Shanghai Scrap

A comparison of intermission scoreboard messages at Olympic events in Hong Kong and Shanghai.

First, Hong Kong, where the organizers used the dead time and their color scoreboard to educate spectators on the finer points of team eventing rules.

Next, Shanghai, where the organizers used the dead time to instruct in the finer points of putting two hands together to make a sound.

[Add. notes: Neither of the two venues displayed half-time messages that could be construed as overlapping the other. That is, Hong Kong didn't instruct in clapping; Shanghai didn't instruct in soccer.]

[UPDATE: Just to be clear - I don't believe these signs are indicative of the relative sophistication of the spectators in the respective cities. Rather, I believe - in a vast generalization - that they are indicative of the attitudes of the organizers (and thus, the governments) toward the spectators in the respective cities.]