in the place to be

good morning good people!

 

finally the day that so many millions of chinese people have been waiting for, working towards, and looking forward to has arrived. and of course with this day, bundles and oodles of ... issues. well, china wouldn't be china without issues, now would it?

 

originally, i was planning to jump ship during this festive holiday. beijing is already chaos as it is, but i wasn't so much down for the controlled chaos of the season. nevertheless, due to circumstances i couldn't control, i am here, and feverish, ready to spend my 4th birthday in china at the olympic men's lightweight boxing preliminaries. JIA YOU!

 

it has been a privillege to be in china over the last 4 years and watch the build up that has been stealthly racing (at light-speed) to Ba-Ba-Ba, 08-08-08. party people everywhere, it's a national holiday with seasonal august "mist" in the air. it's history in the making, and i've decided to do my part in it, by blogging every day during the games....or at least as much as i can get away with.

 

i'm going to take this olympic holiday season to move temporarily into a friend's apartment (my place is being rented out for the month), write a few stories about all the glorious places to spend money in beijing along with finishing my piece on the history of electronica in the capital, keep working on COMMON GROUND which  is just around the corner, and polish the pieces as i put them back together for Greening the Beige. in true playa form, i built thing to self-destruct and recreate on a yearly basis....but working on the safety net. hopefully with a little help from some friends.

 

in the meantime, i couldn't help but share some of the commentary on china at this critical moment in history. it's news and reporting like this that makes me miss the homeland (i'm really really homesick these days), and inspires me to act globally...all the time. the galaxy is immensely brilliant. keep hope alive. and now, let's let the games begin....

 

 Huffington Post   August 7, 2008  by Naomi Klein

So far, the Olympics have been an open invitation to China-bash, a bottomless excuse for Western journalists to go after the Commies on everything from internet censorship to Darfur. Through all the nasty news stories, however, the Chinese government has seemed amazingly unperturbed. That's because it is betting on this: when the opening ceremonies begin friday, you will instantly forget all that unpleasantness as your brain is zapped by the cultural/athletic/political extravaganza that is the Beijing Olympics.

Like it or not, you are about to be awed by China's sheer awesomeness.

The games have been billed as China's "coming out party" to the world. They are far more significant than that. These Olympics are the coming out party for a disturbingly efficient way of organizing society, one that China has perfected over the past three decades, and is finally ready to show off. It is a potent hybrid of the most powerful political tools of authoritarianism communism -- central planning, merciless repression, constant surveillance -- harnessed to advance the goals of global capitalism. Some call it "authoritarian capitalism," others "market Stalinism," personally I prefer "McCommunism."

The Beijing Olympics are themselves the perfect expression of this hybrid system. Through extraordinary feats of authoritarian governing, the Chinese state has built stunning new stadiums, highways and railways -- all in record time. It has razed whole neighborhoods, lined the streets with trees and flowers and, thanks to an "anti-spitting" campaign, cleaned the sidewalks of saliva. The Communist Party of China even tried to turn the muddy skies blue by ordering heavy industry to cease production for a month -- a sort of government-mandated general strike.

As for those Chinese citizens who might go off-message during the games -- Tibetan activists, human right campaigners, malcontent bloggers -- hundreds have been thrown in jail in recent months. Anyone still harboring protest plans will no doubt be caught on one of Beijing's 300,000 surveillance cameras and promptly nabbed by a security officer; there are reportedly 100,000 of them on Olympics duty.

The goal of all this central planning and spying is not to celebrate the glories of Communism, regardless of what China's governing party calls itself. It is to create the ultimate consumer cocoon for Visa cards, Adidas sneakers, China Mobile cell phones, McDonald's happy meals, Tsingtao beer, and UPS delivery -- to name just a few of the official Olympic sponsors. But the hottest new market of all is the surveillance itself. Unlike the police states of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, China has built a Police State 2.0, an entirely for-profit affair that is the latest frontier for the global Disaster Capitalism Complex.

Chinese corporations financed by U.S. hedge funds, as well as some of American's most powerful corporations -- Cisco, General Electric, Honeywell, Google -- have been working hand in glove with the Chinese government to make this moment possible: networking the closed circuit cameras that peer from every other lamp pole, building the "Great Firewall" that allows for remote internet monitoring, and designing those self-censoring search engines.

By next year, the Chinese internal security market is set to be worth $33-billion. Several of the larger Chinese players in the field have recently taken their stocks public on U.S. exchanges, hoping to cash in the fact that, in volatile times, security and defense stocks are seen as the safe bets. China Information Security Technology, for instance, is now listed on the NASDAQ and China Security and Surveillance is on the NYSE. A small clique of U.S. hedge funds has been floating these ventures, investing more than $150-million in the past two years. The returns have been striking. Between October 2006 and October 2007, China Security and Surveillance's stock went up 306 percent.

Much of the Chinese government's lavish spending on cameras and other surveillance gear has taken place under the banner of "Olympic Security." But how much is really needed to secure a sporting event? The price tag has been put at a staggering $12-billion -- to put that in perspective, Salt Lake City, which hosted the Winter Olympics just five months after September 11, spent $315 million to secure the games. Athens spent around $1.5-billion in 2004. Many human rights groups have pointed out that China's security upgrade is reaching far beyond Beijing: there are now 660 designated "safe cities" across the country, municipalities that have been singled out to receive new surveillance cameras and other spy gear. And of course all the equipment purchased in the name of Olympics safety -- iris scanners, "anti-riot robots" and facial recognition software -- will stay in China after the games are long gone, free to be directed at striking workers and rural protestors.

What the Olympics have provided for Western firms is a palatable cover story for this chilling venture. Ever since the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre, U.S. companies have been barred from selling police equipment and technology to China, since lawmakers feared it would be directed, once again, at peaceful demonstrators. That law has been completely disregarded in the lead up to the Olympics, when, in the name of safety for athletes and VIPs (including George W. Bush), no new toy has been denied the Chinese state.

There is a bitter irony here. When Beijing was awarded the games seven years ago, the theory was that international scrutiny would force China's government to grant more rights and freedom to its people. Instead, the Olympics have opened up a backdoor for the regime to massively upgrade its systems of population control and repression. And remember when Western companies used to claim that by doing business in China, they were actually spreading freedom and democracy? We are now seeing the reverse: investment in surveillance and censorship gear is helping Beijing to actively repress a new generation of activists before it has the chance to network into a mass movement.

The numbers on this trend are frightening. In April 2007, officials from 13 provinces held a meeting to report back on how their new security measures were performing. In the province of Jiangsu, which, according to the South China Morning Post, was using "artificial intelligence to extend and improve the existing monitoring system" the number of protests and riots "dropped by 44 per cent last year." In the province of Zhejiang, where new electronic surveillance systems had been installed, they were down 30 per cent. In Shaanxi, "mass incidents" -- code for protests -- were down by 27 per cent in a year. Dong Lei, the province's deputy party chief, gave part of the credit to a huge investment in security cameras across the province. "We aim to achieve all day and all-weather monitoring capability," he told the gathering.

Activists in China now find themselves under intense pressure, unable to function even at the limited levels they were able to a year ago. Internet cafes are filled with surveillance cameras, and surfing is carefully watched. At the offices of a labor rights group in Hong Kong, I met the well-known Chinese dissident Jun Tao. He had just fled the mainland in the face of persistent police harassment. After decades of fighting for democracy and human rights, he said the new surveillance technologies had made it "impossible to continue to function in China."

It's easy to see the dangers of a high tech surveillance state in far off China, since the consequences for people like Jun are so severe. It's harder to see the dangers when these same technologies creep into every day life closer to home-networked cameras on U.S. city streets, "fast lane" biometric cards at airports, dragnet surveillance of email and phone calls. But for the global homeland security sector, China is more than a market; it is also a showroom. In Beijing, where state power is absolute and civil liberties non-existent, American-made surveillance technologies can be taken to absolute limits.

The first test begins today: Can China, despite the enormous unrest boiling under the surface, put on a "harmonious" Olympics? If the answer is yes, like so much else that is made in China, Police State 2.0 will be ready for export.

Read my full report on how U.S. corporations are helping to build China's high tech Police State in Rolling Stone.

 

Greening the Beige (GtB) is an eco-minded art collective focused on greening the urban culture of Beijing.

 

Greening the Beige has a website, currently under a wondrous flurry of construction like the city of Beijing itself: www.greeningthebeige.org

 

The GtB website will continue to develop as an online place to connect with green people, news, activities, and events in Beijing.

 

The GtB collective is not an official organization yet.  At present we are a group of volunteers dedicated to greening the city of Beijing through art and culture. We are in the process of developing Greening the Beige as an annual event and foundation that supports green artists participating in our events from all over the globe. The funds we raise from our events go towards our production expenses, future goals, and to help benefit our non-profit partners.

 

Our 2nd annual event is happening July 11-18, 2008 in Beijing, all across town and within access of public transportation lines.

 

If you're in Beijing, I hope you'll join us:

 

*Friday, July 11
*7月11日星期五

Opening Night of Greening the Beige 2008
Club Yu Gong Yi Shan
愚公移山俱乐部
www.yugongyishan.com

Tickets:
50元，学生30元
50 RMB General
30 RMB Students

08:30 PM
Opening Address 开幕致辞
Green Long March 2008 Launch (www.futuregenerations.org.cn)
Presented by Denise Vanderkamp, Associate Project Manager

09:30 PM
17 Years (composed by Mark Gabriel Little)
Dance Choreography by
Cheeky Monkey Theater Productions
www.cheekymonkeytheater.com

Mockumentary Short - "The Long Wooden Tobaggonist"

iF Juice Raffle Prize

10:00 PM
DJ Patrick Yu (www.blinkevents.cn)
Eco-Fashion Show 时装表演
www.pollution-china.com
www.raffles-beijing.com

11:30 PM
Flo Eysler & Mr. Soon, BaiCai
www.ibaicai.cn

02:00 AM
DJ Blackie (www.jing-dnb.com)
Poi Spinning


Photo Exhibition:
摄影展 Doug Lewis (www.douglewis.com)
Oak Taylor Smith (www.oaktaylorsmith.com)

Painting Exhibit:
Qiao Wanhua, Huaersen Gallery, 798 Dashanzi Art District

Installations:
装置艺术展
Lin Cuicui: "Plastic Fashion"
Green Long March 绿色长征(www.futuregenerations.org.cn )
Doug Lewis: "The Bottle Project"

Green Marketplace:
绿色市场
Green Garage Sale 绿色车库义卖
Green Long March (clothing & tumblers) 新一代研究院,
iF Foods - Natural Fruit Juice Bar

Green Ed:
教育资讯亭
CESDRRC 中国环境与可持续发展资料研究中心
Green Long March 绿色长征 (www.futuregenerations.org.cn)
Cnature Conservation Association 自然景象环境保护协会 - distributing
independtly designed re-usable anti-white pollution cloth gift bags

More: 更多活动
Tattoo Artist Alliance Studio 纹身艺术家同盟展示
Temporary Body Painting 临时人体彩绘

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
*Saturday, July 12
*7月12日星期六
Club Obiwan
www.clubobiwan.com.cn

Ticket Price: FREE 免费入场

03:00 PM til 7:00 PM
Dragonfly Retreat 悠庭保健会所
Massage & Nails 按摩及美甲

03:00 PM
Beijing Juggler's Workshop 北京抛物杂耍者工作坊
Kids （ages 6 to 10）
Roots & Shoots - Jane Goodall Institute Educational Games
(www.jgichina.org)

04:00 PM
Roots & Shoots - Jane Goodall Institute Educational Games
(www.jgichina.org)

05:00 PM Face Painting 画脸
(Kids)（儿童项目）
Roots & Shoots - Jane Goodall Institute Educational Games
(www.jgichina.org)

Mural Art Workshop (Huaersen Art Gallery) 壁画艺术工作坊（毕索艺术画廊）

06:00 PM Green Animation Film 绿色电影节 "A Trip to the Planetarium" & WWF China documentary

Photo Exhibit:
摄影展 Mat Thatcher: Under Beijing Skies

Green Ed:
教育资讯亭 Roots & Shoots, Jane Goddall Institute 珍·古道尔研究会"根与芽
" (www.jgichina.org)
Cnature Conservation Association distributing cloth bags
(www.cnature.org)
World Wildlife Fund China (www.wwfchina.org)
Hutong School www.hutong-school.com
Green Long March 绿色长征 (www.futuregenerations.org.cn)

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Saturday, July 12
7月12日星期六
GREENING THE STAGE

@Club Yu Gong Yi Shan
愚公移山俱乐部
www.yugongyishan.com

Tickets:
50 RMB General
30 RMB Students

08:30 PM Presentation - (English only)
"Energy and Environmental Impact of Cars in China"
Vance Wagner, Vehicle Emission Control Center,
Ministry of Environmental Protection, China
Julien Chol, www.pollution-china.com

09:30 PM Short film: "Road Rage"
Artistic Cycling: www.trick-bike.com 

自行车特技表演

10:00 PM Junglecat

10:30 PM Ziyo 自游

Photo Exhibit:
摄影展 Oak Taylor Smith (www.oaktaylorsmith.com)
Doug Lewis (www.douglewis.com )

Painting Exhibit: Qiao Wanhua, Huaersen Gallery, 798 Dashanzi Art District

Installations:
装置艺术展 Lin Cuicui: "Plastic Fashion"
Green Long March 绿色长征 (www.futuregenerations.org.cn)
Doug Lewis: "The Bottle Project"

Green Market:
绿色市场 Green Garage Sale 绿色车库义卖
Hua-Dan Fundraiser for Sichuan Earthquake Relief
(www.hua-dan.org )
Green Long March (Clothing & Tumblers) 新一代研究院.

Green Ed:
教育资讯亭
CESDRRC 中国环境与可持续发展资料研究中心
Green Long March 绿色长征 (www.futuregenerations.org.cn)

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
*Sunday, July 13
*7月13日星期
Club Obiwan
www.clubobiwan.com.cn
Tickets:
FREE 免费入场

05:00 PM til Late
Mei Wen Ti Sound Project 没问题音响工程
Green Step Forward (25% of drink sales to CESDRRC special projects)

Photo Exhibit:
摄影展
Mat Thatcher: "Under Beijing Skies"

Green Ed:
教育资讯亭
Roots & Shoots, Jane Goddall Institute 珍·古道尔研究会"根与芽"
www.jgichina.org
Cnature Conservation Association 自然景象环境保护协会
WWF China (www.wwfchina.org )
Hutong School www.hutong-school.com

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Sunday, July 13
7月13日星期日

 

Green Films
@Club Yu Gong Yi Shan
愚公移山俱乐部
www.yugongyishan.com

TICKETS:
50 RMB General
30 RMB Students

08:00 PM til 11:00 PM

Green Film Festival 绿色电影节
Hosted by www.beijingfilmfest.org

*Green Beat Premiere Episode*
<http://www.chinasgreenbeat.com>

"Cycle of Change" - documentary on the changing landscape of Beijing
from 1990 - 2006 by Enno Ladwig

"Who's Got the Power?" - documentary on the public utility industry
(www.globalpossibilities.org)

Photo Exhibit:
摄影展
Doug Lewis (www.douglewis.com)
Oak Taylor Smith (www.oaktaylorsmith.com)

Painting Exhibit:
Qiao Wanhua, Huaersen Gallery, 798 Dashanzi Art District

Installations:
装置艺术展
Lin Cuicui: "Plastic Fashion"
Green Long March 绿色长征 (www.futuregenerations.org.cn)
Doug Lewis: "The Bottle Project"

Green Market:
绿色市场
Green Garage Sale 绿色车库义卖
Hua-Dan Sichuan Earthquake Relief Fundraiser (www.hua-dan.org)
Green Long March 绿色长征 (clothing & tumblers)

Green Ed:
教育资讯亭
CESDRRC 中国环境与可持续发展资料研究中心
Green Long March 绿色长征 (www.futuregenerations.org.cn)


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
*Monday, July 14*
7月14日星期一

Sustaininable Green

@Club Yu Gong Yi Shan
愚公移山俱乐部
www.yugongyishan.com <http://www.yugongyishan.com>

TICKETS:
50 RMB General
30 RMB Students

08:00 PM
Global Environment Institute China

www.geichina.org
Presentation with Q&A

Presentation by World Wildlife Fund China:
WWF "20 ways to20% campaign"
WWF 节能"20行动"
(www.20to20.org)

"Brown Is Also Green" presentation by Dr. John MacKinnon, EU-China
Biodiveristy Program

09:00 PM
Cocktail Reception with Live Jazz Performance - special guest TBA

Photo Exhibit:
摄影展
Doug Lewis (www.douglewis.com)
Oak Taylor Smith (www.oaktaylorsmith.com)

Painting Exhibit:
Qiao Wanhua, Huaersen Gallery, 798 Dashanzi Art District

Installations: 装置艺术展
Lin Cuicui: "Plastic Fashion"
Green Long March 绿色长征 (www.futuregenerations.org.cn)
Doug Lewis: "The Bottle Project"

Green Market:
绿色市场
Green Garage Sale 绿色车库义卖
Hua-Dan Fundraiser for Sichuan Earthquake Relief
(www.hua-dan.org )
Green Long March (clothing & tumblers)

Green Ed:
教育资讯亭
CESDRRC 中国环境与可持续发展资料研究中心
Green Long March 绿色长征 (www.futuregenerations.org.cn)

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
*Monday, July 14*
7月14日星期一

Club Obiwan
www.clubobiwan.com.cn

Ticket Price: FREE 免费入场

On-going exhibitions:

Photography:
摄影展 Mat Thatcher, "Under Beijing Skies"

Green Ed:
教育资讯亭
Roots & Shoots, Jane Goddall Institute 珍·古道尔研究会"根与芽"
www.jgichina.org
WWF China (www.wwfchina.org )
Hutong School www.hutong-school

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

*Tuesday, July 15*
7月15日星期二

EATING GREEN
Club Yu Gong Yi Shan
愚公移山俱乐部
www.yugongyishan.com

TICKETS:
30 RMB Entry
10 RMB Students

07:30 PM EAT GREEN 绿色烹调
Agrilandia Natural Foods Organic Recipe Demonstration 有机食谱现场演示
iF Juice Raffle

09:30 PM til 11 PM
A Delicate Balance: Documentary on Vegetarinism & Nutrition
Hosted by www.beijingfilmfest.org

Photo Exhibition:
摄影展
Doug Lewis (www.douglewis.com)
Oak Taylor Smith (www.oaktaylorsmith.com)

Painting Exhibition:
Qiao Wanhua, Huaersen Gallery, 798 Dashanzi Art District

Installations:
装置艺术展
Lin Cuicui: "Plastic Fashion"
Doug Lewis, "The Bottle Project"
Green Long March 绿色长征 (www.futuregenerations.org.cn)

Green Market:
绿色市场
Green Garage Sale 绿色车库义卖
(Fundraiser for Hua-Dan Sichuan Earthquake Relief www.hua-dan.org)

Green Long March (clothing & tumblers)


Green Ed:
教育资讯亭 CESDRRC 中国环境与可持续发展资料研究中心
Green Long March 绿色长征 www.greenlongmarch.org.cn


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

*Tuesday, July 15*
7月15日星期二
Club Obiwan
www.clubobiwan.com.cn

Ongoing Exhibits:

Photography:
摄影展 Mat Thatcher: "Under Beijing Skies"

Green Ed:
教育资讯亭
Roots & Shoots, Jane Goddall Institute 珍·古道尔研究会"根与芽"
World Wildlife Fund China (www.wwfchina.org)
Hutong School www.hutong-school.com <
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
*Wednesday, July 16*
7月16日星期三

Club Obiwan
www.clubobiwan.com.cn

TICKET PRICE:
FREE 免费入场

08:00 PM til 9 PM
Green Film Festival 绿色电影节
（7 Horns、北京电影学院, www.beijingfilmfest.org


*Green Beat Season 2 Premiere Episode* www.chinasgreenbeat.com


"Charcoal Traffic" - drama based on the coal industry in Somalia;

demonstration on solar technology from China exported to Somalia
director Q & A 

http://www.tucacas.info/sunfirecooking/SFCnewweb/index.html

09:00 PM til 10 PM
Beijing Capoeira Group Workshop 卡泼卫勒舞现场演示及工作坊 (Rooftop
Terrace)

Photo Exhibit:
摄影展
Mat Thatcher: "Under Beijing Skies"

Green Ed:
教育资讯亭
Roots & Shoots, Jane Goddall Institute 珍·古道尔研究会"根与芽"
www.cnature.org  自然景象环境保护协会
World Wildlife Fund China (www.wwfchina.org )
Hutong School www.hutong-school.com

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

*Thursday, July 17*
7月17日星期四
Club Obiwan
www.clubobiwan.com.cn

Green Dinner Buffet: 100 RMB
Advanced ticket only
To reserve your ticket email info@greeningthebeige.org

Dinner Menu TBA
Lots of Veggies! Yum!

07:30 PM til 9:00 PM
Green Dinner Buffet
Guest Speakers:
Green Long March (www.futuregenerations.org.cn)

World Wildlife Fund China
Ms. Li Yang, Communications Department
Mr. Cai Tao, Climate Change & Energy Program


09:30 PM Auction Benefit
til 10:30 PM Proceeds benefit CESDRRC Special Projects
www.chinaeol.net/cesdrrc

All bids start at a minimum of 100+ rmb

Frontiers School
www.frontiers.com.cn
1) 44 hours evening group class, RMB 2000 value
2) 30 hours one on one class, value at RMB 2250


The Bookworm
1) Family membership valued at 500RMB
2) Individual membership valued at 300RMB

Dragonfly Spa
www.dragonfly.net
1)"Give it to me one more time" massage package for one in the crystal
house
2)"Happy Landing" massage package for one in the crystal house
3)Deluxe Manicure for one person

Oak Taylor Smith Photography www.oaktaylorsmith.com

1) Untitled 2007 Edition 8 of 8

Mat Thatcher Photography
1) "Under Beijing Skies"

Photo Exhibit:
摄影展
Mat Thatcher: "Under Beijing Skies"

Green Ed:
教育资讯亭
Roots & Shoots, Jane Goddall Institute 珍·古道尔研究会"根与芽"
www.jgichina.org
www.cnature.org  - Reusable Gift Bags/Anti-white pollution campaign
WWF China (www.wwfchina.org)
Hutong School www.hutong-school.com

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
*Friday, July 18, 2008*
Closing Event

Shhhhh....Secret Getaway Location:
The Boat
www.myspace.com/theboatbeijing

Ticket Price:
50 RMB General

30 RMB Students

In the Aqua Lounge...
09:00 PM til 10:15:00 PM
"The Bike Lane" documentary on LA's cycle culture

10:30 PM til 11:30:00 PM
"More Shoes" documentary (2006, USA)
Lee Kazmir's journey on foot from Madrid to Kiev

11:30 PM til 1 AM
Eco-minded Art Film Shorts Buffet

In the hull below...

11:00 PM Acupuncture Records: XLF & Elvis T.
01:00 AM www.myspace.com/acupuncturerecords

01:00 AM Shejay Dirty Harry
03:00 AM www.myspace.com/shejaydirtyharry

03:00 AM Science of Sounds
05:00 AM Delacrew feat. VJ Marula (www.scienceofsounds.com)

Installations:
装置艺术展
Public Grafitti Mural: GtB invites guests to express themselves with
non- toxic, vegetable based paints and stuff.

Live Art Mural by Qiao Wanhua, Wang Hui, Chen Duxi

Temporary Body Painting - Tattoo Artist Alliance Studio

Green Ed:
教育资讯亭
www.cnature.org  -Independently designed,reusable, anti-white pollution gifts bags!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

 

i first visited china in august 2002. i wanted to see what i had studied in textbooks. i wanted to see it in real live color. and i wanted to take-in all the cultural treasure i could at the 3 gorges before it was submerged. that was the trip that made me fall in love with shanghai, that inspired my thesis on xian's tourism industry, china's golden age, and chinese copy culture . i finished that tour in beijing just after my 26th birthday.

it was when china was a fresh new member of the WTO, just one year after getting the 2008 olympic bid. the capital was brewing a party zeitgeist. i didn't realize it at the time, until 3 months later, on the back patio of a bar on upper haight, that i would return.

and so i did; the rest being history, as they say. and it's been a grand 4 years building up to this summer. the big party is almost here. the clock is ticking in tiananmen square. the revolving city doors are spinning like a centrifuge. and i'm still here....thankfully. thoughtfully. respectfully. although my chinese still sucks. one reason to stay. and of course my plans forgreening the beige being grande numero dos.  

my visa expires on august 9. but hoping to fix that today. i would actually love to be here for china's big party. sadly, not all of us are able to stick around....

Visa limits undermine Beijing's tourism hopes

By David Barboza

Friday, June 20, 2008

BEIJING: The plush lobby of the Kerry Center Hotel in Beijing is usually crowded with foreign guests this time of year, most of them lounging in Centro, a hip bar, listening to jazz and sipping martinis, or queuing up in the taxi line after power dinners at the Horizon restaurant.

But Thursday evening, Centro had only a sprinkling of guests in a hotel whose occupancy rate is typically close to 100 percent during this time of the year. Tonight, the duty manager said after tapping a few computer keys, it stood at just 63 percent.

"I really don't know what happened," said Sun Yin, the duty manager. "Something strange has been going on."

The problem, it seems, is that with the Olympics less than two months away, China has been restricting foreign visitors from entering the country in the hope of guarding against terrorist threats or unruly visitors who might plot to disrupt the Games, which begin Aug. 8.

The government appears to be approving fewer tourist visas. Business executives say they face new bureaucratic hurdles to visiting the city. And hotels are being asked to give the government detailed information about foreign guests.

The measures, combined with the tragic news about the powerful earthquake in Sichuan Province last month, have already sapped tourism in China and cast a pall over Beijing during what was supposed to be a busy and jubilant tourist season leading up to the Olympics.

The high published rates for Beijing hotels during the summer and difficulty getting Olympic tickets have also dampened expectations, even though many five-star rated hotels say they are fully booked during the Olympics.

Still, because things are looking so bad now, for a wide range of hotels, many economists are beginning to doubt whether Beijing will get the kind of windfall it was hoping for during the Games, which analysts had once forecast would bring 500,000 foreign visitors and an extra $4.5 billion in revenue to the city this summer.

Instead, in the weeks leading up to the Olympics, Beijing hotels are struggling to find guests; some large tourist agencies have closed for the summer; people traveling here for seminars and conferences are canceling.

Residents are also complaining that heightened security measures could spoil what was expected to be Beijing's coming out party.

Indeed, after years of preparation and mammoth building projects centered on this city's playing host to the Olympics, including teaching thousands of taxi drivers English and instructing local citizens on how to queue up in line (not something common here), Beijing is looking a little less welcoming for foreigners.

Thousands of hotels, restaurants and tourist agencies that were hoping to cash in on Olympic fever are now facing the prospect of empty rooms, tables and tour buses. Many developments are supposed to be complete in mid-July.

"Business is so bleak," said Di Jian, the sales manager at the Capital Hotel in Beijing. "Since May, very few foreigners have checked in. Our occupancy rate has dropped by 40 percent."

The government does not seem to have come to its decision lightly. In a year plagued by riots in Tibet, protests of the Olympic torch relay, a terrorist plot to kidnap journalists covering the Olympics (according to Beijing officials) and the Sichuan earthquake, the government is stressing public safety, above all else.

Beijing appears less concerned about being the host of a global party, experts say, and more concerned with making sure no one spoils it.

"In order to secure a safe environment in Beijing, we will carry the new visa policy for a certain time," Qin Gang, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said at a May news conference. "This new visa policy is just temporary, not a permanent one."

If there were any doubts about Beijing's priorities, they were made clear Thursday, with the announcement that 100,000 commandos, police officers and army troops would be placed on high alert during the Games, signaling that China is prepared for anything.

The heightened sense of alert over security threats in the capital has done something else too: it has spawned a huge rumor mill about other actions the government may be taking.

Among the reports: the border with North Korea has been closed; foreign students and migrant workers are being asked to leave Beijing during the Olympics; and all outdoor parties planned for the three-week-long Olympic celebration have been canceled, putting the hex on all the fun everyone expects to have during the Games.

Many of the reports cannot be confirmed by Beijing officials, but poor communication about policy and security measures is contributing to the chaos.

Nothing is hurting more than the visa policy. Business executives, particularly from the United States, Hong Kong and Taiwan, have complained that new visa restrictions have crimped deal-making in the run-up to the Olympics.

Many Hong Kong executives, for example, say visa rules were tightened in April, forcing them to apply more frequently for visas, and often required proof of a hotel booking, round-trip airline tickets, and in some cases, a letter of invitation.

"This is not good for business," said Richard Vuylsteke, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, which represents American companies doing business in the region. "It's kind of draconian from some point of view. But politics and security trumps economics, especially during the Olympics. We just hope that after the Olympics things will change."

Hotel operators are also frustrated. A massive hotel building boom - which has bolstered the number of four- and five-star hotels in Beijing from about 64 in 2001 to 161 as of April 30, according to government figures - is beginning to look frothy. Many operators are depressed.

"Usually May and June are the busy season for our hotel," said Jiang Zhiqiang, a spokesman for the New Otani Changfugong Hotel in Beijing. "This year is quite unusual. I think several natural and man-made disasters happened subsequently, which hurt our business." With the opening ceremony of the Olympics just seven weeks away, only about 44 percent of four-star and about 77 percent of five-star hotel rooms are booked in Beijing, according to the Beijing Tourist Bureau.

And if visitors cannot get visas to enter the country, many of those hotels will have to slash rates, which had jumped to as high as $2,000 a night when prospects were brighter.

In some ways, the hotels are also on the front lines of the security crackdown. They typically share guest lists with the government. But now they are being asked to supply photographs of all their employees to help the government in visa approvals.

Chinese-owned hotels may be the worst hit, because many are still building frantically to prepare for a huge number of foreign visitors who were expected to descend upon the city beginning in late July.

Many large tourist agencies - hoping to thrive in the Olympic calendar - have already surrendered.

"Now most of my colleagues for inbound tourism don't come to work," said Wang Ge, director of the inbound tourism department at the Beijing Tourism Group. "We have no clients this month. Our business is bleak. We expected a booming business before the Olympics, but now it's disappointing."

time keeps on slipping. doot doot doodoo...

 

it's a saturday night in beijing and i'm feeling a little refreshed after an early evening siesta. it's been a gorgeous day, waking up to a cloudless pale baby blue sky, the baked air flirting with humidity. beijing summers are an enigmatic dry concrete jungle, that's for sure.

 

but enough about the weather. that's all under control. obviously.

 

after my day in 798, meandering around and endlessly gossiping, i hopped into an AC freshened taxi back to dzm. the radio announcer on 88.7 plugged "DJ Banana!" and progressive house music poured over the airwaves. it was a sign of the weekend. i looked at the taxi driver. guessed his age to be around 40 and i wondered if he enjoyed the music. i could've asked him but i didn't. instead i followed the psychedlic-pop patterns of the music and i started thinking about weekend clubnight radio shows.

 

then just as the electrifying mojo popped into my audio-memory, suddenly there were lyrics added over the basslines of the track:

 

"rock that pussy, baby, rock that pussy"

 

pardon? say what?

 

i looked back at my taxi driver, who was completely oblivious to my bewildered amusement. he glanced over and returned my uncontrollable smile that was 2 seconds away from leaking laughter. he smiled back with a subtle questioning look and then went back to focusing on the road, full of cars and people crossing the street in summer dresses, on foot, pedaling their bicycles, and carrying shopping bags.

 

it's been a beautiful day. the kind that makes me want to go and celebrate the simple fact that i'm here. and i think i will, depending on the magic 8-ball-style answer the ATM gives me tonight. and then i will dance under the full moonlight, amongst friends, until the music ends and if all goes well watch the sunrise.

 

but first i need to finish a bit of work.

 

happy summer everyone!

 

xxx

 

 

 

 

i have my theories;

they work out like zen koan prizes at the bottom of life's cracker jack boxes.

 

ever since i joined facebook, the cyber social networking tool has never worked for me properly. permission to "add" one of my friends was forever denied. and then the option to join a group i had initiated in the real world didn't exist in facebookland.

 

so yeah, i'm complaining here, on msn, and i know it's futile. but it's similar to when google deleted 3 years of my travel blog from cali to israel to china. one swift blow to the server and boom. virtual nihilism.

 

over the last few weeks my ability to access my facebook account at all has slowly been deteriorating. it's annoying because i've come to depend on it. as a calendar, message system, and photo album.

 

the reason i sold-out and joined facebook is the same reason i sold-out and eventually bought a cell phone. i wanted to reach out to people. and i wanted to be reachable. but the thing is, technology constantly needs advancement and upgrading and fresh batteries. and i can be hard on my hardware.

 

no, really, i don't blame myself on this one. no, definitely, the facebook mainframe is fascist. all its creepy crawly beta bugs are out to get me.

i am not being paranoid.

 

reason, logic, and the course of nature being what it is, i believe in cause and effect. this world is threaded deep with beautifully complex connections that would only waste time attempting to simplify. i've stopped trying. and i've kept my eyes open. my ears, too. it's just...my heart beat has a very logical rhythm.

 

no good, no good at all.

no doubt the crux of evil.

 

i know i have to do something about this. but i won't pretend i know how. going back to facebook, it's not necessarily the raving corporate/orwellian brainwashing device it's all cracked up to be. and so what if it is. lord knows i love a challenge. the true downside i've discovered is that its value as a tool to connect people has an equal cost.

 

back to life's complications--we've all got them.

 

i spose the only thing you can really do is make the right connections. and disconnect when and where needed. reconnect other times as quickly as possible.

 

at the moment, i'm still unable to connect...........................

 

(a welcome break from the news.)