One World, One Dream, 1.3 Billion Souvenirs

Lest anyone doubt my Olympic spirit, I present the image below:


I didn't get prescription lenses in these glasses, but the salesgirl assured me it could be done.

Extinguish the Four Dangers!

This evening I received the following text blast text message from the Beijing Patriotic Santiation Committee:

The Beijing Patriotic Sanitation Committee health reminder: June 20th will be a whole city "Extinguish the Four Dangers" activity. For everyone's health, we invite the whole city population to motivate and stand up together to eliminate the threat of bugs.

I have to admit, I was initially a bit confused.

First, I made the rookie Chinese mistake of translating a title literally. The Chinese short name of the Beijing Patriotic Sanitation Committee is Beijing City Love Sanitation Committee (北京市爱卫会). Not that loving sanitation isn't a great reason for having a committee, but it sounded a little funny. When I went to their web site, I realized the Love stood for Love-Country, i.e. patriotic. I've definitely got to get back to formal Chinese lessons - when I forget that one character always stands for two, it's been too long!

Then, I wondered what were the "Four Dangers" Beijing citizens are coming together for fight? The rest of the message sounded so upbeat, yet eliminating the four dangers sounds so ominous. I could certainly think of plenty of dangerous things in Beijing that could use wiping out. The four dangers of transportation come to mind: wild taxi drivers, wild motorbike riders, wild bus drivers, and arrogant black sedan drivers. I didn't think the patriotic sanitation committee would target the roads, though, and I hoped friendly blogging foreigners wasn't one of the dangers tagged for extinguishing.

It turns out the "Four Dangers" are actually the "Four Pests": rats, cockroaches, flies, and mosquitos - all quite worthy targets for patriotic elimination.

The term Four Pests has not always referred specifically on these four. For instance, in 1955, Mao Zedong named sparrows one of the four pests, on the basis that they were menacing peasants by eating seeds and crops. By 1959, researchers had concluded that banging pots and pans to frighten sparrows and destroying sparrow nests were not productive uses of peasant time (a locust explosion in the absence of their natural predator, the sparrow, was one clue), and the sparrow was replaced by "stinky insects" on the list, and stinky insects were later replaced by cockroaches.

During the SARS epidemic, officials harkened back to the Four Pests as they called for citizens to get rid of civet cats and other rodents, in addition to rats and cockroaches. A web site dedicated to extinguishing the four pests (www.miesihai.com) has articles describing how to fight invasion by several different types of creepy crawlers.

Now that I think of it, I really hope the cleaning staff in my office are participating in the extermination activity, as the cockroaches there are decidedly unpatriotic, yet numerous and apparently invincible. Here's to patriotic extermination.

Try Air Canada for Reasonably-Priced Flights to Beijing

It's pretty expensive to fly from the United States to Beijing or Shanghai, and as the Olympics approaches prices for all travel services are going through the roof.

Happily, I was able to find a round-trip ticket from Beijing to Newark for $830 including all fees & taxes, and a friend recently found round-trip tickets from Beijing to Portland for under $700.

So, if you're coming my way for a visit (hint, hint), you might want to give Air Canada a try: http://www.aircanada.com/en/us/home.html.

I have not heard fantastic things about Air Canada's service, but they do have individual in-seat audio-video units on all Economy seats on the 77W aircraft that fly from Toronto to Beijing. Also, since I am usually forced to fly United trans-pacific for work, I am sure it will be an improvement. After observing United flight attendants - and I'm talking during boarding, not at the end of the flight - I've decided United must prep them for travel the same way bulls are prepped to go into the ring at a bullfight. There is no other explanation for adult professional coming to work so angry and aggressive.

The People's Cheer

In the gamut of national cheers (Huzzah! Ole!) where does "two claps - thumbs up - two claps - fists up" fit in?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7438367.stm

BBC NEWS
Beijing approves Olympics 'cheer'

Beijing Olympic chiefs are introducing an official cheer for patriotic spectators to spur on Team China at the Games, Chinese media reports.

The authoritative, four-part Olympic cheer, accompanied by detailed instructions, will be promoted on TV, in schools and with a poster campaign.

It involves clapping twice, giving the thumbs-up, clapping twice more and then punching the air with both arms.

The cheer is accompanied by chants of "Olympics", "Let's go" and "China".

The Beijing Olympic Organising Committee has hired 30 cheering squads who will show spectators how it is done at Games stadia, reports Xinhua state media.

'Civilized cheering'

A committee official said the simple chants and gestures were designed to help spectators cheer for their favourite athletes in a smooth, civilized manner.

The Ministry of Education is also arranging special training sessions in schools for the 800,000 students who are expected to attend the Games.

Li Ning, president of the Beijing Etiquette Institute, told the Beijing News that the cheer was in line with general international principles for cheering, while at the same time possessing characteristics of Chinese culture.

There is so much to think about in this brief little article!

The Ministry of Education is going to teach the people how to cheer for the Olympics?

Beijing has an Etiquette Institute? I would like to know more about this institute, which must be either extremely busy or extremely beleaguered.

Moon Festival for Spring Breakers?

Today I received an email from a local travel agent advertising two-day trip for Dragon Boat Festival, a traditional holiday in southern China that has just been added to the list of official Chinese holidays, creating a 3-day weekend this June 7-9.

The story of Dragon Boat Festival is that a beloved and respected poet, distraught about government corruption, threw himself into the sea in protest. The members of his community were so impressed by his devotion to right, that they threw tasty rice bundles (called "zhongzi") into the water so the monsters of the sea would eat the zhongzi instead of the poet. The poet died, but to this day everyone eats zhongzi on Dragon Boat Festival.

Back to my travel agent's email which offered more than a traditional celebration. Specifically, the advertisement reads:

What to expect on this trip? Eating zhongzi, playing volleyball and flying kite on beach, Sunshine, Beer, Experiencing fisher's lifestyle, barbecue dinner, windmill, Holland style wooden house or camping, bonfire, party, and randomly romantic.

That some serious celebration.

Putting the China in KFC

Before I begin this story, a disclaimer: This is not my story. I was not present, and I can not possibly tell it with the hilarity of the original protagonist, who related it to me. But I do have his permission to post it on the blog. And, while the setting and the exact dialog are unique, this conversation plays out in various forms in various situations hundreds of times a day in China. It's one of the reasons ex-pats, even those who know and love China and know this type of interaction is coming and even understand the cultural background, still occasionally end up tearing our hair out and screaming that we hate this place. So, without further ado...

Two white men walk into a Kentucky Fried Chicken in Beijing. The first one says to the girl at the counter, "We'd like some chicken in a bucket." The counter girl replies, in English, "Oh, we don't do that." The following conversation ensues.

American guy 1, thinking she didn't understand: Oh, all we want is some chicken, in one of those buckets.

Counter girl, still in English: We don't do that.

American 1: But, there's chicken in the bucket right here in this picture on the menu. And on the sign up there. And I can see the buckets right there on the shelf.

Counter girl: I'm sorry, we don't have chicken in a bucket.

American 1, now frustrated, launching into Chinese: Listen, you might think I'm just a big dumb foreigner, but I know you serve chicken in a bucket. You can't tell me you don't have chicken, in the bucket, because I can see you have the buckets. Don't make fun of me and lie to me... (and on this way for several minutes, which, I will note, is an impressively long time to rant and rave in a foreign language, particularly one as difficult as Chinese)

American 2, interrupting American 1: Wait. That's enough.

American 2, to the Counter Girl, in English: Ok. How about this. We would like 20 pieces of chicken. Can you do that?

Counter Girl: Sure, we can do that. Would you like that in a bucket?

I promise not to complain about the 13-1/2 hour flight to DC

My ayi, the incredible, cheerful Xiao Ping, mentioned she would be taking some time off over Chinese New Year. She, like most of the Chinese population, will return by train to her home province. Her home happens to be Anhui, one of the poorest provinces in China.

I asked her how long the ride would take, and she responded:

It's not too long. I'll get on the train at night and in the morning I'll be almost there. It's only 17 hours. It will be even better if I can get a seat instead of standing room.

It's when I get there that it gets harder. From the train I have to take a bus, then when I get near my home I have to take a boat across a small river. The river isn't wide, but sometimes you have to wait half a day for a boat to come.

I Don't Make These Things Up: Carrefour in China is Scary

In my February 27, 2007 blog, I described the Carrefour experience in China:

... let me acknowledge to those familiar with Carrefour in China that I do know how ridiculously nuts it was to brave the wild, cart-wielding, desperate DVD-, chocolate-, clothing-, appliance-, and frozen-food-seeking masses in Carrefour on any Sunday, let alone the weekend of Spring Festival. For those of you who have never been, I'll say this: the store is a reminder that even though the middle class is only a tiny fraction of the Chinese population, a tiny fraction of 1.2 billion is a very large number. And they all shop at Carrefour on the weekends. And not one of them knows how to navigate a parking lot with either a shopping cart or a car.

On December 3, I wrote:

That I went to Carrefour on a Sunday afternoon, by the way, speaks volumes about my desire to have a bike. It's dangerous in there. Picture the grocery store snack food aisle the morning before the Superbowl, the toy store on Christmas Eve when it finally gets a shipment of Nintendo Wiis, teenagers vying for autographs from the Harry Potter actors. This is Carrefour, every weekend. From liver to auto accessories, you can get what you need at Carrefour - if you can survive the crowd.

Some readers might think I'm exaggerating. Perhaps, Nancy simply doesn't understand the Chinese and their ability to turn into a crowd that is larger than the sum of its individual human parts. Maybe I'm so mentally prepared for a bad experience when I go to Carrefour that I attract trouble.

Now read this: 31 people were injured and three died at the Carrefour in Chongching when they stampeded for discounted cooking oil. If you don't believe me, read it on bbc.com.

Cough, cough: It Couldn't Get Any Worse (but the scary thing is, it could)

421 was not, in fact, the height of Beijing's pollution the other day. That was the official Chinese Environmental Protection Agency reading in Beijing up to 6 pm. But the following day, the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau reported that from noon Thursday to noon Friday, almost all of the monitors within the city limits of Beijing had readings of 500. Since the charts top out at 500, it is impossible to say how bad the pollution really was.

Follow this link to see the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau readings for Thur-Fri. It's in Chinese, but each line is a different district of Beijing, so all you need to see is how many readings are above 400 and 500 to understand. Also, it includes all of Beijing's surrounding counties, where the pollution indexes are generally much lower. www.bjepb.gov

At the bottom of this post, I have copied an AFP article that includes quotes from Beijing environmental and Olympics officials, but I also highly recommend reading this Dec. 29 longer, in-depth New York Times article by Jim Yardley that accurately describes both the Olympic and long-term aspects of Beijing's pollution problem.

If you don't read the NYT article - and again, I think you should - this quote the author got from a factor worker assessing Beijing's efforts to ensure clean air for the Olympics tells a large part of the story, and the first photo in the article, also pasted below, is chilling.

“Yes, I heard about it,” said an engineer at one factory that may temporarily be shut down. He refused to identify himself because he was criticizing government policy. “It is like you invite some guests to your home, and hide all your children underneath the bed to make the house look nicer. If all the polluting factories are shut down for the Olympics, there will be a major pollution outbreak afterward when all the factories restart, right?”

Picture of Tiananmen Square on Thursday, from the NYT article (Oded Bality/AP):


The AFP article is copied below. Don't miss the last line.

Beijing air pollution 'as bad as it can get,' official says

BEIJING (AFP) — Beijingers were warned to stay indoors on Thursday as pollution levels across the capital hit the top of the scale, despite repeated assurances by the government that air quality was improving.

"This is as bad as it can get," a spokeswoman for the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau told AFP.

"Level five is the worst level of air pollution. This is as bad as it has been all year."

According to the bureau's website, 15 out of the 16 pollution monitoring stations in urban Beijing registered a "five" for air quality rating.

The main pollutant was suspended particulate matter, which is usually attributed to coal burning and automotive exhaust.

"Old people and young children should reduce outdoor activities and protect their health," the spokeswoman said.

The Beijing Evening News warned residents not to do their morning exercises on Friday as pollution levels were likely to linger over the capital until a cold front moved in and blew some of the bad air away later in the day.

A lack of wind in the capital over recent days has led to a heavy cover of smog trapping in the pollutants, the paper said.

By nightfall, the pollution was still horrendously thick.

In the run up to the 2008 Olympic Games, Beijing has vowed to clean up its air and this year set a goal of 245 "blue sky days," or days with only light pollution.

As of Thursday, the city needed one more day to reach the annual goal, the bureau said. But official "blue sky days" are often hazy affairs with heavy pollution.

Beijing's air quality is routinely rated among the worst in the world by international agencies such as the United Nations and the World Bank, with rampant coal burning, regular dust storms and a growing number of cars cited as the main reasons.

The head of the government's information office, Cai Wu, told reporters on Thursday that Beijing's environment was improving and they should have "full confidence" that the Olympics would be pollution free.

The City in Smoke

Twice in my life I have thought, "This must be what it feels like in a war zone." Both times were in China.

The first time was in February 2004, as I celebrated my first Chinese New Year in Shanghai. I and a couple hundred other foreigners were holed up in the Blue Frog bar on the old Maoming Rd bar street, the bar filling with smoke and ash from the fireworks outside. Over a couple of hours, the scattered sound of fireworks going off in all the neighborhoods around us grew, like popcorn in a microwave bag, into a steady popping on all sides, then into a furious, dizzying stream of different explosions, crackling, booming, whizzing so loud that there was no guessing which direction they came from. I assumed the chaos would subside after midnight, but when we stumbled out of the bar two hours later, holding our ears and unable to talk, we had to dodge sparks and flame, trudge through the waves of ash and paper wrappings that were continuing to pile up, and communicate with hand signals through the din. On that festive occasion, the twinge of fear that mingled with the sensory assault only added to the novelty and excitement.

The second occasion was this afternoon, and it was neither exciting nor festive. Beijing is officially just one Blue Sky Day short of the 245 Blue Sky Day quota this year, and wind and storms are expected tomorrow. Confident the wind will clear the air enough to make a Blue Sky Day by Monday, the Beijing authorities have apparently given up all pretense of trying to protect the People's air. Not only that, they are refreshingly honest about it: the official pollution index was 421, the highest I've seen it since I started paying attention in July. Other days may have been just as bad - although today was certainly among the worst - but since no one wants to be the bearer of that kind of news, officials low-balled the pollution index.

When I first arrived to Beijing, I would gauge the pollution by how far a I could see or not see outside my window in the morning. Now that coal-heating season has arrived, I gauge by the smell. I woke up in the middle of the night Wednesday night with smoke in my nose. The charred pollutants in the air had completely permeated my tightly sealed 16-th floor apartment.

By morning, I could feel it in my eyes and throat. All winter, Beijing-ers from my employees to taxi drivers to store cashiers have been telling me, "Drink more water," as if that were the cure for living in a petri dish. Mostly they say, "Beijing air is dry, drink more water, drink hot water." The bolder sometimes day, "Beijing's air is bad in the winter, drink more water." Several times I've said to myself, if one more stranger tells me to drink more water, I'm going to wring his neck. Today, though, I was drinking that water. With a bottle of cool water and a tall mug of warm water with honey next to me at all times, my throat still felt parched and dusty all day. By closing time, I had used up a significant portion of my herbal tea and cough drops, but my voice was still raspy.

When I left the office, the temperature was cold, yet it felt like walking into a burning building, where you can't see the flames but the smoke tells you there must be a serious fire. I could feel the grit in my mouth when I breathed. Although I could hear the ongoing construction on a nearby half-finished office tower and I knew where it always breaks the skyline, I couldn't see it until I was almost next to it. Wafts of a faint, almost sweet, chemical smell occasionally mixed with the basic underlying burnt odor the air.

On the way home, I was reflecting on how completely the smell and feel of smoke had covered the city. Everything was darker than usual, as thick layer dampened the glow of street lamps and fluorescent signs. The muted colors of Beijing, already a fairly gray place, faded into a e exhausted monochrome. Not only was there no identifiable source of the smoke and darkness, there's no way to know how long it will last - everyone tells me January is the worst month, and for all I know it might be this bad all winter. Everything looked depressed, from the tired commuters waiting for their buses with masks over their mouths to the coughing motorbikes to the friendly noodle shops that are usually oases of warmth and light. As I rounded the corner into my neighborhood, I saw one young child running. Her dainty, happy skip was so incongruous that it only magnified the gloom surrounding her. That's when, for the second time in China, I thought, it must feel like this in a war zone.