Where's the party at? Tiananmen square?

"I am confident that the air quality will be better than it was in the Athens games in 2004."

I agree with you! current the air quality in Beijing is sensible better than a few years ago :-)

I think so. Hopefully, the sky in Beijing will be blue,not only in the few days but in the following days

I am sure the air quality will be great in Beijing during the Olympics. I was in the city for last years African summit as well. That was the best week of weather I saw throughout 6 months in Beijing. Although I am wondering what all those workers are going to do during the Olympics when industry outside the city is essentially shutdown.

Right. I immediately thought about weather manipulation when reading the weird weather article the other day. I'm glad it helps.

Just like in Spiegel Online (www.spiegel.de), a well-known German weekly. If they talk about BJ, it's about human rights and the weather. I slowly get tired of that. Not that I wouldn't agree on the sheer matter fact, but I also believe that we should judge with equal scales. The worst are double standards; Ain't they, Wladimir?

But while doing so, I found one more interesting feature mentioned in a recent article: Spitting Males all over BJ. I wonder what "solution" BJ's administration has in petto in order to tackle it.

Bothom

"Come 2008, if the Chinese government has to install 90-meter-tall fans on the mountains around Beijing to blow away the pollution, they will."---GOLDKORN

If they have to paint the sky blue they will do it...just like those mountains down south were painted green to indicate the presence of trees.

and the weather is mysteriously better today.....coincidence???

My comments are not directed to your piece, which focused on air quality and is fair game for a discussion on the Olympics. They have more relevance to the Wall Street Journal piece. Some words may be graphic so I deleted them. The entire piece can be seen here. link

I sincerely hope some people will be pissed off by these words.

"Every time old girl China gets a new toy, the western media just want to shit all over it."
Thoughts on the Olympic Screw-Ups and Death of Hong Kong

Before China got back Hong Kong, the Fortune magazine ran a long-winded article (pages and pages) with the title "the Death of Hong Kong". The conclusion was simple and indisputable: "it's over." At that time I wondered in my youthful naiveté how on earth the writer could have known it before it even happened. Now I realize that he did not know it, he just wanted it to happen really badly, really badly. Sometimes I can't help wondering in how many laowais' bosoms this poisonous flame of ill-wishes is burning rampantly.....

[trimmed. -JM]

lol. exactly.

hopefully it will be done more smoothly than in 98, when, for the Big 50, they declared martial law, intermittently closing off sections of the city entirely, so that the parade participants could practice before the cameras were rolling.

the subway underpasses along jianguomenwai were rushed to be 'open' by the day of the parade -- and they were -- but they were pitch black because there were no lightbulbs installed! and then they just closed them again after the parade was over.

we'll see how far things have come, soon enough...!

"Sometimes I can't help wondering in how many laowais' bosoms this poisonous flame of ill-wishes is burning rampantly....."---BIANXINAGBIANQIAO

To be perfectly honest us dirty LAOWAI don't care one iota about your alledged rise to glory. In the grand scheme of things we will continue business as usual. That is...being able to live life in pursuit of happiness and some other thing that begins with the letter "l".

In regards to this, "Every time old girl China gets a new toy, the western media just want to shit all over it."

I also hear some folks at the WSJ were against the News Corp. bid for fear of editorial decision-making. First and foremost newspapers are a business. Headlines sell newspapers pal.

That being said I see nothing wrong with the headline...and these smear pieces are not total creation or fabrication...much of the problems written about exist. They are growing pains. Live it. Embrace it. Create from it. Don't be ashamed. It is what it is.

I can't imagine however that this headline is true. How on Earth would the WSJ allow the word "sh*t" to be printed? I don't believe you pal.

"To be perfectly honest us dirty LAOWAI don't care one iota about your alledged rise to glory. In the grand scheme of things we will continue business as usual." FRITZ

Sigh,
Fritz,
You are cowardly avoiding your problem. That is unhealthy. As an individual you certainly can refuse to give a damn to our pathetic re-emergence, or rise. But nobody is purely individual. You got two parts to your identity, individual identity and collective identity. Your collective identity, your ethnic, national ideological and religious affiliation is in an inescapable confrontation with a bunch of spitting, searing, faking and pirating, infidel commie Chinese, marching proudly forward. We have a cultural war going on, right here and right now. Wake up and read the papers.

By the way, WSJ didnt print the Shit word in the title. The title was entirely mine. I am making a sanitized version of the essay to send to the Fortune Magainze. Hopefully I can piss off those losers. But I have to keep the word shit.

@bianxiangbianqiao

Your problem with "laowai" is a problem of ideology. I firmly believe the west and China will never see eye to eye on these issues and I further believe that the gap will get wider before it gets better.

What "Laowai" don't understand is that the Chinese don't give a(to use your word) shit about human rights, democracy, or clean air. Development(economics/money)and face rule supreme. Is it wrong? No, not in the eyes of a people that have been ruled over by countless emperors and party wanna-be demigods that have bent rules and cultures to meet their stated goals.

What "laowai" don't understand is that it is not a communist vs. democracy problem, but rather a Asian imperial tradition vs. modern rule of law and respresentative govt thing. This is a common mistake "laowai" make. They cannot see past 1949, they see all this thinking as a product of, rather than a continuation.

What "laonei" don't understand is that if you want to create a truely great civilization everyone is going to be gunning for you and you cannot control it no matter how hard you try. Most "laonei" don't understand thst the heat GW gets is as equally deserved as that that HJT gets. "Laonei" need to develop a thicker skin.

There is a profound differnece in the media culture of the two civilizations and if the dragon wants to rise it better get used to being sniped at for things it thinks are acceptable. after all Chinese media has no problem snipping at the US or EU.

Lastly, what "laonei" don't understand is that "laowai" cannot accept the premise that the end defines the means even if it has been part of their own history and nations rise. In today's terms it is unacceptable and will be something that draws strong criticism.

If they have to paint the sky blue they will do it...just like those mountains down south were painted green to indicate the presence of trees.