travels

Diana on CBS

Jacob Redding — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 16:24:49 +0000

Diana (of Appetite for China) was on CBS this morning. I'm so proud of her. If you missed the U.S nationwide broadcast here it is for your viewing pleasure.

Learning how to play Basebal

Jacob Redding — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 07:27:05 +0000

Last night Diana and I watched an Olympics Softball game out at Fengtai softball park in Beijing. The stands weren't as full as they should have been but a good number of people turned out especially the locals. The game definitely highlighted what the Olympics games are all about. Most of the local Chinese crowd were attending their first or close-to-first game of their life. Many of them did not understand the rules or what exactly they were watching. This became especially apparent when the announcers would describe the rules of the game between every "ups" (i.e half inning) and also during any significant breaks.

Lessons were announced for the rules of the games as well as proper cheering etiquette.

Olympic Softball

Jacob Redding — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 07:27:05 +0000

Diana and I headed over to Fentai softball park to watch Holland vs. Australia and Canada vs. Venezuela. Australia and Venezuela won.

Chinese "Hot Dog"

Jacob Redding — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 06:34:42 +0000

This is what is served at the Olympics as a "Hot Dog". Its food, ya that's about all I can say about it.

Fencing

Jacob Redding — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 06:34:42 +0000

I was fortunate enough to be invited along to an Olympic Fencing competition. I have never watched fencing before and I wasn't aware of all of the rules but it was really good times. The experience of being at the competition and watching the reactions of the home team crowds and other audience members was great.

The length of the video is a bit long, I apologize. I was attempting to show what the venue itself looks like as well as give some idea of the experience inside.

Diana on KGW, Portland

Jacob Redding — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 06:34:41 +0000

Hey do you guys know this girl Diana? She runs this blog called Appetite For China. Well these days she's been on TV quite a bit showing the American television stations around the Wang Fu Jing snack street. Diana's a great writer and its nice to see people paying attention to her blog and her work.

What for her on CBS's early show (nationwide) as well as on KGW in Portland, Oregon.

My one frustration with the Olympics

Jacob Redding — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 20:33:13 +0000

The Olympics in Beijing have been amazing. The stadiums and infrastructure are absolutely amazing and the long lasting effects of the Olympics on Beijing are going to be dramatic. Being here you can really feel that the Olympics has done something much greater than the sports themselves. As a cynical person I, of course, have several criticisms about China and the Olympics as I do of my own country. There is only one, however, that is at the top of my list right now though.

The lack of reporting on very newsworthy events.

Two major events happened during these Olympics. The first was the killing of an American tourist with strong ties to the Olympic team. Murder is extremely rare in China and the murder of a foreigner ranks at the top of the list in terms of rarity. Western media did a good job of highlighting this story and the rest of the world knew about it. The English newspaper in Beijing also covered the stabbing and did some followups. The Chinese newspapers, however, were abysmal. The report was often buried or placed on back pages. To be honest I found the Chinese reporting of this incident insulting. You can read more about this here. Note that this is not a criticism of the government's response, which appears to be quite good, but rather of the reporting of it.

The second major incident was the war between Georgia and Russia. This is a major, major event in the world but within China its as if it never happened. For the past several days I've flipped through the television news stations looking for coverage but nothing showed up and if it did it was very brief. I've look on sina.com and baidu.com for coverage of the event but, again, nothing. Browsing the newspaper stands has, so far, brought up 0 front page articles on the war. I'm not stating that it is not being reported but rather that its not being highlighted

I think this is the saddest part about the Olympics in Beijing. Part of bringing the Olympics to Beijing was to help keep the doors of China open to the world. These doors have only been open a short time (nearly my exact lifetime) now and while people have been flooding in, information has not. A large part about being open to the world is to be aware of the world around you. Local Chinese, that are *not* on the Internet (netizens tend to be more "in the know"), need to learn about and understand the rest of the world and if erupts into war they need to know when it happens.

I, unfortunately, am not surprised by the suppression/down-play of information or of the lack of reporting of "sad" events as Chinese reporting tends to always be extremely upbeat and happy. It doesn't stop me from expressing my frustration and sadness towards this behavior though.

Iraq vs U.S.A.... in Olympics rowing

Jacob Redding — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 06:24:44 +0000

When the U.S goes up against Iraq in a rowing match as an American you're left with an interesting dilemma. hhhmm.. what to do.
Watch and see what the people around us did.

Olympic Update #16 Olympic Rowing

Jacob Redding — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 06:14:44 +0000

We headed out to watch Olympic rowing today. After three hours of watching mens/womens single & double sculling I can honestly state that it is much more exciting to watch this on TV. Sitting in the stands in hot n' muggy weather and not really seeing the boats isn't all that fun.

Olympic Update #15 - Heineken House

Jacob Redding — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 20:56:23 +0000

This is what happens during the Olympics when there are no events to attend (i.e. at night).