Must-read China news by Danwei

Breiner's basic conception of the whole piece has been copied. The brass opening, the addition of strings when the opening melody repeats, the inclusion of complex bass lines in Measures 14 and 28, and the use of an archaic little cadence at the end of several phrases are all very particular to Breiner's original. The last of these features, what musicians would call a "4-2-3" figure, is the sort of thing one finds in an old-fashioned hymn setting. It is a decidedly quirky addition to "The Star-Spangled Banner."

Although the Chinese version leaves out some percussion accents that Breiner calls for, it distinctly emphasizes elements that make Breiner's version so individual. Musically, it advertises the very features that best confirm the theft.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 9:43 AM | Permalink

Reading through the transcripts...gives you a real sense of the formula at work. Completely anodyne opening statements followed by probing questions from foreign media that receive mostly anodyne answers, and (generally later in the process) softball questions from Chinese media that receive mostly anodyne answers. One wonders why anyone is showing up at this point.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 8:36 AM | Permalink

There have been the usual cries of "Why us? Why us? Why pick on us?" But the IOC investigates everyone....the U.S. coaches were not sulky and defensive in face of questions. They did not make excuses. They did not call Phelps' multiple tests a "false accusation." They allowed repeated testing quietly and uncomplainingly. No U.S. coach came out with a ridiculous statement like "drug testing makes Michael Phelps's mom feel bad," which is one line the Chinese have used.

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The viewership numbers are staggering. A women's weightlifting contest on Aug. 9 drew 155 million television viewers and the men's basketball game between the United States and China attracted 170 million. The women's table tennis gold medal match -- won by China -- drew 330 million viewers last Sunday, according to CSM, more viewers than the entire population of the United States.

CCTV says that in the first 10 days of the Games, more than 100 million people in China watched streaming video on its Web site, CCTV.com.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 2:34 PM | Permalink

The International Olympic Committee has ordered an investigation into mounting allegations that Chinese authorities covered up the true age of their gold-medal winning gymnastics star because she was too young to compete.

An IOC official told The Times that because of "discrepancies" that have come to light about the age of He Kexin, the host nation's darling who won gold in both team and individual events, an official inquiry has been launched that could result in the gymnast being stripped of her medals.

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Access to Apple's online iTunes Store has been blocked in China after it emerged that Olympic athletes have been downloading and possibly listening to a pro-Tibetan music album in a subtle act of protest against China's rule over the province.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 6:49 PM | Permalink

Footballer David Beckham is to be the star of the Olympics closing ceremony, arriving on a red double decker bus to mark Beijing's handover to London 2012.

Beckham, a key figure in the bid that won London the games, will be joined by Leona Lewis, who was born in Hackney, east London, near to where the next games will take place, and the London mayor Boris Johnson.

X Factor 2006 winner Lewis, 23, is said to be singing a duet with Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page for the event, which will be screened live to a television audience of as many as 150 million people.

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President Hu Jintao has appointed 10 new ambassadors in line with decisions adopted by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature.

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The fact that there's a new president in a small, land-locked, country in South America is of great - and almost entirely unnoticed - symbolic importance to the Communist Party in China.

Mr Lugo's inauguration ends 61 years of continuous rule by the Colorado Party of Paraguay. If I've got this straight, this means that the Chinese Communist Party has now become the world's longest serving government - right in the middle of the most important event the Party has ever staged.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 9:52 AM | Permalink

Kari Heliövaara ... [a] Finn ... has ... spent a good deal of the past decade working in China. 'Control strategy'--how to stop insects from killing trees--is one of Heliövaara's areas of expertise, and he was recently part of a team hired to prevent an ongoing eco-catastrophe from marring the Olympics in Beijing.

For years, a blight had ravaged nearly all the deciduous trees in Beijing, leaving the branches naked and ugly...

'Chemical control was possible but ecologically not recommended,' Heliövaara said the other day. 'Precisely planned biological control is much more effective.' Biological control, in this context, means rearing parasites that attack only the defoliating pests.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 9:51 AM | Permalink

The 2008 Olympics has created an illusion of China to the public and to the outside world. It is so fantastic, so unreal, that the entire meaning of the games is being distorted. At the opening ceremony we saw this global festival manipulated for the sake of narrow nationalism.

The propaganda system of the Chinese government went into overdrive, public money was spent like water and ranks of mediocre performers were employed to create an alternative, distorted reality. It received fake applause from the country's media and public. Officials from the International Olympic Committee and United Nations also collaborated in the deception with their comments on the success of the games and the improvement of the environment.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 9:15 AM | Permalink

Posted by Eric Mu at 5:05 PM | Permalink

Liu Xiang's dream of defending his Olympic title on home soil ended on Monday when he failed to start his first-round heat in the 110 metres hurdles.

Liu, the world champion and the host nation's best hope of an athletics gold medal at the Beijing Olympics, pulled up after a false start and hobbled down the tunnel to leave the Bird's Nest stadium in stunned silence.

Posted by Joel Martinsen at 12:12 PM | Permalink

At the Olympic Games here, you drink Coca-Cola beverages, eat McDonald's food, ride in Volkswagen sedans and watch events on giant Panasonic video screens.

Beijing organizers have gone to great lengths -- employing a dedicated staff armed with plenty of tape -- to ensure that companies providing otherwise important services but who aren't official sponsors don't upstage the companies that are...

...To ensure that only the companies that pay millions of dollars to be official Olympic sponsors enjoy the benefits of exposure in Olympic venues, organizers have covered the trademarks of nonsponsors with thousands of little swatches of tape...

...The Taiden Industrial translation headsets in a large conference room have had their logos covered, as have the American Standard faucets in the bathrooms nearby, and the ThyssenKrupp escalators down the hall.

Even the sign atop the InterContinental Beijing Beichen hotel, attached to the Main Press Center, has been obscured by an Olympic cloth wrap.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn at 11:33 AM | Permalink

Southern Weekly has a long interview with Zhang Yimou, the General Director of the Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony. The sections of the interview [linked here], translated by CDT, help illuminate the political machinations behind the spectacular extravaganza.

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