Reger of “Uighur Human Rights Project” is some neutral party with a monopoly on the truth either. We know the Chinese government in full tilt information management mode is shameless. We’ve come to expect it. It is so shameless, and blatantly so, that we want to be on the “other” side of it.

It’s just disappointing to see that other side be just as shameless.

The two trends of Uyghur coverage in the media are exclusion and suppression. In addition to the deaths of Uyghur activists being almost completely whitewashed from the news,…

Completely whitewashed? Are you serious? One of the big surprises of the entire Urumqi riot news event was just how quickly the Chinese government came out and reported Uighur deaths both domestically and abroad. It was so unexpected, skeptics the world over instantly wondered if it was just an excuse to also report how many Han deaths there were in comparison, you know, to “fan the flames of nationalism.”

…the Chinese government is publicly calling for the censorship and suppression of Uyghur activists. Most recently, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei has called for the U.S. government to “restrict the activities” of Uyghur activist Rebiya Kadeer. The Chinese government blames Kadeer for instigating the violence in one of its most volatile regions, Xinjiang. Kadeer is a human rights activist who spent five years in jail in China and now lives near Washington, and has accused the Chinese government of repressing Uyghurs, destroying their culture and curbing their religious freedom.

The political pressure from Beijing isn’t limited to heads of states. Richard Moore, head of the Melbourne International Film Festival, said two Chinese directors have boycotted Australia’s biggest film festival over the screening of a documentary about Kadeer. The directors pulled their films after Moore ignored political pressure from Beijing. “It makes me feel angry, annoyed and irritated all at the same time, that they would try to interfere with our programme for blatantly political ends,” Moore told the AFP news agency.

Reger stresses that subdued media coverage stifles the possibility of western solidarity movements. It’s not that Americans don’t care about Uyghurs. They just don’t hear about the systematic slaughter of the Uyghur people by the Chinese government.

Ugh, “solidarity movements.” I’m having horrifying flashbacks of Berkeley already…

And “systematic slaughter” of Uighurs? Must be like the picture above, right? Geez…do I really need to say something about this or can I trust that anyone with two brain cells to rub together will scoff with me?

“We ask the Chinese government to allow journalists access to East Turkestan and Uyghurs without any conditions to investigate the unrest in Urumchi and its aftermath.

Somehow I don’t think this request of the Chinese government is going to get approved when you refer to Xinjiang as East Turkestan. But then again, Reger and the UHRP isn’t really “asking” the Chinese government as much as they’re just putting out their platform and — dare I say it — “spin“.

This access to East Turkestan will be critical in the coming days as looming executions of Uyghurs on political charges come ever nearer.” (Urumchi Party Secretary Li Zhi said at a press conference on July 8 that authorities would use the death penalty for crimes connected to events on July 5. “To those who have committed crimes with cruel means, we will execute them.”)

Arguments over capital punishment aside, I can’t say I find a country willing to use the death penalty on “those who have committed crimes with cruel means” to be that unimaginable. The key phrase here would be “with cruel means.” I think malevolently running around throwing people to the ground and then bashing their heads open sounds pretty cruel, what about you?

Reger adds, “We fear that a number of Uyghurs are going to be executed unnoticed by the world. In order to prevent such state-sanctioned killing we require the eyes of the world’s media and the world’s governments to remain on East Turkestan and to speak out against a further abuse of the Uyghur people’s human rights.”

The United States government could aid human rights activists by flexing its diplomatic muscle and exerting pressure on the Chinese government to opens its borders to foreign journalists. Only with the presence of a free and open press can a proper western solidarity movement form for the repressed Uyghur people.

Fin.

Eh, I have nothing against human rights and repressed Uighur people. But I do have something against using the same shameless propaganda and spin one hypocritically accuses the Chinese government for. At the very least, don’t be so blatantly obvious about it.

What do you think? Was Western media coverage of Urumqi less than Lhasa? Was it because Uighurs are Muslim? Was it because the evil Chinese government successfully prevented the rest of the world from finding out about all its “systematic slaughter”? Was it because the West actually just doesn’t care as much?

Images: Courtesy of ESWN and wherever Soong got them from.

Before I get to the star attendees, I do want to say a few more words about BCB: Great cozy location, great microbrews (try the one with the gold medal…er, because it won a gold medal), great food, and great for Western expats that has been in China long enough to long for some good brews and modern American food. I say that last bit because you new arrivals should really TRY to integrate a bit more before crutching it to BCB.

The Shanghai bloggers that attended the “Shanghai Blogger Summit” organized by Adam Minter of Shanghai Scrap fame included:

• Richard Brubaker of All Roads Lead To China,
• Elaine Chow of Shanghaiist,
• Charlie McElwee – China Environmental Law,
• Malcome Moore – Telegraph Blogs,
• Micah Sittig of ShanghaiExpat Public Transportation Blog,
• Edna Zhou also of Shanghaiist, and…
• your’s truly.

For this week’s Weekly Review, I’d like to highlight these individuals with a sample from the past week of the great writing, reporting, and commentary that come from them, all of which are related to China and useful towards a better understanding of just what the hell is going on around these parts:

Richard Brubaker: Rudd Proves Theory. China Cannot Win.

A lot of coverage recently has once again thrown China (the prosecutor) into the spotlight for charging Rio Tinto’s GM and 3 employees (The Innocents) with espionage. It is a situation that has gradually escalated from a period of concern (when no one knew what happened to the executives) to this recent statement from Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd:

[...]

Essentially, Kevin Rudd has threatened economic sanctions should the executives not be treated fairly (i.e. released ASAP).

From the viewpoint of China, it is quickly becoming yet another media storm that they are in fear of loosing control over. AGAIN.

That, regardless of whether or not they are arresting executives at MULTIPLE Chinese firms as well for being apart of the same crime, their own foreign ministry is having to put out a fire that is moving faster than a brush fire. A storm only picking up in intensity as Commerce Secretary Locke has also publicly stated his concerns, and intention to discuss the issue.

Were China not consistently being chided for its corruption, then perhaps I would be a bit more understanding or apathetic to the Australian side, but I cannot.

China has been a punching bag for many over the years for commercial and political corruption, and now that “one of their own” has been caught up in it, the tables are turned. That now China is being too heavy handed, is risking economic ties, and that everyone in China should beware.

Yet nothing could be further from the truth.

Elaine Chow: China India War in 2012? We say not likely.

So admittedly we’re not an expert in India-China relations, but last we checked, they weren’t exactly sour. Sure, we’re not best buddy-buds with our neighbors to the South, but we seem to back each other up a lot on certain issues (like climate change).

According to one Indian analyst though, we’re poised to attack them by 2012. Bharat Verma, editor of the Indian Defense Review, told the Indian Economic Times that “there are multiple reasons for a desperate Beijing to teach India the final lesson, thereby ensuring Chinese supremacy in Asia in this century.”

He listed a couple of points that outlined why we would ever engage in such a useless, costly, and geopolitically upsetting move:

• Pakistan is not doing well in its fight against India, and this matters to us because China “controls” Pakistan.
• India is totally allying with the US and the West, and China’s scared about that because “the alliance has the potential to create a technologically superior counterpoise.”
• There is unprecedented internal social unrest thanks to the economic slowdown and China will deal with it by diverting troops away from where the social unrest is happening and into a country it has yet to find beef with.

Okay, so maybe you’re getting that we think Bharat’s a little bonkers (we’re not the only ones). Really though, a war with India seems like the last thing China would want at this stage, especially since it seems more content to temper relations by becoming economically necessary to the country its rivaling. Besides, (as Verma admits) India would be pretty screwed if a war really happened.

Charlie McElwee: Litter Bugs

Littering is endemic in China.  We made the mistake of visiting the Great Wall during the height of Spring Festival: it goes without saying the top of the wall was a sea of people, but a glance over the side revealed a sea of debris and steady barrage of plastic bottles, wadded food wrappers, and children’s excrement (gathered in various media) being hurled at some unseen invader on the slopes below.

In urban areas, armies of paid street sweepers attend to this phenomenon with their twig brooms. It is in rural areas where litter becomes more of a problem, as no one bothers to remove garbage without residual value. Much of the waste will make its way into streams and rivers.  China Daily ran a story today about how the Kuzhu river “near World Heritage site Zhangjiajie National Forest Park” in Hunan Province “is being polluted by thousands of tons of waste being dumped directly into the river.”

Locals blame the increased trash on the rise of tourism.  This could well be the case if our Great Wall experience was any indication.  The solution?

Adam Minter: A US Expo 2010 pavilion, after all.

I’ve been following the mostly sad saga of the US pavilion for several months now, both on Shanghai Scrap, and elsewhere. And, until two weeks ago, there was absolutely no reason to believe that a participation agreement would ever be signed. Shanghai Expo, Inc., a non-profit authorized by the US State Department to fund-raise, design, build, and operate a US pavilion, had failed to raise sufficient funds to break ground. At yesterday’s signing ceremony, Beatrice Camp, the US Consul General in Shanghai blamed the underwhelming fundraising on the global economic crisis – a point that was picked up by the Chinese media. No doubt, the economic crisis played a role, but as Camp and others close to the US effort surely know, the other important factor was the inexperienced and increasingly erratic trio running the non-profit Shanghai Expo, Inc. As recently as last month, one of its members – Frank Lavin, a former US ambassador to Singapore and Undersecretary of Commerce – issued a press release falsely claiming that the US Congress had “adopted” a resolution in support of the US pavilion. This incident, and others like it, succeeded in alienating potential donors (including major US corporations with operations in China), vast swaths of the US expatriate business community in Shanghai, and – most crucially – members of the Shanghai government. For those of us following the events, the question was no longer “How badly will the US damage its relationship with China if it doesn’t participate?” but instead became “What’s worse for US-China relations? Turning down Shanghai’s Expo invite or continuing the current, incompetent effort?”

Malcome Moore: Journalists in China get death threats

Now I know that only a tiny, if vocal, number of people send death threats and attack Western media “bias” across the internet.

But a distrust of foreign reporters has seeped into the general population. Reporters working in China in the 1990s say that people were far more open and willing to talk. Now they feel that if they open their mouths, their words will be twisted.

In short, the propaganda has worked. Since 1991, when the Patriotic Education Campaign was launched, Chinese kids have been taught a narrative about how Western forces, bent on colonisation, have historically humiliated China. (You can argue that kids in Britain also get taught a skewed and patriotic history, but at the same time, they get taught to question their teachers.)

The 1999 Nato bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, in which three Chinese died, and, more recently, the attacks on the Chinese Olympic torch parade in Europe and America, have fed into that narrative.

And this has helped pave the way for the giant leap of logic that trivial mistakes, such as a skewed caption on a newspaper photograph, are “proof” of a continuing Western ambition to “get” China.

Edna Zhou: Legalized prostitution in Taiwan stirring debate

Recently, after pressure from sex workers for protection rights, the government in Taiwan has taken steps toward legalizing prostitution. In six months’ time, sex workers in Taiwan will no longer be prosecuted for their trade, and a red-light district may be set up in the capital, Taipei. While it is obviously controversial, we thought we would take a look at the debate for decriminalized prostitution, and what legislation in our neighbor across the strait might mean for us mainlanders.

Taiwan outlawed prostitution 11 years ago, yet The Collective of Sex Workers and Supporters, a Taipei-based advocacy group, estimates that 600,000 people work in sex-related jobs under the guise of ‘tea houses’ and ‘massage parlors’.

Under current law, prostitutes have to pay either a 30,000 TWD fine or spend three days in detention if arrested, while their clients walk away unscathed. The new initiatives in Taiwan would help protect prostitutes from both their customers and the police.

Naturally, it was a lot of fun meeting these people, putting faces to the names I’ve read and heard so much about. After all, we do share a common interest in chronicling our experiences and perspectives of China in written form. What you can’t always derive from writing, however, is getting to know people as they are in “real” life. They were a great bunch of people.

Now, I wasn’t taking any notes or meeting minutes or anything but for posterity I did want to share some of the topics we all talked about and, albeit often a bit cynically, laughed about:

1. The “Shanghai Blogger Summit” as manifestation of our inferiority complex to Beijing bloggers who all know and meet up with each other far more actively.
2. Blocked blogs, notably Danwei.
3. James Fallows and the problem of us incestuous China bloggers writing to ourselves, our in-country audience, and not to audiences abroad who more often than not simply do not know what we know and take for granted.
4. Green Tours, Red Tours, and where Hu Yaobang is buried.
5. Chinese university students who know about 6/4.
6. Environmentally damaged land in China.
7. Factories and businesses with frightening labor and safety standards.
8. Journalists staying in dodging “three-star” China accommodations with scandalous artwork.
9. Co-owner of Boxing Car Brewery Gary Heyne‘s involvement in bringing brew water to Iraq.
10. Quickly deteriorating former Olympic venues in China and Athens.
11. The forehead-slapping glut of Beijing commercial real estate.
12. Improving freedom of movement and reporting for journalists in China.
13. Africans protesting, and why we heard about it.
14. Visas and the unlikelihood of getting deported from China these days.
15. How blogging has or hasn’t helped people with their business.
16. Uigurs.
17. The Chinese government’s proclivity for doing things in the worst possible way (mostly PR-wise).
18. Marks & Spencer’s opening in Shanghai.
19. Malcome Moore getting abused by British expats on his blog for giving Marks & Spencer’s Shanghai store a bad review.
20. People falling to their doom in Marks & Spencer.
21. Experiences with United States Consul General Beatrice Camp.
22. Summer Camp.
23. Malcome Moore getting abused on his blog in general.
24. Weird names Chinese people name themselves (i.e. Three Hundred, Snake, Zero, Cocaine, and Creamy).
25. Harrowing airplane experiences (i.e. aborted landings and engines exploding into flames mid-flight).

Did I miss anything?

Wait…uh…is any of this going to incriminate any of us?

From The Independent’s slideshow of Olympic photographs.

Now that the Olympics are over, the foreign media and China observers are all quick to speculate about what will happen in the post-Olympic era.

Here’s a brief sampling of what’s being addressed:

- The economy: While many foreign companies are concerned about a possible downturn, Chinese officials point out that Beijing’s economy only accounts for a very small part of the overall boom. However, maintaining the epic pace that marked the Olympics will be a harder job for the Chinese government. Check out this video from Reuters for an analysis from a Beijing-based economist.

- The environment: Although Beijing won high marks for its pollution controls and clear blue skies during the Games, the environment is likely to take second place behind economic growth…again. Beijingers, at least, support continuing the restrictions on motorists and making a more environmentally-friendly city, but the government will be slowly beginning lifting the regulations starting on Thursday.

- Human rights: Despite the high-profile sentences of two elderly women to labor re-education after they applied for protest permits, one Italian expatriate living in Beijing wanted to show the world that it was possible to protest. It wasn’t. The United States sent in a strongly-worded statement to the Chinese goverment about human rights; China’s response from a Foreign Ministry spokesman creatively invokes Abraham Lincoln. The ongoing discussion and debate on China’s human rights record is sure to continue.

In the immediate future, one beneficiary of the Olympics is the Paralympics–with the passion for spectator sports fairly undiminished, tickets for events have been going quickly. One loser? Olympic souvenir collectors, the value of official souvenirs is falling rapidly.

Fiona Lee is a freelance writer/marketer/blogger based in Beijing. She blogs at quirkyBeijing.

After seeing and hearing many of the critical comments made from so many Americans on newspapers, blogs, forums, TV, venting their frustrations on China’s policy-making, human rights issues, security issues. I’ve decided to step into the limelight and give my two cents on this critical issue currently circulating the media worldwide.

I’m willing to make a bet that many of these critical comments about China are coming from sources that haven’t lived in China for an extensive amount of time; people who don’t really know China. I believe some people just love to hate because I’ve encountered a good number of these bitter souls, but there’s a difference between someone who hates with no foundation behind their arguments and someone who actually knows why they are hating something. Here is my formula: Hate = misunderstanding + ignorance + arrogance, Arrogance = Not wanting to understand (due to fear/insecurity in most cases). Most of us probably read a biased article somewhere in a magazine about China’s workers working for $20/month and automatically scream “Oh my gosh! I can’t believe this injustice! How can this be? We’ve got to do something about that!”

I know people who hated China so much that they went over to China to collect evidence to strengthen their arguments (now that’s some serious hating).  However, most of them came back here with a better understanding and appreciation for China as a culture. I respect these people and applaud their efforts in attempting to at least understand the subject they are arguing against.  That is what we refer to in sports as respecting your opponent.

My advice to all those have negative views about China: “Go to China, live there for 6 months, don’t be a shut in and close your mind.  Open your mind and really experience the culture, and then come back and tell me you still hate it.”  That’s the very first step.  I’ve encountered some of the brightest expats in the world who now reside in China, and we’ve gotten into conversations about China and different perspectives, and every conversations always ends with “best damn decision I made in my life to come here, mate (lots of Aussies).”  Before you criticize something, don’t do it because you have been biased by secondary materials and sources that have influenced you in a negative way; go out there and get to know it yourself before you judge!  

First and foremost, I want to make this clear: the purpose of this post is to help each other understand and accept different cultures so that we may all live in harmony. First, I want to mention that China has made great strides in the past ten years to be more globally receptive to become more international-friendly, and yet I feel we Americans unfairly expect China to make a 360 degree turn within days. It’s almost like telling a 3,000 year old Big Mac Lifetime Honoree to turn vegan within a week. It’s not fair for us to expect a culture with such a rich history to change and conform to our ideals because we think they ought to; especially when we think it’s for their own good.

The popular Chinese opinion regarding the main flaw of America is that we are arrogant, stubborn bullies that think the world should operate our way because we are almighty and everyone else is weak and small. Do we Americans agree with that?  Let’s be truthful here (please do not let your patriotic feelings blind your logic and reasoning because it will make for a weaker argument), it’s my firm belief that a lot of things (media, propaganda, racism) can blind us from understanding other people’s beliefs and cause us to block out the legitimate arguments they may espouse; it’s called cognitive dissonance. If you saw any of the debates from the recent Presidential Election, you’d have a pretty good idea of what that looks like. Let’s ask ourselves, “Are we really a stubborn, arrogant nation that doesn’t want to understand and blocks out everything we don’t believe in? Or is that just a misconception?” Don’t get me wrong, I love America and am proud to be a citizen of this wonderful country where we can speak our mind and not fear persecution. But being in China for two years have helped me understand where the Chinese people are coming from, and that understanding has changed my perspective about a country I had previous biased notions about before actually living and breathing here for two years.  

Here is a quote I found interesting:

“When we have too much security, you blame us for oppressing people.
When we don’t have enough security, you blame us for being a dangerous place to be…

What do you want from us?”

I want everyone to read that statement and absorb it.

Please watch this interview with Chinese veteran blogger Wang Jian Shuo to better understand what we need to do as human beings to help this world.

Quote of the Day:

“Don’t criticize what you don’t understand, son. You never walked in that man’s shoes.” Elvis Presley

Now, I’m writing this post four days after the Opening Ceremony, a spectacular-spectacular that, uh, I must agree was excellent. Part of me thinks this is a good time to write a post, with all the warm, fuzzy feelings the event instilled in me having subsided, and safely removed from the distraction of emotions. The other part of me doesn’t want to discard those emotions, however temporary they may have been the night I watched that annoyingly jumpy satellite feed of the ceremony.

I want to ask an emphatic question, one that can hopefully pierce through all our biased, jaded, or demoralized hearts and minds: “As you watched the Opening Ceremony, as thousands of Chinese put on their grand show, as the symbolic imagery played out before your eyes, as the athletes marched out with flags waving, and as millions of people watched around the world…

…how did you feel?”

No, I’m not asking if you were impressed by the show, or even if you were disgusted by what you consider to be excesses. Nor am I asking what you think about China’s politics, economics, or the state of its society. I’m not asking whether you think China deserved the honor of hosting the Games. Nor am I asking if you think the Olympics is politicized commercialism. I’m asking about you on a personal level, about how you feel about the world you live in and even your place in it.

Have the Opening Ceremony and these Olympic Games affected you, opened your eyes, or given you–dare I say it–hope?

We know that the Olympics has, over time, come to support many causes and movements. Yet, wasn’t the original mission of the modern Olympic Games to bring the world together, to bring us together, to celebrate humanity, our humanity? Wasn’t it about friendly competition, and reminding everyone that we all have similar aspirations that we work towards, that we all delight in our successes and despair at out failures, and that there’s always another chance next time?

The oft-quoted Olympic Creed reads:

The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.

There’s something there that should resonate with each and every one of us, and, as the athletes of the world took to the field and viewers around the world tuned in, we should have been reminded that each and every one of us has no choice but to take part in life, struggling and fighting to conquer and triumph over life’s never ending challenges, limitations, and defeats. We should have been able to look past our petty, and even not-so-petty, differences and marvel at our similarities.

For all the stark differences in opinion, values, and ideology, were we able to appreciate the humanity that is shared by us all? Were we able to understand, accept, even appreciate all of the admirable and despicable things that each and every one of us have done and are capable of doing? Because, quite frankly, while we’re all imperfect bastards with skeletons in our closets and shit that stinks, we’re also real living, breathing, feeling people with genuine fears, hopes, and dreams.

Yes, we all know that reality is never quite so simple. We know that even as the Olympics run their course, pain and suffering continue throughout the world, never stopping for the idealistic whims of man.

We know that.

But, for one, single–possibly inconsequential–moment, did you feel anything close to “Hey, we’re going to be okay”?

With all the tolerated genocide, rioting minorities, silenced grievances, information censorship, vetoed sanctions, environmental pollution, civilian surveillance, murdered fathers, competitive cheating, and their persistent constancy reminding us of the aggravating imperfection and seemingly unresolvable differences in the world… for one second were you able to forget? Were you able to look upon the extravagant Opening Ceremony and not think of it as an extravagance, to see past the ostentation and discover a genuine effort to earn your respect and a place by your side? Were you able to let go of your prejudices and agendas to personally see and embrace the Chinese as real people, not just a far-removed concept or, at worst, a threat?

No, you don’t have to agree with everything that happens in China or what the Chinese do, nor ought you accept it and stop fighting against what you believe to be fundamentally wrong. No, not everything behind these Olympic Games are pure and good, free of taint, or wholly in pursuit of universal ideals. But this isn’t about that or them. This is about you. When was the last time you felt, sincerely, that the world isn’t about “us” or “them” prevailing, and that there is, indeed, enough humanity within us all to coexist peacefully with a basic degree of mutual respect?

If you were able to feel that way, then that’s a start… and then maybe–just maybe–we have a chance after all.

Frustrated Chinese complain that CCTV version failed to capture many of the exciting (and in some cases crucial) camera angles and Chinese announcers only managed to provide vacuous commentary. Meanwhile, the American commentators were able to go into great detail about the numerous traditional Chinese elements and symbols used throughout the intricately planned ceremony, displaying a much more complete knowledge of what was happening than in the Chinese version (granted, the delayed broadcasting of the ceremony by NBC gave the commentators time to do their homework). Some even go as far as to assert that Chinese will have to retract their accusations against foreign media for biased reporting since this time they presented China with such creativity and expertise that “even Americans are unable to find fault.”

Here are some of the more glaring faults (translated from original Chinese here)

1. The CCTV version is a confused jumble of close and far shots, but the NBC version captured all the action from every possible angle providing the big picture in a much more complete and exciting way.
2. During the reading of the Analects, NBC provides a shot of the top of the bird’s nest where there is both English and Chinese translation, which shows a consideration for visitors from other countries and welcomes them. The version shown in China does not provide any shots of this and you cannot even hear what is being read!
3. Later there is a shot of children painting with watercolors and then the sequence is over, but in the NBC version there is a close up shot of the whole canvas, allowing the viewers to see that the black circle is actually the adorable smiling face of the sun, complete with two blushing red cheeks, so cute.
4. During the modern China section, the Chinese version jumps straight to the astronauts very suddenly, only after watching the NBC version do we see the picture of the universe and night sky from where the astronauts drop down. And after the Olympic theme song is finished, the 2008 faces are not captured well in the Chinese version, but the NBC version takes it all in and finally in a moving sequence shows close ups of all the different smiling faces of the children from all over the world.
5. Chinese people were really confused by the “footage of legs,” only afterwards did we discover that in front of the blank canvas were plates full of pigment so that each time a person walked across it created a rainbow effect. This was captured very well in the foreign version, but wasn’t captured in the CCTV version.
6. In the Chinese version, when the athletes entered the stadium you could not see the signs held up for each at all, only after watching the later version did we discover that each sign had 3 languages written on them (French, English, and Chinese) and were written with our traditional Chinese brushwork.

Additional source states: “On August 9th, I spoke with a friend in the television industry and he said that the live broadcast of the opening ceremony was the responsibility of Beijing Olympic Broadcasting (BOB). The BOB live broadcast was global, and many television stations around the world (including TVB) all used the BOB broadcast which was excellent. But CCTV held broadcasting rights in China and brought their own cameras and director, so the final broadcast in China included clips from both CCTV coverage and BOB coverage cut and broadcast simultaneously, ruining the overall effect. The odd collection of closeups on famous people and actors and leaders and the shaky video footage was all thanks to CCTV.” (Original source here)

Who to blame? A source says:”

I am really angry! No wonder I have this weird (disconnected) feeling in watching the opening. The answer is that a Swedish broadcast director ruined our 2008 Olympics Opening Ceremony and Lao Mouzi’s (Yimou Zhang) talent.”

“NBC’s version is 1000 times better than CCTV’s, it shows the grand overview, super! But all our Chinese were watching a discounted gala.”

“So the broadcast director didn’t show us a real and extravagant opening. The director is a Swedish, not Chinese.”

真的很愤怒！！

怪不得看开幕式的时候感觉怪怪的！！！！

原来答案是这个 S B 瑞典导播毁了我们的2008奥运开幕式和老谋子的才华！！！！

美国NBC制作的奥运开幕式确实比垃圾瑞典导播的好千倍,展示的很全面很大气，超赞，而咱们自己中国人却看到的是打折的盛会，飚泪5555555~~~

所以这次导播的垃圾让我们完全没有真实的看到一个美轮美奂举世震惊的开幕式
导播是瑞典人，不是中国的

But so far, there is no official statement about the program director. Search “奥运会 导播” and you will see more stories.

To compare and contrast for yourself, download CCTV TVB version (3.26GB); BBC version (2.5GB); NBC version (4.92GB); CCTV version (Bittorrent)

The first section of this page is dedicated to Chinese resources. Good for overseas Chinese who want to hear Chinese commentary on their favorite events. The second section is for non-Chinese language. Feel free to add good resources for your language/country in the comments below thus more readers can view the video online.

Part I: Chinese Language

Bejing Olympic Games Official Website：

• www.beijing2008.cn

Online Live Video Stream Sites

• 　　 CCTV: http://2008.cctv.com/05/index.shtml
• 　　 Sohu 搜狐：http://info.2008.sohu.com/Live/
• 　　 Tencent 腾讯：http://2008.qq.com/live/
• 　　 Netease 网易：http://v.2008.163.com/
• 　　 Sina 新浪： http://2008.sina.com.cn/video/

Video Stream Application/Software (P2P) Live: (need to download and install software; may not be compatible with all browsers and operating systems)

• 　　 UUSEE 优视 网络电视下载:http://nj.newhua.com/soft/44708.htm
• 　　 风行网络电影:http://nj.newhua.com/soft/898.htm
• 　　 PPS网络电视: http://www.ppstream.com/download.html
• 　　 PPLive网络电视:http://www.skycn.com/soft/24106.html
• 　　 QQ视频播放器：http://tv.qq.com/download.htm

Olympic Games Schedules：

• 　　 http://2008.cctv.com/03/index.shtml
• 　　 http://info.2008.sohu.com/Schedule/

Thank Hanger08 for above list.

Part II Non-Chinese Language

Bejing Olympic Games Official Website

• http://en.beijing2008.cn/video/ (English)

Online Live Video Stream Sites:

• NBC: http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/index.html (English, 2,200 hrs, up from 100 hrs in 2004, RWW reported.) Just enter zipcode and install Microsoft Silverlight plug-in. （US only)
• YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/beijing2008 (Available in more than 70 countries where exclusive rights have not been sold like India, South Korea, Iraq. See cNet report here.) How to get around Youtube regional filtering
• Eurosport: http://eurosport.yahoo.com/ (multiple languages, only available to certain regions outside of the US) Also has streaming audio coverage
• Eurovision: http://www.eurovision.net/ops/olympics.php (certain European Broadcasting Union (EBU) territories only)
• CBC: http://www.cbc.ca/olympics/livevideo (Canada only)
• BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/video_and_audio/default.stm (UK only)
• TerraTV: http://www.ar.terra.com/shared/pekin2008/ (based out of Argentina – Spanish – certain regions only)

More options are listed at the Wired How to Wiki:

• Watch Olympics. syndication of user generated feeds
• TV Tonic: download service similar to iTunes. But 32-bit Windows Vista compatible only
• Yahoo7: Australia official Olympics online portal including live streams
• Cox High Speed Internet: Cox customers can access the NBCOlympics content via a Cox portal