Author Archives: Stephen Cronin

Beijing Olympic Games and Pollution

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unfoldedorigami posted a couple of photos of the Bird’s Nest Olympic Stadium:

DSC_0310  DSC_0309

There’s a lot of pollution evident in these photos of Beijing, and the photos further down, which is a real concern only two days before the 2008 Olympic Games start.

I won’t be surprised if it rains before the games, which would really clear the pollution up. The Chinese are masters of cloud seeding, so don’t be surprised if it happens.

Leaving pollution aside, I think these two photos work really well together, especially the angle of the gutter. I also like the guy on the bicycle in the front left of the first photo. He really adds some action to the photo.

Here a couple more photos showing the pollution in Beijing, this time by madiko83:

P1040421  P1040434

Here the pollution looks even worse. The story is all over the Western news and in the press, which is a real shame for the Games.

Having lived just outside of Beijing, I can tell you that some days the pollution is terrible, but the next day you can get blue skies.

The pollution is much worse in the south (ie Guangzhou), and I’m hoping that they’ll get clear skies for the majority of the Olympics.

Beijing Olympics – One World One Dream

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myuibe posted a couple of photos:

One World One Sponsor  One World Ond Brand

You can tell the Beijing Olympics is almost upon us. The number of Olympics related photos on Flickr is increasing!

These photos appear to be of the Wangfujing area and they show billboards sporting the One World One Dream slogan. This was chosen as the Official Olympic Slogan after a competition a couple of years ago.

I know this well, because one of the word processing worksheets I wrote for my students, when I was teaching ICT in China, was centred around a passage announcing the slogan!

Anyway, expect to hear this slogan a lot more in the coming weeks as the Olympic Games begin. One World One Dream!

Liptons Tea In China

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Liptons Tea is widely available in China these days. I used to drink it a lot when I lived in China.

DSCN3840 photo by myuibe

They have the full range of different Liptons tea products. That’s the Lemon flavoured one in the photo above. I preferred the straight green tea option. You can get black tea too (although note that the Chinese call it Red Tea, because of the colour when you add water).

I also took a liking to Liptons Milk Tea instant tea powder, although it’s strange to see it packaged like that – it’s basically a mix of tea, sugar and whitener so you have milk tea ready to go.

As for it being Liptons, well you can get almost all the major Western brands in China these days, especially in the bigger cities. Lays chips, Snickers Bar, Pantene Shampoo, anything by Nestle, you name it. That’s just the start. The big companies have moved into China in a big way in the last 5 years.

Summer Palace In Beijing

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The Summer Palace (Yihe Yuan) is a must visit tourist destination in Beijing. It’s huge (290 hectares or 716 acres) and lies next to the Kunming Lake.

My favourite part is the Marble Boat (Shi Fang). You may recognise it from various movies. There’s a story behind it. The Empress Dowager was supposed to put the money towards rebuilding the Chinese navy, but spent it on this instead. She had many critics, although I remember reading that one Chinese academic said that any fleet China put together back then would have been easily destroyed, but the Marble Boat is still there, so it must have been a good decision!

There’s a lot more to see and it’s all very worthwhile. Along with the Great Wall and the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace is part of the top 3 tourist destinations in Beijing.

08.08.02 Summer Palace (111) The Summer Palace in silhouette in front of a brilliant sky – by Amatourist

There are always a lot of tourists at the Summer Palace – any popular tourist destination in China is certainly going to be packed with people, which is a pity really. It’d be great if you could get the Summer Palace to yourself!

Chinese Lion Statue

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MarinaAvila posted a photo:

Lion Statue

This is a most impressive stone lion statue. You’ll see statues like this throughout China (and in Chinatowns throughout the world). In fact, it’s a symbol that most people instantly associate with China.

They are often outside banks and other buildings and they always come in pairs. There’ll be another lion statue just outside of this shot. According to About.com’s Chinese Culture section:

A pair of stone lions, a male and a female, can often be seen in front of the gates of traditional buildings. The male lion is on the left with his right paw resting on a ball, and the female on the right with her left paw fondling a cub.

For more information on stone lion statues, check out the article on About.com.

Bejing Olympics Tactical Response

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aenertia posted a photo:

Bejing Olympics Tactical Response - soldiers on scooters

I’ve read about this – the Bejing Olympics Tactical Response group are apparently well prepared for any terrorist threat that might arise at the 2008 Olympic Games.

As part of this, they’ve trained soldiers who can speed along on little ‘scooters’ called Segways while shooting up the terrorists.

I’m not sure how accurately they’ll be able to shoot while they’re zooming along (I suspect not very well), but they look impressive, like something out of a science fiction movie!

I’m just hoping they can sit and watch the Olympics on TV, rather than being called into action. Lets hope for a peaceful Olympic Games!

Chinglish – Please Continue To Visit

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cloneofsnake posted a photo:

Chinglish - PLEASE CONTINUE TO VISIT!!

Another example of Chinglish, following the previous example (Love Dirl, Love Goll). This one says Please Continue To Visit on an exit sign. They really don’t want you to leave!

Of course what they really mean is please visit again. It’s just a small mistake but it changes the entire meaning of the sign – and adds a little brightness to the day of native English speakers who see it.

Beijing Metro (Subway)

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The Beijing Metro has a name for being efficient and cheap, but my last experience with it was one of overcrowding and frustration.

One of our friends explained that the government had recently dropped the price on the subway (in about March), leading to a sharp increase in passengers. Apparently the overcrowding was a direct result of this. I hope they manage to find a solution to this before the Olympics.

P1050055.JPG

A picture of a Beijing subway train by jcortell.

As I said, the Beijing Metro has (or had) a good name and is the recommended form of transport in Beijing. I haven’t used it much, but I’ve heard enough people say that to know it must be true (and let’s face it, it’s not hard to beat the Beijing traffic).

Anyway in this photo, the train appears pretty crowded, but believe me, I’ve seen worse, especially on other forms of transport.

I have a half written post somewhere, titled Bush Crush, about an experience where I couldn’t even get both feet on the ground (yes, I was standing). I’ll have to finish that post off!