Changing China
Giant on the move
China’s 60th anniversary : Live
4:30 pm : China celebrated its wealth and rising might with a show of goose-stepping troops, floats and nuclear-capable missiles, 60 years after Mao Zedong proclaimed its embrace of communism.
The two hour-parade of picture-perfect soldiers, tanks and missiles, floats and 100,000 well-drilled civilians was a proud moment for many Chinese citizens, as reporters Ben Blanchard and Lucy Hornby write.
The weather was perfect too, with the Chinese air force deploying a "magic-like" range of chemicals and technology to clear Beijing's smoggy air.
Here's another image from the grand parade:
from Left field:
World Games bring spotlight to southern Taiwan
2008 was undoubtedly China's year in the limelight, thanks to the Beijing Olympics. But this year, China's longtime political and diplomatic rival Taiwan gets the World Games
And it's not Taiwan's frenetic, fashionable capital Taipei which will be hosting the event. Instead, the island's second largest city and one of the world's busiest ports, Kaohsiung, will be home to the 16-26 July extravaganza.
The World Games, held under the patronage of the International Olympic Committee, is for some of the sports which don't make the cut for the Olympics. That includes billiards, tug of war, sumo, squash, water skiing and even life saving.
"For the spectators, at the venues as well as in front of TV sets, the particular fascinations of The World Games are found in watching these athletes compete in sports of a kaleidoscopic variety that is without match in the entire Olympic Movement," is how the organisation describes the event.
What I have found most fascinating is the preparations Kaohsiung has been making for the Games, particularly as I covered the Beijing Olympics and the run-up to it.
Beijing was beset by problems, all well-documented, including worries over pollution, media freedom, the poor foreign language skills of its citizens and many, many other issues, though in the end it all went off more or less smoothly.
Having been to Kaohsiung many times over the past decade and several times over the last few months, I have been fascinated to observe their build-up.
Snapshot Beijing, 4: The greatest dive in Olympic history
The Water Cube was almost silent as a slight blonde man who two years earlier was not even diving leapt off the ten metre platform, twisted and somersaulted through the air and slid into the water with just the slightest of splashes.
Matthew Mitcham resurfaced to an explosion of applause and as the judges’ scores came up his smile of delight dissolved into tears of disbelief.
He had snatched a medal gold from the Chinese favourites with just one, perfect dive.
For the next hour the Australian looked how I always imagined Olympic gold medalists should — overwhelmed with disbelief and delight.
In some ways it was incredible Mitcham was even in Beijing, much less topping the podium. He had battled depression and burnout, retired and come back before he turned twenty. And shortly before he came to Beijing he went public about his sexuality, the only openly gay male athlete at the Olympics.
I felt sorry for the Chinese diver who came second. But after watching his team mates take the other seven medals, some apparently more relieved to have done their duty than excited about the result, it was an unforgettable upset.
Kevin Fylan adds: This is the fourth in our series of snapshots from the Beijing Games, where Reuters reporters give their thoughts on what it was like to be there at the key moments of the Olympics.
Read Snapshot Beijing, 1: Matt Emmons, by Erik Kirschbaum here.
Read Snapshot Beijing, 2: Matthias Steiner, by Sophie Hardach here.
Read Snapshot Beijing, 3: Usain Bolt, by Paul Majendie here.
More to follow over the course of the day.
a review of handover of beijing to london
http://olympicsbeijingtolondon.blogspot. com/
It ain’t Confucius’s China any more…
He knew it the second he landed.
Gymnast Yang Wei knew that mathematically, emotionally, historically and rightfully the men’s all-around Olympic title was his – and the overwhelmingly partisan home-town crowd knew it too.
There was no need for Yang or for his supporters to wait the seemingly interminable minutes for the judges to review his performance on the horizontal bar – as the final participant in the sixth and final rotation of the championship, his lead was so strong that it would have taken a disaster to knock him out of first.
And there had been no disaster.
So Yang played to the crowd.
He flexed his bulging muscles. He raised his arms in triumph. He draped himself in China’s flag. He played cheerleader, waving his arms to encourage the crowd’s roars.
Right pic you inserted. Worth thousand words. I see Yang is saying he can hear your advice about humble and Confucius’s teaching. I’m sure he’ll check his reflection after the Gold metal ceremony.
You see what you want to see…
Facts may be facts.
But putting meaning to those facts can be very tricky.
The fact is, China’s People’s Armed Police parked an armoured personnel carrier outside the main press centre of the Beijing Olympics on Tuesday.
The fact is, photographers and videocameramen swarmed the vehicle taking images that will travel the world. These pictures were all taken by Reuters Reinhard Krause.
The fact is, everyone who sees those images will see something different.
And there’re tanks and “killers” where is not safe,so many people want to see the sport game.you brainless.
Beautiful, baffling and bewildering
So maybe my next job isn’t fencing correspondent
I’ll admit that I’m not a professional sports journalist, but I like to think of myself as a decent amateur watcher of sport.
As an American living in London, I’ve even fallen deeply in love with cricket. Fencing, however, foxes me completely.
It all sounds so marvellous:
“Take the romantic, swashbuckling epics of Errol Flynn, add some rules, protective clothing and an electronic scoring system, and you have fencing at the Olympic Games. Two rivals stand opposite each other and feint, lunge, parry and riposte until one scores the required number of hits to win” — so says the official Beijing Olympics website.
The photographs are even more alluring to me. White-suited warriors stand out sharply from pitch-black backgrounds; metal swords gleam; alien-looking bodies are captured in a state of grace.
In person, the venue oozes with romance — hall lights off, the heavy humid air envelopes all. The fencers emerge, swaddled from top to bottom in electrified suits designed to record every hit. They put on their masks. The referee, wearing a powder-blue jacket, puts them en garde and we get three minutes of violent dance-like movements: thrust, parry, fleche, reprise, riposte and goodness knows what else.
Suan – thanks for that comment which was very useful. It was foil so i think it was the right of way concept that confused me completely.
As if the opening ceremony wasn’t impressive enough…
The opening ceremony for the Beijiing Olympics on Friday was a dramatic assertion of China’s power and nationalism.
But as if having the Olympic cauldron lit by a “flying” gymnast Li Ning, suspended by wires high above the heads of 91,000 spectators, wasn’t proof enough that even gravity could be conquered by the world’s most populous nation, the government defied the elements as well.
China “blew away” threatening rain clouds with a barrage of more 1,000 rain dispersal rockets, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
Chinese meteorologists told the agency it was the largest rain dispersal operation in China, and the first time that such technology had been used to ensure the weather condition for Olympic opening.
Photo: This combination picture shows former gymnast Li Ning of China suspended in mid-air as he lights the Olympic cauldron during the opening ceremony of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games at the National Stadium August 8, 2008. The stadium is also known as the Bird’s Nest. REUTERS/Jerry Lampen
John Calvin – good point but it’s not just China – don’t we all need to do that.
Smogwatch
With only five days to go before the opening of the Olympic Games, the iconic Bird’s Nest national stadium in Beijing was visible under clear blue skies on Sunday (August 3).
Despite last-ditch attempts to turn the smokey and dusty Chinese capital into the promised pollution-free Olympic venue, the Olympic Green is frequently barely visible through the haze.
The Beijing Ministry for Environmental Protection was still showing the Chinese Air Pollution Index (API) from Saturday (August 2), which was API 34. This figure is valid from 1200 local the day before until 1200 local (0300 GMT) the next day. This is grade one, “excellent”, and counts as a “blue sky day”.
The temperature was forecast to be around 33 degrees celsius with only 50 percent humidity.
The authorities have ordered many cars off roads and halted much construction and factory production in an effort to cut smog before the Games open on August 8.
Pollution has been one of the biggest worries for Games organisers who have said they may reschedule endurance events to prevent health risks to athletes.
Beijing is no small city so anywhere there is that many people equates to pollution.
Moving factories to the outskirts may not be the answer.
Why not trying to open a hole throught the mountains blocking better air purges,
It might sound crazy but if located in a soup bowl, the the bowl s/b busted if u know what I mean,
Smogwatch
With only six days to go before the opening of the Olympic Games, the iconic Bird’s Nest national stadium in Beijing was visible under clear blue skies on saturday (August 2). Despite last-ditch attempts to turn the smokey and dusty Chinese capital into the promised pollution-free Olympic venue, the Olympic Green is frequently barely visible through the haze. The Beijing Ministry for Environmental Protection was still showing the Chinese Air Pollution Index (API) from Friday (August 02), which was API 27. This figure is valid from 1200 the day before until 1200 local (0300 GMT) the present day. This is grade one, “excellent”, and counts as a “blue sky day”. The temperature was forecast to be around 30 degrees celsius with only 51 percent humidity The authorities have ordered many cars off roads and halted much construction and factory production in an effort to cut smog before the Games open on August 8. Pollution has been one of the biggest worries for Games organisers who have said they may reschedule endurance events to prevent health risks to athletes. See the latest smogwatch video from around the Olympic Green here
Friday in Beijing was one of the nicest I have seen in all my time here. I have lived in Beijing for 18 months in the 90′s and have returned on vacation several times since.
Yesterday you could see the mountains to the west and also the clouds looked just like back home in Canberra.
Saturday is another blue sky day however there is more of a haze on the horizon. The mountains are once more out of site.
I wonder how much is dust and how much is pollution from cars, factories etc.
Smogwatch
With only 9 days to go before the opening of the Olympic Games, the iconic Bird’s Nest national stadium in Beijing was visible again for the second day running on Wednesday (July 30). The stadium had been shrouded in smog for days previously, despite last-ditch attempts to turn the smokey and dusty Chinese capital into the promised pollution-free Olympic venue. The temperature on Wednesday was forecast to be around 33 degrees Celsius with 78 percent humidity. The Beijing Ministry for Environmental Protection was showing the Chinese Air Pollution Index (API) on Wednesday as API 90. This figure is valid from 1200 the day before until 1200 local (0300 GMT) the present day. This is grade 2 and counts as a “blue sky day”. Beijing could restrict more cars and shut more factories if air pollution persists during the Olympic Games. The authorities have ordered many cars off roads and halted much construction and factory production in an effort to cut smog before the Games open on August 8. But the city has still endured hazy skies over the past week, and again on Monday (July 28), raising fears that the sultry heat Beijing often experiences in August could make for a cocktail of haze, fumes and dust for tens of thousands of athletes and visitors. see the latest smogwatch video from around the Olympic green here
hey hey i’ve got a humour site devoted to the beijing olympic games’ smog situ – check it out at http://beigey-olympic-games.vndv.com/ or http://www.beigey-olympic-games.co.nr oh and i want submissions
I am a chinese, but study in england, i want to say there are some problems in china, but not all things you see from TV is ture. Believe your eyes but not others.Before i came to england, i think that english will look down upon chinese, however, they are very friendly to me.please see others advantage!do you like other people say some bad words to you when you have 60th birthday?