do you plan to come to china beijing for Olympic?

No. How are things in Tibet?

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Clown . . .

. . . good one . . . heeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheehee . . .

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I would love to come to China, but I can barely afford to travel to the next town. Maybe someday.

I'd love to see the terracotta warriors at Xian, the Forbidden Palace, and of course the Great Wall.

I hope that the Olympics will stir interest in China tourism around the World.

Are you excited by the upcoming Olympics?

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Intrepid wrote:

No. How are things in Tibet?

the Tibet event is stiring around the world,and there are 2 views with poles-apart stand:
chinese gov:the Tibet event is a riot manipulated by dalai lama,who wants to separate the Tibet from homeland.

some international Media:china is suppressing the human rights in Tibet.

i am in China,and all the native media tells that the mob in Tibet who are manipulated by dalai lama have badly disturbed the order of society and made lots of innocent people lost their life by extreme brutal behavior.in the beginning,i just can't believe it could occur in china,but when i saw the vidios spuring at internet which record the riot spot,i am astonished by the cruel behavior of the mod,they fire the shop,crack down everthing they can see in the street,and attack the passerby with stick,sword or other weapon.Some of the vitim is interviewed by media after the roit,and they are all bitterly attacking the mod with rage and tears.and now i heard that the event is generally controled,but some small-scale roit is still exist in some place of china by small Tibetan mod.

the fact is simple:dalai lama has the last chance to separate the Tibet when China hold the Olympic since he is very old,so, he made use of some rogue and rascal to make the roit, he is very clear that the chinese gov can't easily assault at the special time,and even if he can't separate the Tibet,it could make obstacle for the Olympic which could bring negative reputation of Chinese Gov.

about other foreign media report,i think it is distortion,even lying,some of the media has admited their mistakes,and out of the mistakes,i think most of them wants to give press to such a special country deliberately at such a special time.

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robinekin, what proof do you have that it was Dalai lama who hired mobs that rioted in Tibet instead that they are native tibetians who deny chinese order on them....?

U know what they say, ours is a Freedon Fighter and theirs is a terrorist.

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robinekin wrote:

about other foreign media report,i think it is distortion,even lying,some of the media has admited their mistakes,and out of the mistakes,i think most of them wants to give press to such a special country deliberately at such a special time.

China used good brainwashing tactics that seem to work with its people.

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Independence may only create additional problems for Tibetans. Former members of the Soviet Union are still struggling with economic hardship and violent civil strife. Could China give Tibetans more representation in how they are governed? This may be a better solution than complete independence.

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Just finished a China trip. Beijing is the most polluted city I have ever seen (and I travel worldwide for work). I honestly don't know how they are going to hold any track and field events there without the competitors dying from asthma attacks.
Other than that it was an interesting place....just have trouble with smog that hangs all the way to the ground...

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Hi Robinekin, welcome to A2K.

I wish I could afford the trip to the Olympics.

There are many similarities between Beijing 2008 and Mexico 1968.

In both cases, authoritarian governments made a killing of protesters afew days before the games, while saying the protesters "wanted to boycott the Olympics".
In both cases, some international anger was stirred.

... and in both cases, first world media made a fuzz about polution (and altitude in the case of Mexico City), saying that athletes would fall like dead doves.
In Mexico City there were no athlete (or visitor) casualties due to polution or altitude. Several world and olympic records were broken (and Bob Beamon's majestic jump still holds as Olympic record, 40 years later).

They were great, unforgettable, games.
I hope Beijing's will be great and unforgettable too.

With time, Mexico became a true democracy. Hope that will happen with China, too. With time.

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fbaezer wrote:

With time, Mexico became a true democracy. Hope that will happen with China, too. With time.

Same here. And I'd like to add to this that boycotting the Olympics and tying it so tightly to Tibet would probably just slow that process.

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Excellent post, fbaezer!

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Media fuzz???? Here, you be the judge of the smog in Beijing...this was taken from a park hilltop across the street from the Forbidden City...

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tommrr wrote:

Media fuzz???? Here, you be the judge of the smog in Beijing...this was taken from a park hilltop across the street from the Forbidden City...

That looks a lot more like fog than smog and since you offer no verifiable information on the picture nobody can "be the judge" based on it as any city can look like that in very common weather conditions.

In any case, yes the media is making a big deal out of nothing. The smog conditions, though quite bad, aren't going to do legitimate harm to the athletes or the competition.

Altitude would do much worse anyway.

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Robert Gentel wrote:

tommrr wrote:
Media fuzz???? Here, you be the judge of the smog in Beijing...this was taken from a park hilltop across the street from the Forbidden City...

That looks a lot more like fog than smog and since you offer no verifiable information on the picture nobody can "be the judge" based on it as any city can look like that in very common weather conditions.

In any case, yes the media is making a big deal out of nothing. The smog conditions, though quite bad, aren't going to do legitimate harm to the athletes or the competition.

Altitude would do much worse anyway.

Having been there, and breathed the dirt, I can vouch for it. I know it looks like fog, but it was smog....I have many more pictures showing the same thing. And in dealing with the locals, they talk about how the clear out the smog.....shut down the factories, limit how many can drive and seed the clouds for it to rain and clear out the city.
Anyone that tells you that it is not a VERY polluted city, is either a liar or a gov't propogandist.
Having lived a major portion of my life in a part of the US that is much higher than Mexico City, I know the effects of altitude. I have also walked around a very polluted city. Your body will adapt to the altitude difference (and you can train at a high altitude to adjust), but your body WILL NOT adapt to breathing soot.

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Don't get me wrong, I wish China all the luck in hosting a good Olympiad...just don't try to bullshit me about the conditions in the country...

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I know the conditions in the country fairly well, and have no desire to whitewash them. It simply doesn't get much worse and China has a serious problem then need to address.

But the fact remains that the pollution factor to the Olympics (insofar as the athletes are concerned) is exaggerated in the press. It's a much bigger deal to the people living there than the athletes, who simply won't be significantly affected in their performances.

The Chinese desire to reduce the smog before the Olympics has more to do with putting a better foot forward for the visitors than any legitimate concern about the athlete's performances and the press reports are, in my opinion, more motivated by highlighting the environmental irresponsibility of China (a legitimate enough issue) on this stage than any real science about the affect on the games.

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Robert Gentel wrote:

I know the conditions in the country fairly well, and have no desire to whitewash them. It simply doesn't get much worse and China has a serious problem then need to address.

But the fact remains that the pollution factor to the Olympics (insofar as the athletes are concerned) is exaggerated in the press. It's a much bigger deal to the people living there than the athletes, who simply won't be significantly affected in their performances.

The Chinese desire to reduce the smog before the Olympics has more to do with putting a better foot forward for the visitors than any legitimate concern about the athlete's performances and the press reports are, in my opinion, more motivated by highlighting the environmental irresponsibility of China (a legitimate enough issue) on this stage than any real science about the affect on the games.

It's the press, so yes it is exaggerated. And yes, they will be affected. They won't drop dead as they run, but it will affect some preformances. My guess it will happen in the long distance events.
And yes, it is all about putting a good foot foward. The Chineese govt hates being embarrassed more than anything.

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Intrepid wrote:

No. How are things in Tibet?

Sports is sport,politics is politics

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Meaning that China does not consider the olympics a political opportunity? Glad to hear it.

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