Cheerleading in China. Yay!

One of the newest developments in the realm of Chinese sport has been the interest in cheerleading and cheers competitions. Since before the 2008 Beijing Olympics, there has been a drastic increase in mainstream fascination, participation and expansion of the "sport". Although this seems like less of a blog-worthy development, it is still an interesting aspect of Chinese culture that is changing.

When I first arrived in China, there were very few, if any cheerleaders of any kind. Although there were forms of dance in traditional Chinese culture, there was definitely a lack of a performance art that combined athletic maneuvers, performance and peppiness. One can even make the argument that traditional Chinese culture frowned on this type of performance for it wardrobe and style.

Earliest forms of cheerleading in China were glorified jumping around of cute girls in relatively skimpy outfits during timeouts at Chinese Basketball Association (CBA - the Chinese national basketball league) games. These performances were often elementary and actually quite embarrassing to watch.

However, as the Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears influence on pop dancing (as well as Korean and Japanese pop) changed somewhat Chinese pop singers, this influence has also translated into the increased recognition and better accented moves in cheer circles. In the past months, there has been a noticeable improvement in everything cheerleading related.

During the preparations for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, cheerleading professionals from the US were invited to come to China to help mentor, train and develop girls who were going to perform at the games. In total, China trained 200,000 people to cheer in preparation for the Olympics. This national initiative really helped improve Chinese aspiring cheerleaders.

Without knowing how many Chinese schools have cheer programs, it is notable that many TV programs include cheer performances and competitions of many Chinese schools. There has been definitely an increase in peppiness.

While these programs are becoming more frequent, coverage of international competitions have also been broadcasted. As I am writing this post, I am watching the 2008 World Aerobics competitions on the main Chinese sports channel (CCTV5). Other events, including the US cheer championships usually held in Disneyworld, have also been given prime exposure to Chinese audiences.

Although this type of performance dance/sport is still in its infancy in China, it has been marked by notable investment and development (just as in every other industry in China).

The NBA Pushes on in the Chinese Market

The NBA is making a bigger play within the China market. It has announced a venture to build/renovate/create 12 NBA-caliber arenas in China over the next 20 years. There are only 2 NBA-caliber arenas in China currently, the Wukesong Basketball arena in Beijing (host of the Olympics basketball events) and the arena in the Macau Venetian hotel.

As reported on ESPN.com:

The NBA has formed a joint venture with Anschutz Entertainment Group to design and develop about 12 multipurpose arenas in major Chinese cities.

"We think of this over the next 20 years, not the next year or two," he said, adding some would be new arenas and others would be created by renovating existing facilities.

"You're going to see a combination," Leiweke said. "Most of them will be built and designed from the ground up."

"Where feasible, the arenas will be developed in conjunction with surrounding cultural and entertainment districts potentially comprised of restaurants, retail outlets, cinemas, hotels, residential areas, sports training facilities and smaller live entertainment venues," the NBA said in a statement.

The NBA already has a considerable footprint in marketing itself in China.

• Basketball is officially the most popular sport in China.
  
• US Basketball team members at the recent Olympics made a big marketing push in China to promote the NBA & USA Basketball
  
• It also has 3 Chinese-born players in the league, Yao Ming (Rockets), Yi Jianlian (Nets) and most recently, Sun Ye (Lakers) - all in big markets.
  
• "The NBA currently has relationships with 51 Chinese telecasters, including a partnership of more than 20 years with national broadcaster CCTV," the NBA says. This means NBA games are on all the time on Chinese TV.
  

WWE Wresting is in CHINA! WHAT?!?!

As I'm writing in my blog right now, I have the Guangzhou sports channel on (Channel 67 on Shenzhen's local cable). To my surprise, the programming being broadcasted right now isnt a European Champion's League soccer game nor is it a replay of an 2008 Beijing Olympic event - that has been often on TV recently. It's not even a boring strategy guide of Chinese chess.

No. It's WWE's Monday night RAW with John Cena wrestling in a 2 on 1 event.

What?!

Yes. You heard it here. The World Wrestling Entertainment is here in China. As I've noticed in the brief time I've been checking the show out, it seems like unedited segments of the live events broadcasted in its natural form. The viewer can hear the English broadcast, plot lines and music but the entire production is voiced over by a Chinese commentator. This guy explains each wrestler's history, their technique and special moves, the plot lines, situations and almost a play-by-play of the matches. I wonder how these commentators made up the Chinese vocab for a Stone Cold Stunner...

Best Quote: "[In Chinese] Don't do these submission moves at home, kids."

What is with WWE events being broadcasted in China of all places? What are they thinking? Although I dont know if fake wrestling is as popular here in China as it is in the midwest and south in the USA, I do know that the WWE is making a play at the China market just like the NBA, MLB, NFL (not to mention just about all other western companies).

In my opinion, it's incredibly funny that this is on TV here in Shenzhen, China. If Chinese people actually watch this programing, what would they think about how crazy US sports are. I wonder if the China version shows the girls wrestle in skimpy bikinis too??

2008 Beijing Olympics: Rampant Ticket Scalping

My first Olympic event that I went to was the Men's basketball preliminary game between the USA and Angola.

After receiving a free ticket to ride the metro - all people with a ticket to any of the day's event had free access to any of the public transportation, my mom and I arrived at the Wukesong stop.

Before walking over to the beautiful and state of the art basketball arena, we had to walk about 500 yards. In that single stretch, we were constantly approached by ticket scalpers either looking to buy "tickets you were refunding" or to sell the tickets they had just acquired. I personally saw or came across 50-100 ticket scalpers in that general area.

Without thinking too much of it, my mom and I proceeded into the arena to see the game. It turned out to be a wildly entertaining and overall solid performance by the All-Star NBA cast on the "Dream Team 8" or aka "Redeem Team."

A couple of days later, my friend Dave somehow got his hands on some USA v. Greece men's basketball tickets. He said it cost him about 2000RMB (285USD) each. I won the same ticket in the ticket lottery for 100RMB a ticket. That's a difference of 1900RMB or a 20x increase over the face price. That's ridiculous.

I was later told that tickets to the men's basketball prelims were the toughest tickets to get. They were sometimes going for 4000RMB for some games and even 10k RMB to 20k RMB for the China v. USA game. Tickets for the swimming & diving events in the Water Cube, the track and field events, the gymnastics events and all other events that China was supposed to do well were going for crazy prices as well. The primary locations of this included the area just outside the basketball area (where I was) and the subway entrance to the Olympic Green - where the bird nest, water cube and many other venues are.

There was so much extraordinary demand for tickets from Chinese people that these prices were maintained throughout the Olympics. It was a quick way to make money for everyone who did it. Even foreigners got involved. Only after more than 11 days of competition did the police start to crackdown. My Chinese friend explained, "It is soo hard for us to find tickets to buy that we'll buy at just about every price. Can you help me find some tickets?" On August 18th, Beijing police arrested more than 200 ticket scalpers. They placed anti-scalping signs in visible places just to deter further scalping.


It didn't work. On August 19th, when I went to the Bird Nest to watch track and field, I was still approached by scalpers who wanted my ticket. Some were offering 500RMB. Others were offering 1000RMB. The face price was 200RMB. All of them were doing it in front of anti-scalping signs. While I saw a few people being arrested, there were still more than 20 people out there. I thought about selling my extra ticket, but my friend who came along would've been really pissed.

I thought about joining in the scalping fun. The ticketing website, Cosport.com was constantly selling tickets that had not been bought up by foreigners during the initial ticket selling phases. They were offering these tickets to only westerners in Beijing through their online system. No Chinese could buy from them. At the end of multiple tries to obtain tickets - I almost got my hands on 6 tickets for the final swimming event (cost 500RMB that could be scalped for 2000RMB) - I gave up on the pursuit. Those tickets could've paid for my entire trip! I guess that's why so many others were doing it.

2008 Beijing Olympics: Medal Count Politics

Before the Olympics started, my friend Amy, made a wager with one of her Chinese coworkers which country would win the most gold medals in the Olympics. For 100RMB (15USD), Amy took the US while her colleague took China.

At that time, I personally believed that if Michael Phelps was taken out of the equation China could win. Otherwise, there would be only a small chance that China could stand on top of the gold standings.

At the beginning of the final day of competition, no matter what the US win today, China has won the total gold medal tally. The only question is whether or not China will eclipse the 50-gold mark.

I haven't talked to Amy yet, but I bet she is upset that she lost the bet. She probably feels the same way as most people in the US.

The most recent discussion online has been with regard to who won the medal race for the Olympics. In the US, the medal count has always been ranked by total medals won, gold + silver + bronze. I remember that from the 1992 games in Barcelona and in '96 in Atlanta. If that's the rubric then the US wins.

In just about everywhere else in the world, as well as the International Olympic Committee, the rankings are based on the numbers gold medals won. In this rubric, China wins.

Which one is correct?

The Koreans have a different idea. They think it should be ranked based on gold medals per capital (the number of gold medals with respect to the population). If that is the rubric, surprise surprise - South Korea is best.

Some in the US think it should be the amount of people with gold medals on their necks (since a gold in Basketball means 12 people have medals vs. weightlifting where only 1 person receives a gold).

I personally adhere to what the IOC's formula - since it's been used since 1894. I would also like to politely ask my fellow Americans to just accept the fact that China won the most golds and congradualte them for it. For a country and culture where being #1 is first and foremost, it should also embrase that winning gold is most important.

2008 Beijing Olympics: Blue Skies and Marathon Olympic Record

After running for 2 hours 6 minutes and 32 seconds, Samuel Wansiru, from Kenya won the Men's marathon in Olympic record time. He ran the marathon along bright blue skies in Beijing. This was one of the final events in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Just a few weeks ago, the constant question and speculation over the air quality in Beijing was circulating in the western media. How would the bad air effect the athletes? Will China's efforts to have blue skies for the games work? Will athletes come to China and not compete because of the air?

No matter what happened, everyone always said that distance runners wouldn't break any records since they would have the most exposure to polluted air when competing.

Just as the Olympics is coming to a close, this issue of Beijing air quality has been almost entirely forgotten about. Very few articles about the air quality were written after the Olympics actually started.

Not only was the marathon ran under blue skies, but for the majority of the games have been competed in favorable weather. Beginning with the rain-less opening ceremonies to the splendor of the final day, the Olympics have been an overwhelming success.

Note: Wansiru's record in the marathon wasn't just a new Olympic record, but was one of the top 10 times this year for the marathon.

2008 Beijing Olympics: Lebron James Marketing Push

One of my favorite things during the Olympics happens after all of the competitions are over. Everyday at about 9pm Beijing time, there is a daily variety show called "Champion's Circle" hosted on CCTV5 aka the CCTV Olympics channel.

On this show, the host invites numerous Chinese gold medal winners or famous athletes & coaches onto the show. Just about every gold-winning Chinese athlete has been on. They have an intimate interview with jokes, personal questions and serious questions. These include feelings about winning the gold, their personal story for how they got to this point. Other discussion topics include different cute or unique habits and other friendly and humors content for the studio audience. Before each guest leaves, they leave their handprint in a mold with their signature and date onto the "wall of fame".

In the background is a huge circular LCD screen showing graphics and videos while background "variety" music accompany the interviews. Between segments there are dancers who entertain the crowd.

On the night of August 22nd, after an joint appearance of 4 members of the Chinese Men's national basketball team - that included Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian, a surprise guest showed up on the show.

It was Lebron James.

Earlier in the day, Lebron and Yao Ming had made a joint appearnce at a event bringing together athletes from different countries to promote cross cultural understanding. The was Lebron's second stop.

Joking around with the host through a translator, Lebron James was interviewed for about 10 minutes with a huge mural of him dunking in the background LCD.

Questions posed included.... what did you think of the opening ceremony? Why didn’t you take up ping pong instead? Which color medal do you like better, silver or bronze? Lebron kept his cool and even made a few jokes himself.

At the end, Lebron James signed a basketball and gave it to the youngest kid in the audience so that the kid can forever love the game of basketball.

As Lebron James left, he was given a framed photo of himself as a gift. He then also made a hand print and hung it on the wall of champions.

I personally love Lebron James. He’s one of the best basketball players in the world, has a great personality and is a huge fan of Ohio State (probably the college he would’ve attended if he didn’t go to the NBA directly) which is my favorite too.

As a person who is establishing himself as a international icon and brand, Lebron James had the 2nd highest gross income for an athlete in 2007 (Tiger Woods was first). His marketing presence in China, a country where basketball is the most popular sport – and everyone loves the NBA is a great idea. Even though this show is produced in what Americans would consider a “variety show” format with cheesy music and sometimes even cheesier jokes, it is watched by millions and millions of Chinese viewers.

Lebron James is not only taking advantage of his opportunity to participate in the Beijing Olympics to the fullest (by appearing in events like this), his Cleveland Cavs also came last year for the first preseason NBA games ever in China – held in Guangzhou, Shanghai and Macau.

While his Nike posters in China are not as big as the one in Cleveland, or his fame in China isn’t as big as Yao Ming or Kobe Bryant (who has a huge following), Lebron James will have a great future in the China market.

2008 Beijing Olympics: Liu Xiang Withdraws, Mayhem Ensues

After waking up this morning after a long Sanlitun night, I was able to catch the prelims of the Men's 110m hurdles race featuring Chinese superman, Liu Xiang. Without even knowing what's going Liu Xiang suddenly took his competition numbers off and walked out of the stadium. Everyone was in shock. How did this happen?

Although I was stunned by what happened, I wasn't necessarily surprised. Everyone already had Liu Xiang in the finals winning the gold medal. I even have tickets to the semifinals competition. However, all of those expectations can be quickly destroyed when a false start or an injury prevents the athlete from competing.

Immediately after the withdraw, a press conference was called with the Chinese Track & Field coach and Liu Xiang's personal coach. They explained that this was an Achilles tendon problem that only manifested itself recently. It had nothing to do with the previous hamstring injury or something that was hidden. He also explained that the pain had to be intolerable for Liu Xiang to withdraw – that it was his dream to compete in the Olympics ever since he saw that China was awarded the game 7 years ago in 2001. Liu Xiang was 18 (the same age as me).

What is most heartbreaking is that during his last training session the day before the opening ceremonies, it was reported online that he was running at around 12.9 seconds. After the press conference, an emotional CCTV5 reported that the actual time was around 12.8 – faster than world record time.

Liu Xiang has been the idol for so many Chinese for so long that he won't be discarded so easily. Even though he didn't compete in this Olympics and didn't win gold for his country, he will always be loved by his countrymen.

This response in already there. Within a few minutes after the press conference people already have understanding and would like to encourage him to fight back. Beijing TV's commentary show on the Olympics is taking text messages and emails from viewers. All comments have been positive and understanding. This Beijing TV show went on for the entire afternoon with the 4 hosts (2 male and 2 female) taking about this withdraw back and forth.

I was texting back and forth with a friend and she said she cried when she heard the news. In her text: "Liu Xiang let his country down, but he's the only person in the world with 1.3 billion exectations on him."

At 10pm, Liu Xiang gave an interview with CCTV apologizing to the Chinese people. He said that there was no way he could compete and that it was too much pain to bare.

At the same time, China just won its 39th gold.

2008 Beijing Olympics: Best Story of the Games

One of the best stories for this Olympics is the story of Du Li, the Chinese women's shooter. She has been a consistent force in women's shooting for the past few years, repeatedly winning various world level shooting events. She was the reining Olympic champion of the Athens games for the 10m air rifle.

On the first day of competition she was supposed to be part of a 2-women Chinese team that was dubbed "双保险" "a double insurance" for the gold medal in the 10m air rifle competition - the 1st gold medal awarded for the Beijing games and the 1st gold for China.

The first event came and went without any news. The final result was shocking. Of the 3 medalists, there were no Chinese. The perennial favorite, Du Li, finished 5th.

A female Chinese CCTV reporter caught up with Du Li as she was leaving the competition. During the brief interview Du Li was visibly crying under her visor. Her emotions - from losing the 1st gold medal, from the pressure she put on herself, from the pressure of expectations from her fans, from the Chinese people - these all out. This feeling even made the interviewing reporter cry while encouraging Du Li that she could come back.

Katerina Emmons, the gold medalist of the event said in her press conference that she really felt bad for Du Li. "The media put so much pressure on her. I know that she can shoot so much better than she did today. If possible, I want to give my flowers [that she received for winning the gold medal] to her."

Fast forward a few days. China has had a very successful Olympics. Men's gymnastics won gold. Women's gymnastics won gold. More than 15 gold and 20 plus medals later, Du Li was back center stage competing in the final of the women's 50m rifle competition.

Leading by 1 after the qualification round, Du Li's first shot was a 8.7, the lowest of all the competitors. The air was sucked out of the venue and the fans could feel a sense of unease.

However, this time the happy ending was meant to be. Du Li pulled away at the end, winning by almost 2 points.

When asked by the reporter how it felt to have 4 years of hard work come to fruition, Du Li responded that it was actually the past 4 days that have been so incredibly difficult. Crying tears of joy, she thanked all of the fans who went out to support her, sending her gifts and cards, encouraging her to keep on fighting on. It was that motivation that pushed her through.

2008 Beijing Olympics: Craziness @ Ditan Park - Opening Ceremony

The Washington Post was present at Ditan Park for the opening ceremonies. As reported in For Chinese, A Long-Awaited Occasion of Hope and Pride...

"Everyone is crying out, 'Go, China!' I feel the park is going to explode," said Liu Jian, 29, a composer who watched the ceremony in Ditan Park.

Audiences cheered loudly for Hong Kong and Chinese Taipei, as Taiwan is referred to at the Olympics. They applauded loudly for allies such as Pakistan and Cuba, for soccer nations Brazil and Spain, and for Iraq. In Ditan Park, there were no discernible boos for the United States or Japan, both targets in the past of virulent expressions of Chinese nationalism.

When a towering Yao Ming entered the stadium at the head of the Chinese delegation bearing a giant Chinese flag, thousands of people sitting on every available inch of pavement rose to their feet screaming and cheering until their faces were red.

I was one of the people yelling and jumping on my feet. Here was the scene when China entered:

2008 Beijing Olympics: Media @ Opening Ceremony

Here are some videos of the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony celebration at Ditan Park on 8.8.08.

European or Aussie journalists interviewing an old lady who was sitting right next to me. There were tons of media everywhere!

A lot of American journalists were on site to capture the moment.

2008 Beijing Olympics: Parade of Nations

One of the coolest things from the opening ceremonies has always been the parade of nations. This is where all of the athletes and coaches of different nations are announced to the crowd. They then march along the track while waving to the fans and the world.

This year, the traditional parade of nations had a twist. The procession is usually done by alphabetical order (A to Z) with Greece (the origin of the Olympics) first and the host country (China this year) last. This time it was not done with Alphabetical order but with the number of Chinese strokes in the first character of the country's Chinese name.

For example, the USA (美国, meiguo), where the character 美 has 9 total strokes. That makes it the 140th country compared with Japan (日本, riben), where the character 日has 4 strokes - making it the 23rd country in line.

Not only is the Olympics being held in China, but this is a sign that the Chinese are doing much of it in its own terms. It is a vastly different approach to a traditional event.

Go China.

2008 Beijing Olympics: Men's Soccer @ Wangfujing

Yesterday I was walking on Wangfujing at night. It seemed to be like a good area. There were a lot of people walking around, hanging out and enjoying themselves.

3 building-sized screens have been put up on the buildings of Wangfujing. They were broadcasting Chinese channels and various Olympic coverage. Local citizens even brought out their stools to hang out and just watch TV with everyone else.


As a friend and I walked up Wangfujing, we saw a huge crowd gathered watching the Men's soccer prelim match between China and New Zealand. After a brief discussion, my friend and I got a beer and joined in the festivities.

I estimate that there were atleast 500-1000 people in my area watching the soccer game. There were people yelling and screaming. There were "中国加油" chants and even imporptu Chinese National Anthem singing. It was definitely a sight. A lot of media were present. Some took pictures and others even joined in the fun.

At around the 65th minute, New Zealand scored their goal. There was a sense that the collective air got knocked out of everyone's guts. The chants went silent and everyone was nervous.

At the 87th mark, and after more than 20 minutes of unsuccessful scoring opportunities by the Chinese team, it seemed that it was almost over. The crowd had almost lost hope that China would score. Finally someone got everyone to stand up for the final few minutes.

So just as everyone stood up, it happened. China scored a GOAL!!

It was pandemonium. Everyone was going CRAZY. I high-5ed a lot of people and miss high-5ed some too. But the feeling was great. For the final few minutes of the match, everyone was yelling and screaming, greatly enjoying the match, especially the CHinese team's performance. Remember, this was the first goal in Olympics or World Cup history for Chinese Men's Soccer.

What a way to start the Olympics!

2008 Beijing Olympics: Hotel Price Rollercoaster

One of the more interesting aspects of the Beijing 2008 Olympics has been the evolution of the price of hotels and different types of accommodations.

In July 2007, I was working with a few different Chinese universities in Beijing on a summer camp for American teenagers. When asking about the possible cost of the basic university dorms during the Olympics, the managers and deans all stated that none of the hotels could give us an accurate price. These hotels (about 2 star level) usually cost around 30 USD per night for a double room. It seemed like all of the different universities were preparing for a huge increase in price due to anticipating huge crowds for the Olympics.

During the same time, all of the major 4 and 5 star hotels in Beijing were preparing for the same surge – of price and of tourists interested in the Olympics.

Fast forward a year and the Olympics are upon us. The prices have quadrupled across the board. No matter if it is the cheapest hostels, the 5 star hotels or everything in between. My friend was planning of traveling in Beijing during this time for 2 days. The price for Leo Hostel in Beijing is 550RMB or almost 80USD for a single room. Dorm rooms with 8 people cost 40 USD. Typical hotels costing 50 USD are now asking for 200. This is amazing.


At the same time, a combination of factors has changed the scope of the Olympics with respect to visitors.

1. The increased regulations of visa applications have made it much more difficult for foreign visitors to participate in the festivities.

2. Due to the same visa issues, many westerners already in China have left. One friend told me that 80% of all foreigners have left China in the past 6 months. I don’t really believe the ratio is truly that high, but its definitely true. Many friends and friends of friends in Shenzhen and Guangzhou have left.

3. Recent terrorist attacks in Xinjiang province have forced the government to increase security measures. Not only has this possibly affected foreign tourists, but many Chinese tourists have stayed away from Beijing.

“They’ve even mobilized surface to air missile defense systems around Beijing. You know if something happens, it’s going to be in Beijing.” – My Aunt

Combine these reasons with protests from some European heads of states, the Tibetan issue and the Sichuan earthquake, the amount of foreign tourists at the Beijing Olympics are drastically less than the 500,000 previously expected. As The Times of India reports:

People connected to the travel industry were expecting a flood of visitors coming to Beijing two weeks before the Games.

Instead, there is a small trickle of visitors just three days before the start of the Games apart from the athletes and sports officials from different participating countries.The arrival lounges at the Beijing airport, including the recently opened Terminal 3, are not at all as crowded as one would expect at the airport of a city hosting the world's biggest sports event.

Though exact numbers are not available, most observers feel there are lesser foreign tourists seen at Beijing's airport on a given day now than what was visible few months back.

Without the amount of foreigners expected, many of the hotels have changed pulled back on their previously ridiculous rates. Although rates are still higher than before, they are much more "reasonable".

"I am getting very low price quotations from three-star hotels. They are ready to sell rooms at nearly half the price they were asking for two weeks back. Lot of hotels are losing hopes of 100 per cent occupancy during the 16 days of the Games," Chang Qing, a travel agent, said.

Some news outlets have even reported that many 4 star hotels have less than a 50% occupancy rate for the entire Olympics. Who knows what the figures are for 3 star hotels and smaller establishments. I guess all that preparation starting a year ago was really a waste of time.

2008 Beijing Olympics

I’m officially on my way to the Olympics.

• I have my bags packed.
• I found a relatively cheap business hotel in Chaoyang District for about 400 RMB per night.
• I have my tickets ready – 4 events including a basketball game between the USA and Angola.
• I called friends and family who I’m going to hang out with
• I’m going to attend a pre-Olympics Columbia alumni function in Beijing
• I have the Olympic spirit
• I even have an Olympic T-shirt

In the past few days, there has been a lot of talk about increased security for the Olympics. Due to the recent terror bombings in Xinjiang province, the security ramifications have affected the entire country.

I have seen guard dogs and increased security in Shenzhen’s subways.

I’ve been searched and re-searched in the airports, and even had to take off my shoes. That never happens in China.

I tried having a family friend help book me a hotel room that would be cheaper than I would be able to find. She could use her connections and book the room in someone else’s name to book a 4 star hotel for about 350 RMB. Typical 4 star rates are more than 1500 RMB. However, due to the terrorist bombings, all hotels are requiring that all guests be registered in his/her own name. So much for the 4 star hotel.

Even with all these possible issues, the Olympics experience is going to be great!

Wow, it's Embarassing: The Official Chinese Olympic Cheer

As a Chinese person observing the buildup to the Olympics, one of the most embarrassing (and almost annoying) aspects of the prep is watching the official Olympic cheer being constantly promoted by the respective authorities and the people adopting it.

Turn on just about any of the CCTV channels, news or pre-Olympic programing and you will find constant reminder of this chant. "Go Olympics, Go China!" Too bad it looks horrible.

As Danwei first described it...

The cheer is a joint product of the Party Office of Spiritual Civilization Development and Guidance (GODPP), the Ministry of Education, BOCOG, and CCTV. Here's an illustrated guide, which will appear on television and promotional posters in the near future:

Step 1: Clap two times (while chanting 奥运, "Olympics")
Step 2: Hands in fists with thumbs up, arms extended upward (while chanting, 加油, "Let's go!")
Step 3: Clap two time (while chanting 中国, "China")
Step 4: Hands in fists, arms extended outward and upward (while chanting 加油, "Let's go!")

One of the more annoying Chinese-things is that we dont know how to cheer as a people. Without "加油, 'Let's go'" we have nothing else to say! Why is this? Can't we get our 1 billion people plus to say somehting else. We could possibly even learn a thing or 2 from our lil cousins, the Japanese and the Koreans.

Incredible. I promise I will not be doing this cheer when I'm in the Olympic stadium watching a Track & Field event on August 19th. So Embarassing.

Olympic Tickets

When I first moved to China, I promised myself that I would go to the 2008 Olympics. I have a lot of friends and family in Beijing and it seems about right that I go for the festivities. Not only will there be awesome events, it's a great way to celebrate China's growth and revival.

A few months back, I applied for tickets online. A couple of days ago, i received confirmation of the tickets that they're going to give me. Out of the 10 different events I wanted to go to, I didn't get anything in ping pong, basketball, badminton or swimming. Those tickets were already lottery-ed off. I going to see fencing, beach volleyball and a event in the National Stadium, though.

There has been rumors that not a lot of foreigners are going to come to the 2008 Olympics. I dont believe this. I bet there are going to be a ton of travelers coming for it, and if they don't come, Chinese people will just have to take all the seats.

加油。

CNN Revisiting Chinglish

Bad English.

Everyone’s seen it. It’s everywhere. No matter where you go in China, you’ll find signs like these.

As a Chinese American, who has been on many trips with other Americans to different tourist places in China, seeing a funny sign is…well, funny. In preparation for the Olympics, the Beijing Government instituted a program where Beijingers and foreigners in Beijing are encouraged to help find and correct such signs.

This initiative was first instituted in late 2005. Xinhua had an article on the problem entitied English signs in Beijing "lost in translation". The blog, Danwei had a detailed post; Beijing cleans up its own sign translations, on the subject. In my recollection, I remember this being reported in multiple Chinese media outlets and different western papers.

On April 19^th 2007, Cnn.com posted an article on its website called Chinese officials crack down on bad English. This article basically reiterated what Danwei and Xinhua talked about more than a year and half ago.

How did CNN miss the boat on this for almost 2 years? Why are they writing about old news? Can anyone give me a good explanation that doesn't involve the China Olympics/Sudan issue that has recently came up?

ESPN's take on the 2008 Beijing Olympics

ESPN.com’s Jim Caple recently published an article on ESPN.com called Beijing or Bust — Beat Olympics Traffic, Get Here Now, regarding the upcoming Olympics being held in Beijing in 2008.

One of the interesting things Caple mentioned was about the reason behind the quick and ahead of schedule construction on all of the venues.

After he described the various different attributes of China’s preparation for the Olympics. Caple started on the incredibly fast transformation of Beijing’s skyline:

How fast is Beijing changing? In just my two days there, the building next to my hotel was condemned, torn down, replaced by a 10-story Starbucks, then torn down again to make way for a 50-story Best Buy. I'm exaggerating, of course. The Best Buy store will be in Shanghai.

…and then the “awful” and increasingly worse traffic situation:

Taking a ride out to the Great Wall, we hit some of the worst traffic I've ever endured. I counted eight rows of cars clogging a highway that had only six official lanes, and we were all being funneled into a mere four lanes. Worsening the choke point was an accident blocking one of the four precious lanes.

You know that opening scene of "Office Space," during which Peter is stuck in traffic and notices he's being passed by an elderly man with a walker? This was worse. In 20 minutes we crawled perhaps one kilometer. And all the while, my driver squirmed in his seat and listened to the Mandarin equivalent of Rush Limbaugh. I have no idea what the broadcaster was saying, but he sounded so angry I can only assume he must have been bitching about the traffic.

I definitely recommend this article as an entertaining piece from a not-so-jaded American’s time in China. It’s a quick bit of what China’s about.

At the end of the article, Caple described something in Guangzhou that I had already seen in Shenzhen, and wrote about it in Cab Advertising:

In addition to being very inexpensive, cabs in China (at least in Guangzhou) sometimes come with flat-screen TV monitors in the back seat. As I rode in from the airport late one night, I watched a news report gleefully showing members of the Taiwanese parliament throwing shoes at each other during a heated session. I could just imagine the commentary: "See? This is what the imperialist running dogs give you with democracy. We can give you the same thing just by opening up a Nordstrom's." It is also a very strange feeling to be riding through Guangzhou at six in the morning and watching a replay of Fish-O-Mania XIII.

I guess these LCD Taxis are spreading…