olympics-bad for chinese people?

lifian

Do you think we should boycott the olympics not because of darfur etc but because of all the things happening that are directly related to the building of the stadium and the actual preparations going on.

for example:
air pollution.it is reported that they are firing chemicals in to the clouds to disperse them.
the homes of thousands of poor have been demolished to make way for racing tracks etc.many are left homeless.
at least 10 workers have died during the building of it.possibly many more.
there are many more things going on

Xavi6

Well the country was long polluted before any talks of hosting the Olympics came about.

At least they can look at the tv and say "Hey I used to live there!."

lifian

yes it was polluted but they sem to be adding to it in order to 'put on a show' for the rest of the world

Karoma

Link to article re: "firing chemicals in to the clouds"?
Um, supposedly they've shut down a lot of factories (temporarily) to improve the air quality. The bastards! Rabble!

stevenmu

Linky on CNN.

I don't know if it's a good thing or bad thing or not, but it's something they've been doing for decades to bring rain to parts of the country that need it. The only difference for the olympics is that instead of trying to make it rain in a particular place, they're using the techniques to make clouds turn to rain before they get to a particular place.

lifian

they are also 'removing' over a million cars from the streets of bejing during that time-to give a false view of their city

lifian

i have also heard that they have added chemicals to the cement used for building stadium, tunnels etc, in order for it to set quickly.apparently it looks old already and its unknown what the effects might be-possibly a weaking of the structure?

Hitchhiker's Guide to...

I'm guessing that Ireland will be boycotting any medals ceremonies

lifian

they do seem to have a habit of boycotting medal ceremonies!

SimpleSam06

Ah the wonders of being ruled by hidebound jackbooted book burners living out the tedious nationalistic pageantry of the cold war.

Mossy Monk

I cannot see any text on the opening post. Why did you change the colour? It is not very friendly on the Cloud skin.

5starpool

I hear that the stadiums are being made wntirely by children and they are using babies as building block. Also, I know that the water for the swimming pools is made up of the sweat produced in the sweat shops.

Slow Motion

SimpleSam06 wrote: »

Ah the wonders of being ruled by hidebound jackbooted book burners living out the tedious nationalistic pageantry of the cold war.

I'm no fan of Fianna Fail either but I wouldn't go that far!

lifian

Mossy Monk wrote: »

I cannot see any text on the opening post. Why did you change the colour? It is not very friendly on the Cloud skin.

???

Its a bad thing, this has been covered up alot. Alot of people forced out of their homes by the army. They were moved into what looked like camps. Horrible Horrible. I personally think it should be boycotted.

Sherifu

lifian wrote: »

???

You changed the colour of your text, it is unreadable when using the cloud skin. Why do people feel the need to experiment with colour.

leninbenjamin

Sherifu wrote: »

You changed the colour of your text, it is unreadable when using the cloud skin. Why do people feel the need to experiment with colour.

cut 'em a break. only 11 posts, may not even be aware that some skins have a black background... it's not exactly difficult to highlight the text anyway.

Sherifu

I made him aware now, didn't I? I thought I was being quite helpful.

leninbenjamin

Sherifu wrote: »

Why do people feel the need to experiment with colour.

fair enough, though to me that comes across as a very impatient and not exactly friendly comment.

Dinter

lifian wrote: »

do you think we should boycott the olympics not because of darfur etc but because of all the things happening that are directly related to the building of the stadium and the actual preparations going on.

I don't think we need to boycott the Olympics.

Judging by our past performances nobody will realise we were there anyway.

Voodu Child

I heard they've run out of fireworks, so for the opening ceremony, they'll be firing flaming babies into the sky with catapults..

Miss Fluff

voodoo_child wrote: »

I heard they've run out of fireworks, so for the opening ceremony, they'll be firing flaming babies into the sky with catapults..

And the rain won't be made of water but of burning baby body particles.

Pherekydes

Of course we should decide what's best for the Chinese people. :rolleyes:

Lockstep

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnZ3qzIwmlw

lifian

Sherifu wrote: »

I made him aware now, didn't I? I thought I was being quite helpful.

still havnt a clue what you are talking about!i just pasted it from another forum as i felt it would get more views here!you obviously have a different background.thanks for ur comment! will keep u in mind next time i paste..ps how do u know im a 'him'!!!?

Collie D

It will be good for the Chinese chemists I would imagine.

Lisapeep

I heard that a Chinese blogger got beaten to death by law enforcement officials after filming the horrendous conditions on one of the Olympic building sites.

I think it's also interesting that the British athletes refused to sign a contract preventing them from speaking out against the olympics. They obviously feel its important to debate the issues surrounding these olympics.

lifian

lifian wrote: »

for example:
air pollution.it is reported that they are firing chemicals in to the clouds to disperse them.

Don't Russia do this too?

Collie D

Fair play to the British athletes if that's true. How can they ask them to sign contracts. The Olympics is supposed to be unpolitical but I don't think anything could be further from the truth and events like the boycotts in 80 and 84, murders of the Israelis in 76 etc show that

lifian

i think it has got political

Collie D

lifian wrote: »

i think it has got political

Well I assume you're Chinese...what do you think?

Lisapeep

It is true about the contracts. http://edition.cnn.com/2008/SPORT/02/10/olympics.britain/

lifian

Collie D wrote: »

Well I assume you're Chinese...what do you think?

Haha, no I'm not Chinese!!

Miss Fluff

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200803/chinese-firewall?ca=AF%2FjDcA3z22%2F%2B5K4NRsflrgvHgM%2B9jAQfFa%2FvcHB9Mo%3D

Brilliant......

BaZmO*

Before people start getting up in arms and preaching from their soap boxes about boycotting the Olympics they should have a look at where their cheap Computers and TV's etc. are made.

EamonnKeane

lifian wrote: »

it is reported that they are firing chemicals in to the clouds to disperse them.

Couldn't they just drop Juicy Fruits into the clouds?

lifian

BaZmO* wrote: »

Before people start getting up in arms and preaching from their soap boxes about boycotting the Olympics they should have a look at where their cheap Computers and TV's etc. are made.

my computer and tv wern't cheap

Gurgle

What I want to know is why the Met office here isn't chucking dry ice into the sky at 2am from may to september?

I can think of much better reasons to boycott China than this.

carsonsunhao

hi guys, I 'am a chinese and I would like to thank those people who kindly support the game. regard to the conflicts here, I would like to say that if you really wannna know about a culture, you have to be part of it, if you can not see by your own eyes, then think it in two views, i mean both good side and the bad side.

Sometimes I wounder why some kind of news are always trying to embrassing China, Tibet??Falungong??until nowadays Olympic game, Is that because we are the only comminist country that still growing in the world? all the nagtive news seems target on the party which helping such a huge country to move on, although it not perfect, but I do inderstand that it's not easy as well.

As a rapidly growing nation with 1/6 population of the world, the game has been a good opportunity for you to know more about China without viewing it politically, I can confidently tell you that, you will be warmly welcomed to visit Beijing, and wont remember any of the issue that we dicussed above.

One world, One dream, good luck Beijing.

BaZmO*

I take it you're a fully paid up member of the party then?

carsonsunhao

Not at all buddy, and tell you what, I am not a fan of politics either, no matter what kind of regime rules China, All we care about is the improvment on life quality, income etc. things seems going on well so that I am happy enough.

I have to say that the reason why of causing those confilicts above is partly because the lack of knownledges about the culture. as you said, we do make cheap tv cars etc, we couldn't make them more expensive because not everybody of 1.3billion people will be able to afford one, fair enough? other reasons from a economic point of view i don't want to mention. on the other hand, we are the third nation which send human into the space, so we do make manspace ship as well, but I don't think you can afford one.

Dashticle

Seeding clouds and the like is not specific to China, nor is implementing traffic cotnrol during large events, nor poor building practices, nor sweeping squatters away when necessary.

Yay China!

carsonsunhao

nor seems like you belive they are true, a tour to China won't cost you too much.

Dashticle

carsonsunhao wrote: »

nor seems like you belive they are true, a tour to China won't cost you too much.

I was saying that other countries do the same things as China is doing to prepare for the games.

pd101

Haile Gebrselassie has pulled out of the marathon in the Olympics because he says that the pollution is a threat to his health.

link

Black Swan

pd101 wrote: »

Haile Gebrselassie has pulled out of the marathon in the Olympics because he says that the pollution is a threat to his health.

A recent issue of WIRED magazine mentioned using charcoal filters in masks to filter out many of the airborne particles thick in China's urban areas.

Thirdfox

pd101 wrote: »

Haile Gebrselassie has pulled out of the marathon in the Olympics because he says that the pollution is a threat to his health.

link

For the same reasons he pulled out of the London Marathon...

Look forward to the discussion of London's pollution in 2012

lifian

Dashticle wrote: »

I was saying that other countries do the same things as China is doing to prepare for the games.

Other countries don't get rid of cars to reduce pollution.

mathias

What you have to realise here is that in China , you have what was an incredibly poor country turning into and incredibly rich country very fast. Some things are getting overlooked in the rush , like pollution and health and safety , having been there and talked to plenty of people , you would be hard pushed to find a chinese person who yearns for the " good ol days " , yes they have problems , and yes some people get displaced with all the disruption , but at the pace the country is developing that would expected. And as far as I could see , the vast majority of chinese people are very happy with the changes.

A good example of this is the hutongs in beijing , most tourists and travel program watchers mourn the loss of a way of life ,and those quaint little houses , but like thatched cottages here , they were a sign of abject poverty , the majority of Chinese people that had to live in them shared a toilet between 10 houses , they are being relocated to apartment blocks , ballymun I here you cry , but most love the privacy , and being able to go to the loo where no one else can see you , thats the reality of it.

Personally I think its great that they got the Olympics , the more international focus on the country the better , it can only improve things.

As for health and safety , well , there certainly needs to be some work done there , but thats a symptom of any developing country , heres a photo I took out of my hotel window in shanghai , these guys are cleaning windows on the hotel opposite ,they are approx 30 floors up , how much danger money would you want to clean a window like that ?

lifian

There just sems to be so many negative things connected to these olympics-more so than any other.What happens when they are over?Pollution gets worse?People who were made homeless remain homeless?Darfur, Tibet and other issues go to the back page as the worlds media turn their attention to other stories?The olympics will go ahead, will probably be a great success and I like many millions will watch hours of coverage of the different events.Then what?We didnt boycott the Olympics in Berlin...........and look what happened three years later!!!

andy1249

We didnt boycott the Olympics in Berlin...........and look what happened three years later!!!

Yeah the world was kicking itself over that one , Hitler would have been so distraught at losing that show that he wouldnt have been able to drag himself out of bed for world war two .....

The pollution in China isnt there because of the olympics , its there because people want work and cars , the same reason its everywhere else , China may not be the ideal role model for a government , but its heading in the right direction at least , leave em alone !!