Olympic Vignettes

空气－ Air

2AM on the eight day of the eighth month, our taxi flew by the slumbering Bird’s Nest (鸟巢). The air slightly grayed the red glowing embers within the stadium’s latticework. Sleepily traveling the 4th ring road, I experienced the effects of Beijing’s pollution for the first time, a foreboding experience preceding the opening of the games.

I’ve been studying here for two weeks already, but have largely ignored any poor air quality. Of course, I can see the haze that pushes the nearby summer palace a dream’s depth from Peking U. But contrary to my expectations, I run here without feeling short of breath, my eyes do not burn, and I cannot smell Beijing smog. My classmates complain of all these things and more. I thought they were exaggerating their plight until now. Our driver, a quite fellow compared to other cabbies, has left the windows down to combat the stickiness of the humid night. So in rushes the cool breeze of the freeway, but with it the infamous ghost that haunts the anticipation of Beijing’s Olympics. It felt like sitting in a cool yet smoky bar. To the eyes, it makes Beijing appear older and more mysterious.

志愿者－ Volunteers

Timeout－小张 is just awesome. He hooked me up with a pair of tickets to watch the opening ceremony alongside several thousand Peking U Olympic volunteers. Big ups, dawg.

I walked into the crowded (yet orderly) auditorium as anticipation was quickly building. Confusingly, there was a German volunteer on stage, who after a short message launched into some brave but misguided karaoke, a Chinese song. Thoroughly butchered it (harsh words, but I call ‘em like I see ‘em). The next pre-game performance was volunteers from outside of Beijing, who in a show of gratitude to their hosts wrote and performed a parody of the ubiquitous (seriously, I hear it multiple times daily) 北京欢迎你 －Beijing Welcomes You. There’s was called Peking U Welcomes You, and the crowd loved it, laughed and began singing along. The words were projected on the screen, so it was like a gigantic group karaoke performance.

And then the CCTV coverage began. The crowd oohhed and ahhed at each new trick, each dance and drumbeat, and I felt that there was a sense of pride in each reaction, ‘This is our Olympics, this is China showing the world.’ Unfortunately I can’t provide hard facts to back that up, but I just got a feeling. It’s probably a safe bet considering the crowd was largely volunteers.

美丽－ Beautiful

The Chinese student in the seat next to me helped me understand some of the nuances of the ceremony, but was also hilarious to behold. During the entrance of the athletes, whenever a beautiful girl appeared, he began clapping, WOWing and his butt began lifting out of his seat, as if the gravitational pull of the screen were too great. Fittingly for a college audience, the rest of the auditorium followed suit: it turned into an international beauty contest. NBA players and Roger Federer drew huge reactions. But what really fascinated me was their reactions to each country:

Following rather gratuitous applause, my excitable neighbor explained simply that relationships are good between China and Pakistan. Same reaction for Cuba: “Because you two have the same style of government?” I asked in Chinese. “Exactly,” he replied. Others big reactions include North Korea, Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei and many of the Middle Eastern countries, including Iraq, Palestine and Israel. England, the US and Canada received polite applause, while Germany and Australia fared much better. Of note, whenever CCTV showed a dignitary, regardless of the country, the audience applauded soundly. I thought I heard some laughter during Bush’s applause, but I might have imagined it.

And then China came in, Yao Ming manning the flag. The reaction was grand, but not as great as I’d expected. But most of the crowd was on its feet, and I felt as if the games had really arrived at that moment.

Great opening, and an amazing way to see it!