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Giant on the move

August 4th, 2008

Avoid your cliches in the land of yin and yang

Posted by: Paul Majendie

Columnist and internet pundit Kaiser Kuo, a long-time Beijing resident bracing for the arrival of 30,000 journalists for the Olympics, has drawn up a fun list of tired old phrases the media should avoid while in Beijing.

No more city of ying and yang, no more sprawling metropolis of startling juxtapositions.

Only use “Great Leap Forward” when covering the triple jump or pole vault.

Cut the puns about Wu and Wen. They’re heavy-handed and offensive.

All cliches about “Those exotic Chinese — they’ll eat anything” should be banned even when doing dog stew and donkey meat stories.

Pollution. He believes the coverage is becoming more choking than the smog itself, especially after three sunny days in a row in Beijing.

Great Firewall of China. How many times have you heard that one?

His pet hate is “Coming Out Party” to describe China’s big moment on the world stage. The phrase really irks expatriate journalists working in Beijing. They have heard it 1,000 times.

Taxi drivers are fun to quote around the world from New York to London and Beijing. But journalists should be rationed to one quote per Olympics.

Any other suggestions for tired and overused phrases about China? Let us know in the comments… and if you spot any in the media please send in a link. We’re quite prepared to name and shame.

Posted in Countdown to Beijing | 3 Comments »

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