Thursday, July 31, 2008

Good Times

A Chinese columnist at the WaPo has a nice blog post on the “no-fun Olympics.”

I believe security will be strong enough to prevent protesters from making any scene. Suppression won’t, however, make the Olympics a real success. “The biggest challenge they have to face now is ensuring that the security doesn’t suffocate the festival,” Michael Payne, the International Olympic Committee’s head of marketing for the two decades to 2004, told the Financial Times. “The Olympics are only special if there is a festival outside the venues.” And Tom Pattinson, editor of English-language entertainment listings magazine Time Out Beijing, said the prospects for Games-time nightlife looked “very dull.” “All those athletes who want to let their hair down and get drunk for the first time in four years are going to have a hard time doing it,” he said. “Smile” was the advice Mr. Payne gave to the Beijing organizers.

Welcome to China, have a nice day.

Update: While I was walking home from dinner just now I thought of a good way to describe this.  I’ve known since I first moved here that I was living in a police state.  It’s only in the last month or so that it’s actually felt like it.