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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.

ARRIBA PERÚ

@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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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?

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. >:(

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.

Their government on the other hand…