For expats, the razing of South Bar Street for a residential development was the end of Old Beijing

A few blocks from Workers’ Stadium, which was commissioned by Mao Zedong in 1959 to mark the tenth anniversary of the People’s Republic of China, is a neighbourhood called Sanlitun, the city’s centre of hedonism. Sanlitun is a place of expat lore. In the late 1990s, Sanlitun South Bar Street was, other than hotel bars, the only place to go for late-night revelry. The Sanlitun establishments were intimate and dirty, and partiers spilled into the narrow streets until it was a big outdoor beer garden. A friend of mine who teaches math at an international school and who is in his sixth year in the city told me that South Bar Street was a place where people drank lukewarm bottles of Tsingtao beer by the dozen and “just got drunk.” The Facebook group Sanlitun Bar Street Alumni now has some 1,500 members. (more…)

BEIJING—It’s just after 7:30 am on the day of the closing ceremonies and we’re counting down the hours at the CBC studio. The Games are almost over, and thank the good Lord for that. It’s not that I’m happy for the Olympics to end (rather glum, actually), only that I want to sleep past sunrise again. The folks here are almost giddy for things to wrap up. “I’m getting drunk tonight,” is a common refrain. Hear, hear.

It’s been a good ride for me (although I think I’ll always harbour a grudge against the CBC for the early wake-ups), and above all a learning experience. Here are some tidbits I picked up over the last sixteen days:

— Since China made its Olympics debut in 1932, the names of practically all of its athletes have been pronounced incorrectly. This year was no different. For future reference, Wang is pronounced “Wong“, “Zh” is a J sound, and Liu Xiang is not “Lu Jang.” You’d think networks would have given their on air people a few lessons in pinyin since the games were being held in, you know, China, but I guess that wasn’t in the budget. (For the record, I thought most of CBC’s talent, particularly the hosts, did well in this regard. I have no reason to lie — CBC isn’t hosting the next two Games, and it would take a miracle to get me to work another Olympics anyway). (more…)

SHANGHAI—The New York Times has an article this morning heralding the arrival of CCTV on the world stage. Turns out the Beijing Olympics has awakened advertisers to the vast viewership enjoyed by the state network—an eighteen-channel conglomerate—in the world’s most populous country. The finals for women’s table tennis, for example, drew more viewers than the entire US population. As a result, multinationals are finally starting to take CCTV seriously—and ignore its role as a vehicle for propaganda. The NYT article yet again underscores China’s rising demographic influence. But I’d credit CCTV for a different reason: the Olympics has suddenly made its programming relevant. (more…)

BEIJING—Last Saturday something incredible happened in the Bird’s Nest. Usain Bolt, the aptly named Jamaican extraterrestrial, demolished the world’s fastest runners with a swagger, cutting three hundredths of a second off his own world record. I was fortunate enough to be there, and I’ve never seen anything like it. The stadium was on fire.

Two days later, just before noon on Monday, something equally incredible happened at the Nest, only the reaction was polar opposite. In a matter of seconds, the energy and excitement of Bolt’s run was sucked out of the stadium—and the Olympics—into a black hole of national sorrow. As famed hurdler and virtual Chinese god Liu Xiang pulled out of the 110-metre hurdles, the crowd of some 80,000 gasped in disbelief, mouths ajar, as they tried to figure out just what the hell was going on. Many broke into tears, including journalists, and an unsuspecting country went into shock.

It’s difficult to put into context the gravity of Liu Xiang’s exit from the hurdles competition. One of the CBC tech guys said it was akin to Wayne Gretzky, in his prime, gingerly skating out for a Stanley Cup game seven warm up, and then failing to show up for the opening face off. Really, though, that’s not even close. Canadians love their hockey, but I doubt the Great One could bring reporters to tears. (more…)

According to the Associated Press, the Olympics are decidedly lacking in both fans and vibe. “After the first few days of the Beijing Games, some cracks have appeared in China’s perfect party,” including “empty seats at the venues, disappointing crowds at the Olympic grounds… [and] a lack of buzz around the city,” a report said.

According to the report, just 40,000 people passed through the Olympic Green on Monday, and the IOC has told organizers the number should increase to 200,000 people per day. Olympic sponsors, with their lavish—and empty—Olympic Green pavilions, are understandably concerned. As a Canadian listening to a rock band at the Samsung pavilion told the Wall Street Journal, “It’s too bad there aren’t more people… I though this would be more of a party.” (more…)

BEIJING—A pall fell over the Olympics on the opening weekend, after the bizarre stabbing of an American couple and their Chinese guide Saturday afternoon, and more explosions in Xinjiang Sunday. The weather didn’t help the mood any. It’s just after 5:30 a.m. in Beijing on Monday as I write from the CBC studio at Ling Long and the clouds (fog? smog?) have broken. It’s been raining now for about twelve consecutive hours, but the air, finally, looks to be clearing.

Alas, the Games go on. Michael Phelps won his first gold yesterday and last night’s US-China basketball match drew an estimated one billion television viewers. Crowds have been good so far despite intense security and the heat and humidity. I managed to check out beach volleyball at Chaoyang Park in east Beijing after work Saturday and was impressed with the atmosphere at the stadium. The announcer led the crowd through the wave; dancing girls called “beach babies” wearing lime bikinis filled in down time; and cans of Tsingtao beer were a mere five Yuan (less than $1). (more…)

SHANGHAI—It’s sometime past nine, and I’m sprawled across the lawn in People’s Square with a few friends and hundreds of strangers (including a middle-aged couple lost in a makeout session, a boy in a T-shirt that reads I LOVE CHINA, and a legless beggar), watching the opening ceremony on a screen embedded in a skyscraper. We’re about a third of the way through the Parade of Nations, that part of the ceremony where countries display questionable fashionable decisions, en masse. People are starting to get bored. As if on cue, a pair of uniformed guys appear to sell us milk tea for only three times the normal price. But then the crowd erupts into cheers. There, onscreen, is the Canadian team.

So why the uproar? (more…)

BEIJING—A good day to kick-off the Olympic Games it ain’t. The view from the CBC studio in Ling Long Pagoda, a tower overlooking the Bird’s Nest and Water Cube where I’ll be working for the next two weeks, is of one of those post-apocalyptic Beijing days you need to see to believe. The apartment blocks across from the man-made river snaking through the Olympic Green are barely visible. Through the clouds, the sun appears a “lurid red,” as an early Reuters report put it. For critics, Beijing hasn’t disappointed.

The weather may not be cooperating, but it won’t take away from today’s significance: the seven-year wait is over. “Welcome, World,” splashed today’s front page headline on the state-owned China Daily. China’s moment is here and it’s hard not to get caught up in the excitement.

Forgive the melodrama, but Beijing is electric. (more…)

SHANGHAI—China’s state television Olympics coverage got off to a tumultuous start. At a ceremony held last fall to celebrate the renaming of CCTV-5 to Olympics Channel (to distinguish it, presumably, from CCTV-1, -2, -3, -4, -6, -7, -8, -9, -10, -11- and -12), jilted media darling Hu Ziwei stormed the stage and announced that her husband, sports news announcer Zhang Bin, was having an affair.

The confrontation that ensued—Hu, clad in a pea coat and Burberry scarf, calmly explaining that her husband was tainting the image of the Olympics; a crew worker, palm splayed, rushing the camera lens; a pan to the blurry rings fading into the background—was the stuff of great soap opera. The clip was excised from the broadcast version of the ceremony, but fortunately some brave soul caught it all on a cell phone camera. It now lives on Youtube. (more…)