Comments

Posts

Beijing Olympics – shirtless men, fake products, and Potemkin facades

Yesterday evening’s FTV news broadcast looked at Beijing’s preparations for the Olympics, focusing on some of the negatives. Below the video embed are some screen captures and explanations of what is being described in the video.

The clip begins with footage of what looks like a normal building. However, closer inspection reveals that it is in fact a painted facade attached to the exterior of an incomplete building. The building was supposed to have been a hotel, but its construction was delayed and it failed to open in time for the Olympics. Authorities have added the fake exterior to improve Beijing’s image to foreign visitors:

If the hotel isn't complete, just attach some painted panels to save face.

Also featured in the report is a 3-meter high “culture wall” that has been erected along the official Olympic marathon course. The wall blocks the view of old slum neighborhoods, something visitors might find unsightly.

Japanese reporters go to one of these neighborhoods and witness many men walking around without shirts. The government has told Beijing residents that they must not go around half-naked when the Olympics start, and the men say they will put shirts on when the time comes.

They'll wear shirts when the Olympics start.

While filming the segment, street vendors approached the crew and offered to sell them official Olympic souvenirs. They purchase the products and take them to an official Olympic merchandise store for verification. The cheap-looking products are confirmed as fakes, and a staff member tells them not to buy Olympic products that don’t have an official holographic label.

The Chinese government is supposedly taking action against creators of fake Olympic products, but with less than a week until the games start, it’s very likely that many tourists will run into fakes.

31 comments - What do you think? Posted by James - August 5, 2008 at 11:33 am

Categories: Japanese TV Tags: 2008 Olympics, Beijing, china, olympics

LeslieC

Not only the Japanese but also much of the American pre-Olympic coverage seems more concerned with finding things wrong in China than celebrating the spirit of the Olympic Games. Give it a rest, let’s focus on the athletes and the competition.

/r/

I agree, what countries preparing for the Olympics don’t try to show how great there country is? Every country does this. In Australia they tried to round up all the homeless people in preparation for Sydney.
Level3

yeah like the atheltes from Iraq who were turned down because their application was “unaceptable” [because the original corrupt Iraqi Olympic Committee were all kidnapped and never seen again, and the IOC doesn't want to accept the new, locally appointed Iraqi Olympic Committee so they denied the application, or maybe they and/or the Chinsee hosts don't want an Iraqi Olypic delegation showing the world that the situation in Iraq is improving, but that's a bit of a stretch]

Or how about the athletes, whose worries seem to be quite justified, that Beijing’s polluted air is a health risk?

So yes, let’s focus on the athletes’ stories, even the inconvenient ones. >:(

http://theanphibian.livejournal.com Theanphibian

I would buy one of the cruddy hats just so 50 years down the road I could say “yep, this is what China used to be like”. I don’t see things getting worse for them, so I don’t see how any of this is supposed to be a big deal, or even all that bad of a thing. I mean, let’s focus on the right things.

Their government on the other hand…
http://www.hormel.com VonSkippy

Just to clarify, they’re only cracking down on half naked MEN right? Half naked women are hopefully still ok.
marinaliteyears

Sorry, this is off-topic. Does anyone know why it was suddenly difficult to get on Japanprobe.com? just wondering^.^
Level3

So this this Olympics has fake Olympics goods Made in China?
How is that different from any other Olympics in the last 30 years?
Oh, wait, maybe THIS time the Chinese government actually will try to put a stop to it?

I fully support all fake Olympics goods. With what the Olympics has become, a professional ring of corruption extorting bribes from as many cities around the globe as possible, and accepting bribes to introduce new “sports” (keirin, anyone?), and probably also accepting (evidently smaller) bribes from sports associations whose sport they later eliminate anyway, hosting a semi-annual event in which all of the athletes perform FOR FREE, yet raking in billions of dollar in advetising rights and TV rights, while governments build entire sports complexes for them FOR FREE, I’m not exactly sympathetic about any lost money for them.

BTW, a hearty welcome to the paid agents of the Chinsese government, and/or their 30,000man strong INternet monitoring police force, trying to complain about any and all criticism of China.

concerned Filipino

I’m sure anyone who even says anything against all the negative coverage (I mean, practically the only positive coverage I’ve seen is that Nat Geo documentary on the Bird’s Nest Olympic Stadium) against China is actually a “paid agent of the Chinese” (what, no unpaid agents!?). That means – I’m an agent of the Chinese! I myself didn’t know it! I must stress, however, that if I’m a Chinese agent, it’s purely volunteer work.

As for Beijing’s “pollution”, Tokyo’s is probably just as bad, but never mind.

random filipino

Nah, I think Level3 is referring to the wu mao dang (fifty cent party). Although it literally means 50 cent gang (i.e. their members get paid .50 RMB per pro-PRC post), it appears like not all of ‘em are getting paid. Right now, I think the term refers to all internet commentators trained or sponsored by the Chinese government, paid or not. So, if you’re not trained or sponsored by the PRC, then you’re not part of the wumaodang.

Here’s a fairly informative link (Danwei article quoting the Far Eastern Economic Review):

http://www.danwei.org/propaganda/more_on_the_50_cent_army.php

Anyway, existence of the wumaodang isn’t too far off, with even PRC BBS commentators admitting to their existence. Add to that the fact that your typical pro-China post is so uncreative and so similar (especially during the Tibet incident – you’ve never been to Tibet, you have no right to comment because you’re not Chinese, you don’t know anything about Chinese history, let’s not politicize the (very political in nature) Olympics etc. etc.) that it’s hard not to think that they probably just have a list of 5 or so arguments that they rehash over and over again. Well that, or your typical Chinese commentator isn’t too bright, which I’d rather not believe. Regardless, the arguments get really old.

“As for Beijing’s “pollution”, Tokyo’s is probably just as bad, but never mind.”

Kindly post your source as to why you say that Tokyo is as polluted as Beijing. Basing on what I’ve been reading about Beijing’s pollution, I won’t be surprised if Manila is cleaner. But regardless, saying that pollution in Tokyo is just as bad as Beijing’s, is, well, quite a stretch. Here’s a link I’ve come across mentioning athletes training in China ending up with bronchitis and requiring medical attention because of the bad pollution.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121659379072468809.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

And, some numbers (pretty old though. Tokyo isn’t in the list but Beijing is)

http://www.allcountries.org/air_pollution.

And, lastly, I don’t understand why you’re being so defensive. I don’t think anyone has accused you of being a wu mao dang member. Cool down a bit man. You’re making us Filipinos look bad.

helical

Holy, freaking, hell. The boogieman IS real!

All this time I’d thought the labeling and accusations of being an “agent (工作員)” in (mainly Japanese) net forums was just half-paranoia/half-obligatory joke whenever someone wanted to disagree with the general consensus of the community.
And then after dismissing ホロン部 as an urban legend, it comes back not just as a school club but as a full-fledged state-sponsored activity from the country next to it. Thanks a lot Byron.

random filipino, I think you just destroyed my little-remaining confidence in the integrity of the Intertubes, or at least the pro-China parts of it.
concerned Filipino

Clearly, someone here doesn’t know the meaning of sarcasm. I never claimed anyone was accusing me of anything, did I? No one is being defensive, except maybe in your imagination. Maybe you need to cool down.

Percivale, I’ve been to Hong Kong, not Beijing, but I think it’s obvious from your posts what your opinion of the standard of living in Asian countries not named Japan, Singapore, or Hong Kong (which is part of China in any case) is. It isn’t actually that bad in these benighted countries, as long as you’re a member of the (tiny) middle and upper classes, anyway.

parcivale

You’ve never been to Beijing have you?

http://www.victorymanual.com Alex

China is hosting an immitation Olympics! Don’t be fooled into attending fake Olympic games!

They won’t be able to hold the Olympics in Southern California if shirtless men are so controversial. Wait a second, this is JAPAN complaining about public nudity? Have they not seen their own diaper-clad-men-festivals?
Dimitrov

it is normal for journalists to criticize and complain about some things in Beijing but it’s everything i have seen about the games so far – the negatives , not a single word of normal coverage, nothing positive. Japan too had many problems with organizing the 64 Olympics, but we all remember it for its achievements ( like the great Nihon Budokan ) not flaws. so i suggest u stop h8in
http://witzl.blogspot.com/ Mary Witzl

I too think it is important to focus on all the positive things that are happening in China, but when it comes to air quality, anyone who thinks Beijing and Tokyo are 50/50 in terms of pollution ought to try spending a week in each city for comparison. After Beijing, Tokyo might as well be Nagano.

Shay

I actually thought Beijing had about the same air quality as where I live (orange county, california) but maybe i’m just not that sensitive to air quality …

http://www.victorymanual.com Alex

Maybe when the wind blows LAs smog south. Even in San Diego we’d have “LA smog” days when the wind blew strong towards the south. Normally, Orange County is pretty clear.

Mister M

What can I expect more about China and her bad image around the world? The worsest olimpic games in Asian lands will start this friday and the chinese people and politics are not really ready for such big event. Congratulations Japan and Korea for making us proud of our asian blood. 1964 Tokyo, 1972 Sapporo, 1988 Seoul, e 1998 Nagano good examples of wonderful organization ever.

Asuka

I personally would hold off all judgments of the Beijing Olympics’ success until the games finish.

Pingback: Un posto dove appendere il cappello » Blog Archive » Beijing 2008 - Pechino: una città più contraffatta della Vuitton di un senegalese
Rick

Man, Japanese TV LOVES doing the “let’s make China look bad” segments! Always good stuff.

@LeslieC:

I’ve you’ve been visiting this site for a while you’d know that these types of segments pop up once quite a bit and are nothing new, and is not just Japan hopping on the anti-Olympic bandwagon.
Rick

The whole “shirtless men walking around” thing was a bit silly to point out. It’s not really important, yet it still manages to make China look bad. Brilliant!

ponta

I don’t think the point was to point out shirtless men walking around.
You can see the shirtless men walking around in Japan say, on the construction site or on the backstreet.The point was to show how China is
trying to prepare the Olympic game to make it look good.

http://www.adonde.com Miguel Martinez

They are a “word”in spanish saying “The dog never smell his tail”,meaning you never see you own mistake.I guess any country will do the same,like us when we specting a visit,we fix every thing nice because the visit or not.Well live alone the chinese people that is culture matter.

ARRIBA PERÚ
Pingback: Working in a No Trust Zone : Virtual Impax
juan d

i think it is ridicuolus that ANYBODY thinks any of this is right. china has faked/cheated every aspect in these olympics. from the fake buildings, to the fake passports, to the children who were stolen from their families to be bread for the lack of a better word to be athletes, to blocking view of the real beijing.

i lost all of my respect for their whole country and the olympics. what a sham, they took everything that should be wholesome from sports.

as long as china is in the olympics i wont watch.
Pingback: Summon The Heros « The Front Yard
mp

Three more interesting Beijing facade pics erected to make the city more beautiful:

http://i38.tinypic.com/14mewc3.jpg/IMG

http://i35.tinypic.com/2gugq5j.jpg/IMG

http://i33.tinypic.com/rsgahk.jpg/IMG
Pingback: Would you like a fake rolex with that Olympic t-shirt? | Japan Probe
http://www.youtube.com/buyviagraonlinenow PharmacyOnlineShop

20]
viagra cheap viagra
http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/1447/buyviagracialislevitrao.jpg

viagra cheap uk
canada cheaper viagra
buy viagra on-line
buy kamagra viagra
cheap india viagra
canadian drug viagra cat
buy internet viagra
viagra cheap sale
buy viagra sale
buy viagra xanax
cheap price viagra
Rip

Yes, facts are pure propaganda and should be ignored and suppressed.

Beijing Olympics – shirtless men, fake products, and Potemkin facades

Recent Comments

Further Reading

South Korean TV Erases Japanese Flag From H-IIA Rocket

Short Film: “Regular Days” in Saga Prefecture

More Vandalism: Hair Removed From Sazae-san Character Statue

Videos: Solar Eclipse Over Japan

Japanese H-IIA Rocket Carries South Korean Satellite into Space

Takeshi Kitano Compares Homosexuality to Bestiality?

Detective Conan Statues Vandalized

BBC Global Poll: Japan Has Most Positive Influence in the World

Photo: Tommy Lee Jones as General Douglas MacArthur

Tokyo Disney Resort Allows Gay Weddings

Categories

Subscribe

Japan Blogs

Korea Blogs

Linkroll

Other Asia Blogs