Black and White Cat has a great post covering the edits made for the Beijing News Network to a syndicated New York Times article:

Volunteers with the best linguistic skills appear to have been assigned the best jobs — the indoor ones, interacting with the news media. Those less fluent were put on traffic or security detail and stand out in the smog all day.

But almost Eeveryone knows at least “Hello,” “O.K.” and “Have a good day,” so it’s possible for English-speaking visitors to have friendly conversations not much different from the ones they have in the elevator every morning back home making English speaking visitors all feel at ease.

Indeed, this is an excellent guide for demonstrating how to properly translate intrinsically biased stories, as Anglo-European languages have all sorts of ugly words (like freedom, l|berty, several pr0perty)…

To be fair: we hear all the time about state-media bias in China. When the topic comes up, I try to couch any criticisms with “well, in the U.S., some people say our media is driven by self-serving plutocrats.” For the most part, people here know that what they are reading / hearing is to some extent censored.

The extent to which differences of opinion are either: culturally dependent (ie: ’so what if the gymnasts were 14? They won’) or actually based on false beliefs is a fascinating tension I fully intend to continue exploring.

Rather, the beach volleyball venue:

For the moment, you only get 1440 x 900, since that’s what I use.

After visiting much of this country, I still maintain that ancient China had only one architect. Whoever he was, he found what worked and stuck with it:

Wallpaper version [ 1440 x 900 ]

And the subway reminds me oddly of Portal.

Wallpaper [ 1440 x 900 ]

And here are wallpaper versions of earlier pics:

Bird’s Nest [ 1440 x 900 ]

Bubble Cube [ 1440 x 900 ]

So I was sitting outside yesterday, fiddling with my camera and waiting for a friend when a ~9ish year old Chinese boy marches up to me. He’s filled with the impetuous nervousness that can only come from being compelled to conduct a survey in a foreign language for his (presumably) 3rd grade “One China” class. Our exchange follows, all the while he’s filling out a piece of paper on a clipboard:

Adorable boy: Hello! (in English)

Me: Hello (Chinese)

Adorable boy: (switches over to Chinese) What are your feelings about China having won the most gold medals at the Olympics?

Me: Oh. I think it’s great. China has amazing athletes in a lot of events, and they prepared very well.

Adorable boy: What’s your favorite sport?

Me: Beach volleyball.

Adorable boy: Thank you! (back to English again)

He runs off. I feel sort of warm and fuzzy. But why did he care what I thought?

The cost of the Olympics (~$40 billion plus, not accounting for any of the commerce stoppage to greenify greater Beijing) can’t be justified in any direct economic / development sense – there’s a pervasive commentary here that ‘a successful Olympics will increase global recognition of China.’ Yes it may convince some investors to build a few more factories, but that wasn’t exactly the point. Such opinions are necessarily filtered through eyes like mine that barely understand Chinese culture.

So why does everyone everywhere else think that Beijing 08 was a theatrical performance; a glorified dinner invitation to a world many here still feel shamed by? The glam and show was never directly about the world’s perception – only its tacit approval that ‘yes, you did it right.’ This wasn’t because ‘China’ needed affirmation or recognition, but because it would indicate that they were capable:

… Chinese culture has always been inherently exhibitionist. When guests come over, put the best out on the table (even if that means starving) – not only for them, but for yourself, your own honor. And while I always grew up thinking the idea of “mianzi” – best translated as “regard in the eyes of others” – to be both impractical and insecure, I’m slowly beginning to value the idea of it more and more, understanding the somewhat crude logic of it all: you illustrate a showy ideal, not to be deceptive or even superficial, but in hopes that in the process of it all, the outward display will develop into an inward reality. Perhaps the more literal interpretation of jingshen is appropriate here as jing refers to the physical and structural and shen the spirit.

Indeed. That comes from fellow Fulbrighter Ray Deng. The rest of the piece of equally brilliant and accessible.

Viewed through such a lens, it might be more clear why there was an extremely negative (and genuinely hurt) reaction against the torch protests earlier this year; or why it was so critically important to many here that the Olympics went smoothly. The ‘China coming out party’ narrative that has dominated Western media is only partially correct – the approval sought is not one of permission, but rather a search for signals that they are on the right path, to modernization at least. It remains to be seen exactly what vision will dominate longer-term efforts.

I wasn’t terribly happy with my earlier photos of the Bird’s Nest. Behold my vanity.

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I’d like to be able to link the Liu Xiang story to a broader trend about young people in China sacrificing their livelihoods / sanity for the national cause – but I don’t think that’s true. Most of them seem to be doing it because they want to drive a large car and have outlandish luxuries, like their own house.

The takeaway I had while watching the event unfold was one of alienation quickly turned to admiration – someone who finally had the courage to say ‘no.’ That he withdrew as a result of an injury does take some steam out of my sentiment. That may not matter – the general reaction (so far as I’ve interacted with people) seems to be that ‘the pressure was too great,’ and ‘psychological stress can easily lead to physical injury.’

But no one [here] yet seems to have expressed concern at how quickly the state (not even one of the media outlets or state industries, but Vice president of China himself) quickly ‘authorized’ his injury (that they had no way to control it at that point is a meaningless aside, the attempt at maintaining legitimacy was clear).

Contrary to media reports, most of the spectators in the stadium at that time were at first simply confused. Those sitting near us began quickly speaking to eachother, asking what was going on? Was it a stunt? The “silence” that descended was another product of their rapidly spun narrative. What’s most interesting is not that they try to maintain control – everyone here knows that; but rather that the power of story can compel willful ignorance.

What I fear most is that my criticism results only for their being so unsophisticated with these methods. What I find most hopeful is that so many people are questioning.

The games are a time for nations and peoples to set aside their differences and come together in harmonious non-partisan cohesionism. Fortunately, the Peoples’ Committee on Foreign Relations and Cultural Exportation has recognized the obvious educational benefits of preserving multi-culturo-ethnic diversity at beach volleyball games:

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