888 Olympics
So unless you're really out of it you have to know that the Olympics officially start today. There have been some qualifying matches going on in various sports so I guess technically they've already started. But today they parade all the athletes out in the stadium and we get to see the Taiwanese athletes repressed into some offshoot realm called Chinese Taipei. Sorry, I try not to get too political here.
Anyway, while the Games do hold some special interest to me since I'm reasonably knowledgeable on Asian culture, I'm not really going to follow so much. I think we'll watch, but I'm not really going to go crazy and I doubt I'll blog much about it.
I will say this though. Americans absolutely do not understand the Chinese culture. The 4 Americans walking off the plane with masks is about the same level of offensiveness to the Chinese as a Chinese athlete walking off the plan with a t-shirt depicting the Twin Towers burning. That's not an overstatement at all. I just put it that way to underscore the level of which Americans - and the Western World really - doesn't "get" the Asian culture. Even though I'm well immersed, those of you who followed my blog when I was in Taiwan know I'm still clueless half the time.
Anyway, I'm not going to give you much insight during these games. Or maybe I will, but I don't plan on it. But here are 2 blogs you should check out if you want to follow:
The first is JoePosnanski.com. This guy is a beat writer for the KC Royals and is over to cover the Games. I read his blog every day. If I were stranded on a desert island and had 1 blog to read, his would be it. Sometimes he writes about the Royals, but not usually. Terren, I highly recommend adding him to your Bloglines and reading him for a few weeks. His view of Beijing will be real, funny, and generally unbiased.
The second is cupofcha.com. Ok I'm almost in Penn Station so let me make this quick. He's an American expat living in Beijing. His takes range from loving China to being flabbergasted by the government. I think he offers a very real, sometimes reactive, but solid view of China and the culture he lives in. He can sometimes harp a little much on quirks of the system but in the end I think he's fair and balanced and offers a good insight.
Ok, off to work.
Anyway, while the Games do hold some special interest to me since I'm reasonably knowledgeable on Asian culture, I'm not really going to follow so much. I think we'll watch, but I'm not really going to go crazy and I doubt I'll blog much about it.
I will say this though. Americans absolutely do not understand the Chinese culture. The 4 Americans walking off the plane with masks is about the same level of offensiveness to the Chinese as a Chinese athlete walking off the plan with a t-shirt depicting the Twin Towers burning. That's not an overstatement at all. I just put it that way to underscore the level of which Americans - and the Western World really - doesn't "get" the Asian culture. Even though I'm well immersed, those of you who followed my blog when I was in Taiwan know I'm still clueless half the time.
Anyway, I'm not going to give you much insight during these games. Or maybe I will, but I don't plan on it. But here are 2 blogs you should check out if you want to follow:
The first is JoePosnanski.com. This guy is a beat writer for the KC Royals and is over to cover the Games. I read his blog every day. If I were stranded on a desert island and had 1 blog to read, his would be it. Sometimes he writes about the Royals, but not usually. Terren, I highly recommend adding him to your Bloglines and reading him for a few weeks. His view of Beijing will be real, funny, and generally unbiased.
The second is cupofcha.com. Ok I'm almost in Penn Station so let me make this quick. He's an American expat living in Beijing. His takes range from loving China to being flabbergasted by the government. I think he offers a very real, sometimes reactive, but solid view of China and the culture he lives in. He can sometimes harp a little much on quirks of the system but in the end I think he's fair and balanced and offers a good insight.
Ok, off to work.
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