The Olympics have been a tremendous success and I have enjoyed them enormously. However, there is one huge fear that I have always held that seems to be coming true: this success of sports is going to be used to validate horrible public policy.
This came to light yesterday in two pieces. The first was an [...]
Continue reading “Big Olympic Fear Comes True” »
The real “thugs and goons” out there are the IOC. They are an organization so driven by greed, money and corruption that all other considerations come second. They have been bribed easily and they sell out quickly on any issue regarding rights or dignity. Yet as much as I despise the IOC, an organization that [...]
Continue reading “For Mafioso IOC, Beijing Brilliant Choice” »
A funny thing happened after the traffic restrictions, designed to reduce air pollution, went into effect: air quality got much worse. In addition to the obvious negative change in visibility, even the government’s own numbers (which many suspect are manipulated anyway) back it up. Before July 20, when the restrictions went into effect, there were [...]
Continue reading “Pollution Worsens Following Traffic Restrictions (a lot)” »
Saturday marked the beginning of the last stage of ticket pick-ups for the Olympics. This is for tickets bought through the official American channel, Co-Sport. All I have to say is that picking up at the Bank of China was 1000 times easier. That’s right, the Chinese outlet was far superior to the foreign one.
At [...]
Continue reading “CoSport Olympic Ticket Pick-Up Hassle” »
Henry Sanderson of the Associated Press is reporting that China has stopped issuing all business visas into China until September 20. Terrorism concerns related to American lawyers were the cited reason. Just kidding, they’re worried businessmen might protest. That makes sense:
The visas restrictions are part of a massive security operation to ensure a trouble-free games, [...]
Continue reading “We Don’t Want No Stinkin’ Business” »
Recently the government released eight things Chinese shouldn’t ask foreigners. Well, we at Cup of Cha have put together eight things visitors to the Beijing Olympics shouldn’t ask Chinese people:
When it says “duck’s blood” on the menu, what is it really? (And why is blood solid?)
Why does Taiwan (ie, Chinese Taipei) have its own flag [...]
Continue reading “Eight Things Olympics Visitors Shouldn’t Ask” »
We know there won’t be any foreign, Xinjiang or Tibetan tourists in Beijing during the Olympics. But that (or at least the first part of that) might not be such a bad thing. Aside from that inconvenient fact, what if these Games basically go off perfectly? It seems entirely possible, depending on your definition of [...]
Continue reading “Hey! This Olympics Thing Might Work!” »
Oh Beijing, why do you torture me so? Isn’t our love pure, and true? And yet you find the need to pretend your are someone else, as soon as we have guests. You are ashamed of your smoke-filled restaurants, buses and even taxis, so you ban smoking in public places during the Olympics. Do you [...]
Continue reading “Beijing, You Beautiful Bitch” »
The Beijing subway map has always been interesting to me. Line one reaches tantalizingly far west, while line eight [correction: batong xian], the extension of line one, goes right off the map into an unknown, unexplained land. It’s almost as if the city is saying, “Don’t worry, no one important lives out there. If you [...]
Continue reading “The Ends of Beijing” »
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