Bring ‘em on

Actually I’m not sure if China is preparing for a sports event, i.e. running around in circles, jumping over obstacles, throwing things, generally fooling around and having a good time, or about to go to war. Reading websites such as the China Daily [CD] and the Shanghai Daily [SD] you might be excused [...]

May you live in interesting times

The PRC government is making an effort to systematically clear out foreigners residing and working in China, particularly those in Beijing. That the clear-out is widespread is not disputed and no one with a non-Chinese skin is safe no matter how long they have lived in China and no matter what they are there [...]

Alternative Olympic Games

Many thanks to Beijing Olympics Fan for alerting us to this webpage of wonders on the Mental Floss website.

The sports/activities/antics [delete as required] depicted on this page, each with a demo video clip, beat diving, dressage, and most other Olympic sports, hands down. Shame upon BOCOG for not selecting wife-carrying [if you really think [...]

Torch Fatigue in Suzhou

Thank you to Beijing Olympics FAN for bringing this posting on the This Is China blog to my attention.
Every country which hosts the Olympics adds a little extra flavour which is all its own, but no one has done this on such a grand scale as China with the resulting outcome that the Olympic element [...]

A step nearer . .

So the Olympic flame has arrived on the top of Mt. Everest/Qomolangma/ Zhūmùlǎngmǎ Fēng/珠穆朗玛峰/jo-mo glang-ma ri/Sagarmatha/सगरमाथा or whatever you want to call it - a mountain by any other name is just as steep.
Here is a page on QQ news, translated by Google-analytics, with a few more photos of the event.
No protests were reported.

Athens to Beijing - update

Early in March I reported two groups who planned to cycle from Athens to Beijing; in keeping with the Olympic spirit here are a few more details about our intrepid travellers.

These two pictures were taken of the Chinese team while they were in Athens with their volunteer guides. It’s not difficult to pick [...]

The ‘b’-word

The ‘b’-word has been mentioned in the press. Again. At the time of Mr Spielberg’s disengagement with BOCOG there was some talk of boycotting the 2008 Olympics in protest over China’s involvement with Darfur, but it then faded away. Since the recent troubles in Tib@t the topic has been revived and the [...]

Athens to Beijing

I was a little confused by some postings I found on the internet about what sounded like quite an impressive celebratory feat of stamina, until I realised there were two events involved. They both occur at more or less the same time, between the same two cities and both involve people using the same mode [...]

An Italian Hero

I was passing the time in a reading room recently, working my way through the newspapers of the day, as one does, filling in bits of crossword puzzles, dozing and drinking tea, though not necessarily in that order. Stuffed away in a corner was the remnants of a backcopy which I idly glanced through [...]

Take Note . . .

Lord Malloch-Brown has spoken up in support of Steven Spielberg’s decision to quit his post as adviser to the Beijing Oympic Games. By so doing he has forced China’s leaders to “sit up and take notice” and has “focussed minds”. If you don’t believe me it is all here in [...]