Shanghai Scrap

A couple of days ago I took a walk around the Shanghai Stadium and environs with the intention of getting a look at the security presence in light of recent news that the Shanghai police had broken up a terror ring that was planning an attack on the venue during the Games. I must admit that I was pleasantly surprised to find the atmosphere surrounding the facility to be relatively low-key, ie, no camouflaged soldiers with machine guns, or anti-aircraft batteries (like those surrounding the Bird’s Nest in Beijing). But then, as I was passing by the Huating Hotel, the official hotel for the events to be held at the Shanghai Stadium, I noticed that the relatively thin fencing used to surround it, is electrified.

[Sign reads: Electrified Fencing, Climbing Prohibited"]

For those who don’t know the area, the Huating Hotel and the Shanghai Stadium are located in one of the busiest sections of Shanghai. Densely populated, densely traveled (comparable to surrounding New York City’s Plaza Hotel with electrified fencing, say).

Now, I can’t say that I have any idea as to how much current is running through this fencing (I’ll leave the touch test to the reporters from Outside). And I can’t say that I was even planning to post this photo before yesterday, and the announcement that members of the International Olympic Committee had personally negotiated (that is, accepted) blocks on the internet access provided to foreign journalists at the official Media Centre in Beijing. A happy coincidence, then, that it so perfectly captures the Spirit of the IOC’s complicity in censorship.

IOC, jiayou!

[UPDATE: China Law Blog has a brief, excellent commentary on the IOC's dirty deal. Recommended.]

Last week, the Phase Four Olympic ticket sales in Beijing produced long lines, short tempers, scuffles, and at least one detained camera crew (some additional photos can be found here). Beijing’s Olympic authorities were muted in their condemnation of the incident, preferring instead to point out that – with the sale of the last 250,000 tickets – Beijing’s Olympic events are totally sold out. Several officials, in less muted tones, are now suggesting that Beijing 2008 might be the first Olympics to sell out its tickets, entirely (Athens 2004 only sold 2/3 of its seats).

With this goal in mind, I wandered down to the Shanghai Stadium box office this morning in hope of getting a sense for how tickets are selling for the 12 Olympic soccer matches to be held there. Like Beijing, the Shanghai tickets went on-sale as part of the Phase Four sale that commenced on July 25. But, unlike Beijing, many are still for sale. Below, a photo of the scene around 11 AM.

No riots, or even lines. In fact, if I had to choose one adjective to describe the scene at the ticket office (four days after sales opened!) it would be … ambivalence. There are two somewhat related explanations.

First, no self-respecting Shanghainese is going to be caught lying on a bamboo mat in the hot sun – not like those ticket-hungry Beijing bumpkins. After all, there are businesses to run, things to do, payrolls to meet. In this most status-conscious of cities, there is simply no status to be gained by an expression of hunger or want. Aloofness, and not enthusiasm, is the mark of the true Shanghainese. Make no mistake. (more…)

Before I get to the meat of this post, let me state one thing clearly: I don’t relish the idea of an Olympics held in a Beijing choked by smog/fog. Like any other sports fan (and I’m a big one), I’d like to see the Olympics take place under skies so blue that the excess oxygen guarantees world records. That is to say, I may be covering these games, but I also intend to enjoy them (I have my own tickets), and thus I wish China nothing but success over the next month.

Now, back to business.

With all of the talk about Beijing’s air quality, I feel some obligation to point out that the success of the Olympic pollution abatement efforts will be measured outside of Beijing, too. And nowhere will those secondary efforts be more closely scrutinized than in Hong Kong, which is hosting the Olympic equestrian events (that I will be attending for a couple of days in mid-August). Thus, it is with some dismay that I report that yesteday, July 28, Hong Kong recorded its worst air quality – EVER (SCMP has a subscriber-only feature on this inauspicious mark)! For those who like their news unfiltered, the Hong Kong Environmental Protection Department maintains an online, live, Air Pollution index that can be found here. Below, an image of the latest air pollution readings – for HK – on the site:

So far as I know, the Chinese government has not required the factories upwind from Hong Kong to shut down for the Games. And, I expect, they won’t: Guangdong’s manufacturing sector is too vast and important to be shuttered in favor of a glorified horse show. Beijing’s readings might get better (the government is promising that they will), but Hong Kong’s almost certainly won’t. (more…)

I was out of China when, two weeks ago, the Shanghai Airport Authority announced that it was immediately implementing new, Olympics-related security procedures at the city’s two airports. Nothing in the reported accounts of these procedures indicated that they were directed at incoming passengers. But, keeping in mind that these regulations come in the wake of recent bombings in Kunming and Shanghai, the reported arrest of a Shanghai terror cell, and having experienced, first-hand, airport security in the aftermath of actual and (reportedly) imminent terror strikes in India (2006 train bombings) and the United States (9/11), I fully expected to witness/experience some kind of immigration hassle or customs kerfuffle last night.

So. Arrived at Shanghai Pudong (PVG) on Northwest #25 from Tokyo at 9:30 PM (30 minutes late). On our way to the gate, a flight attendant reminded us that China was following tightened security restrictions during the Olympic games. Per that, passengers were to keep in mind that their luggage was subject to search upon arrival. Passengers were also reminded that they should arrive extra early for their return flights out of China due to new, extra layers of security implemented at the entrances of China’s airports. Finally, and most notably (in my mind), the Northwest attendant reminded all incoming passengers to carry travel documents at all times in China, and be mindful of the fact that the Chinese authorities will be carrying out random passport checks. The last point was a new one. (more…)

Jumping on another long flight in about an hour, so stay tuned for a detailed report on the gauntlet that awaits fans of the Spanish Argentine national soccer team when they arrive at Shanghai Pudong Airport, en route to watch their men compete in the preliminary rounds of Olympic soccer on August 7 at Shanghai Stadium. I’ll be joining them in solidarity – at the airport, and in the stadium, of course.

In the meantime, you might fulfill the China blogging urge by looking at China Law Blog on what happens when the Chinese government wants more tents for Sichuan, and now; the Wall Street Journal’s China blog on patriotic rice pudding; Granite Studio’s musings on a very interesting – and familiar -  point-of-view from China’s past; and a brief but provocative report on Israeli dissatisfaction with China’s anti-terror security measures in the run-up to the Olympics. Finally, a non-China suggestion: Michael Tortorello’s profile of Minnesota Governor, and increasingly likely McCain VP pick, Tim Pawlenty, in Minnesota Monthly (oh, and longtime friend to the Minnesota Club of Shanghai).

In the air, I’ll be listening to Don’t Do Anything, the jaw-dropping new release from long-time Shanghai Scrap favorite, Sam Phillips.

Posting resumes Monday night. See you then.

Back in February Shanghai’s Xinmin Evening News ran a short item in regard to the selection criteria being used to find forty college-aged Shanghai “beauties” to serve as Olympic medal hostesses in Beijing that was quickly picked up – in English – by China Daily:

According to the requirement, candidates should be between 18 and 24 and 1.68 and 1.78 meters in height. They should have a “ruddy and shiny complexion”, “elastic skin” and “a plump but not fat body” … It also set strict standards on facial features, including the ratio between the “width of the nose and the length of the face”, “width of the mouth and width between the pupils” …

Readers flooded the Xinmin Evening News with letters deriding the sexist public officials who had drawn them up. In return, the sexist public officials – stationed in Putuo District – held a press conference at which they denied that they would do anything so offensive as select hostesses with such inane, offensive criteria. In response, the editor of the Xinmin Evening News printed an unprecedented front-page defense of the story which that included memos from relevant government officials describing – in detail – the American Kennel Society-like criteria being used to choose Shanghai’s delegation. Putuo District never got around to responding, and that was that.

Until yesterday, and a very much-appreciated Xinhua story posted to the official Beijing 2008 site. The author, referencing Wang Ning, deputy division chief of the Sport Representation and Victory Ceremony Division of the Culture and Ceremonies Department, BOCOG, writes:

A hostess needs to be a college student with good education background. She needs to be between 168 to 175 cm and good looking, which was specified in statistics of the sizes of bust, waist, hip and even mouth, nose, and eye, Wang said, but she refused to reveal the numbers. (more…)

Well, well. Today, Han Meilin, the famously grumpy designer of the 2008 Olympic mascots, the Fuwa, provides an interview to the Wall Street Journal in which he claims that the universally reviled mascots weren’t his fault:

After China’s Olympics organizers gave him the assignment, folk artist Han Meilin initially sketched out five children representing the traditional Chinese elements of fire, wood, water, gold and earth. Then the bureaucrats got involved. “There had to be a panda, even though you’d think the public would have had enough of them,” says the 72-year-old artist … Games officials faxed one request after another to his studio for other national images, such as a kite, a sturgeon and ancient cave drawings. So Mr. Han gave them Carmen Miranda-style oversized hats to help hold all the symbolism.

Mr. Han … says the Fuwa “could have been much better” had they not been so saddled with stuff. Their creation, he says, got off on the wrong foot when officials opened a national competition for designs. Although he was on the judging committee, Mr. Han didn’t like any of the winners.

“Can you believe it? Those are the drafts that they sent through and asked me to modify,” he says, pointing to monkey, dragon and tiger designs that he keeps stacked away on a shelf in his workshop. “I’m an artist. It is humiliating,” he says.

Er, wrong Fuwa. I mean …

All believable, I suppose, but it’s worth pointing out that – back in 2005, before the Fuwa became an international joke, Han Meilin was singing a different tune – particularly in an extended interview that he provided to the Beijing Times: (more…)

Last Thursday, China’s National Bureau of Statistics announced that the nation’s growth rate fell to 10.1% for the second quarter – marking its fourth consecutive month of decline. This state-owned media reported the number with somber distance, noting that it reflected deteriorating economic conditions abroad, while also – in a couple of cases – noting that all was well so long as the number remained over 10%. For example, China Daily reported:

“Since the economic growth rate is still above 10 percent, it is too early for an explicit relaxation of policy controls,” Huang Yiping, an economist with Citigroup, said.

Likewise, foreign media – including foreign media based in China – reported the growth number as given, with no questioning of whether or not it is an accurate number, nor whether or not Beijing has an interest in propping it up beyond 10%. (more…)

A bit under the weather these last few days … and it probably has nothing to do with this photo – and caption – that ran in China Daily on Saturday:

I’ve discussed this at length with two people who appreciate these things, and we all agree that this very good photo would have risen to the level of masterpiece if – instead of holding a guide for the disabled – the blind person was posing with one of the new Olympic Bibles (albeit, a braile version, while riding atop a wind-powered high-speed train through a security checkpoint manned by applauding members of the French parliament). Still, “ethnic minority volunteers” was a nice start.

Better content available when I’m back on my feet.

[UPDATE: A regular correspondent writes to point out that the photo lacks a panda. Good point.]

Of interest to expats and Olympic visitors …

Over dinner this evening I heard the unfortunate tale of an 6 month American expat who had been receiving regular, monthly, mailed deliveries of a specific prescription drug from the United States. The packages were sent using the US Postal Service’s Global Express, with accurate shipping manifests. And they were delivered on-time, without any problem, to an address in Beijing.

That is, until two weeks ago, when the person scheduled to receive the drugs was asked to visit the central China Post offices with paperwork showing that s/he was authorized to receive the pharmaceutical. As it happened, s/he had a copy of the US prescription, but when she arrived, she was told that – due to new security regulations – her doctor would need to provide authorization of the prescription to China Post. That information was provided within 48 hours, but the prescription itself wasn’t released for another four days – for undetermined reasons. Fortunately, this individual had enough of the prescription in question to last through the unexpected delay. (more…)

Yesterday UCAN posted an excellent article on what it characterizes as some of the “positive results,” one year on, produced by the Pope’s landmark Letter to Chinese Catholics, released on June 30, 2007. Unlike most reporting on the after-effects of the letter (or, for that matter, Chinese Catholicism), UCAN’s report doesn’t dwell on Vatican-Beijing relations. Instead, it focuses on the letter’s call for reconciliation between China’s “open” and “underground” Catholics and asks whether progress has been made in forging that consensus.

The article offers a tentative yes, and you can read it for yourself, here.

I mention this now because UCAN’s portrait is both subtle and complicated, and very much at odds with the standard, black and white image China’s Catholics typically found in non-Chinese media (most recently propagated by Frontline and Evan Osnos in the flawed documentary, Jesus in China, which I critiqued, at length, here). (more…)

I finally got around to reading Nicolas Ourassouf’s love letter to Beijing’s new architecture in Sunday’s New York Times. Content-wise, it doesn’t offer much that the dozens of other similar essays, on the same buildings (Bird’s Nest, CCTV, Terminal 3 … repeat!) have already said. But in the opening, and in the conclusion, Ourassouf makes a claim that I haven’t heard before. He writes:

If Westerners feel dazed and confused upon exiting the plane at the new international airport terminal here, it’s understandable. It’s not just the grandeur of the space. It’s the inescapable feeling that you’re passing through a portal to another world, one whose fierce embrace of change has left Western nations in the dust.

The sensation is comparable to the epiphany that Adolf Loos, the Viennese architect, experienced when he stepped off a steamship in New York Harbor more than a century ago. He had crossed a threshold into the future; Europe, he realized, was now culturally obsolete.

The obvious problem with this analysis is that Adolf Loos arrived in a New York designed and built by Americans (naturalized or otherwise). Ourassouf, however, arrives in a Beijing commissioned by Chinese, but designed by Europeans and Americans (he doesn’t mention a single Chinese architect in the article). (more…)

It’s hard to believe, but less than a year ago the Women’s Football World Cup was being played out in China, with many sporting officials openly claiming that the event provided China with the opportunity to test out its preparations for the August Olympics. And so, briefly, let me take you back to a less innocent time …

September 10, 2007. The Danish national women’s soccer team is in Wuhan, training for a first round match with China. That morning, they arrive at their training ground to find that somebody has dug a hole in the middle of the pitch (a pitch that hadn’t been mowed or maintained, either), but – with the help of some orange safety cones – sort of work around the problem. Then, later in the morning, during a closed training session, the players spot a camera crew filming their workouts. FIFA removed him, but that crew was soon replaced by another cameraman – leaving the players no choice but to stop practicing their corner kicks and spend the rest of their time “giving him the finger.”

September 11, 2007. Still in Wuhan, the Danish players retire to a hotel room for a “tactical meeting” in advance of their September 12 match with China. In the midst of the meeting, players notice movement behind a mirror and joke that somebody might be watching. A few minutes later, they determine that someone is watching and storm into the adjoining room where – to nobody’s surprise – they find a Chinese camera crew filming their meeting through a two-way mirror. [a comprehensive account of the incident can be found here.]

[The Danish team's video of the ensuing confrontation has been released (in the last few days, I believe), and can be found here ["no camera!, no camera!"] along with an interview of Danish midfielder Anne Dot Eggers on the harassment that her team experienced during World Cup 2007.]

September 12, 2007. China defeats Denmark, 3-2, with plenty of post-game ugliness. A Danish assistant flips off the Chinese side (I sense a pattern …); the Danish head coach refuses to shake hands with his Chinese counterpart; the largely Chinese crowd is not amused. (more…)

One of the more interesting – if not predictable – consequences of the current economic downturn has been a lifting-of-the-curtain on just how unprepared Beijing’s bureaucrats are to deal with it. Price controls and proposals to establish a “stabilization fund” for the perpetually declining stock market are only the most public manifestations of this phenomenon. But there are others, and most if not all of them clearly suggest that – when it comes to economic trouble – the authoritarian DNA of the party in power trumps all that talk about open economies and trade (I’ve discussed this topic at length, most recently here)

In this spirit – last week state-owned media announced that, in the face of a declining export sector, Beijing is seriously considering a restoration of the export tax rebates that it cut last July with such fanfare. Export tax rebates, for those who don’t follow this sort of thing, are just what they sound like: cash refunds on taxes paid in the process of manufacturing a product. For manufacturers of high-volume, low-value products, like textiles, those rebates often account for the total margin on a product – especially in the current manufacturing environment where rising resource and labor costs are driving smaller manufacturers out of business. (more…)