New Beijing, New Olympics … err “Great Olympics”
My previous posts have focused on the run-up to the Olympics, as well as some of the surrounding phenomena and architecture. In this post, I want to talk about Aug 8, 2008, otherwise known as 8/8/08.
First off, “8″ is considered a lucky number in Chinese, because (depending on the dialect) it is pronounced similarly to the word 福 (“luck”, or “fortune”; this is the same character used for the fuwa). So it made sense that such an event as prestigious as the opening ceremony was scheduled for such a blessed day (relatedly: there was a huge uptick of weddings on that day).
8/8/08 was a Friday, a work day, so we all dutifully reported to work. But by mid-afternoon, the office began to empty; by the evening, the streets were quiet: strangely quiet, for a Friday afternoon. Since Albert’s parents were staying at our apartment, we headed home directly from work to have a quiet dinner with them. The closing of many of the usual entertainment options was in full effect, and between that and the hot muggy weather, they were planning on staying at home and watching the opening ceremonies live on television.
Not so for Albert and I. We wanted to be in the thick of things, celebrating with the city. We’d heard that the city government had set up official celebration stations throughout the city, consisting mostly of outdoor television screens in public parks. We headed to the closest celebration station, in Haidian Park. Although it was within walkable distance (about a mile), with some difficulty we flagged a cab for a nice air-conditioned ride to the park. We stumbled down the dark pathways and joined the crowd of several dozen crowded in front of the huge screen.
Have I mentioned the occasional problem with construction quality yet? We should have been tipped off by the small crowd size and dark screen: our celebration station was busted. As the clock ticked down to 8 PM (another “8″!), the crowd got increasingly upset and, yes, abusive towards the tech support staff. Shouting. Name-calling. Personal accusations.
Albert and I looked at eachother worriedly, and decided to head back to our trusty television (how many in the crowd didn’t have access to a television?, I wondered). Because we had so few minutes to spare, we decided to catch a taxi back instead of walking.
It was even harder to find a taxi at 8:15 PM than it was at 7:30! Businesses had closed early so folks could go watch the opening ceremony, and it seemed that the taxi drivers were determined to participate as best as they could, by parking alongside the street and tuning their radio to the official audio broadcast. We eventually found a driver by knocking on his window and begging piteously. Even so, he grumbled at how little profit he was making on our 1-mile run and turned up the radio as loud as we could take it as he raced through the completely empty and darkened streets home. If you’ve never been to a large dense city, then this statement doesn’t seem unusual … but large cities never rest, and we were glued to our windows at this new facet of our home city. There is always someone out and about, chatting or eating or laughing on the streets Beijing.
Unless it’s the opening ceremonies for the Olympics, apparently.
We tumbled into our darkened living room half an hour after the ceremony started and joined the in-laws on the couch in front of the TV. And that, dear readers, is how we experienced the opening ceremonies: just like you, on the TV.
By the way, the title of this post refers to the Chinese preference for slogans with parallel structure (eg, “One World, One Dream”). The Chinese slogan plastered all over the city is “新北京,新奥运”, which - literally translated - is “New Beijing, New Olympics“. The Beijing Olympics Committee, naturally worried about foreign misinterpretation, has offered the official translation of the phrase as “New Beijing, Great Olympics”.
-- Cross-posted from http://blog.albertandhannah.com/hannah