Because it's true. I'm not even Chinese, and I just by living a bit in China and understanding more of its culture, I can relate to how the Chinese posters feel. I have not seen a single logical Chinese poster ever say that the state newspapers of China isn't biased. If their are, be certain that I myself do not agree with that. Chinese government news media is INCREDIBLY censored and many things get covered up. OTOH, are you trying to say that "free press = objective"? That's just an absurd a notion as the Chinese press being objective. You have the right to talk about it. And you also have the right to sound ignorant and stupid in front of those who actually knows the situation better than you. Everyday, in my regular dealings with the Chinese, I correct them on misconceptions about US and Americans. There are quite a lot of them, and some even more appalling than what's written on D&D here. Of course, I have found they are more willing to change their opinions based on new information, rather than trying desperately to hold on to their original views. In this sense, I have a lot more respect for them than for people like you. Reily's article is only spot on in your opinion because it matches the pre-conceived notions you have of China. The fact that a "journalist", and I use that term very loosely when I talk about Reily, wrote it only help confirm your opinion.
Let me address Reilly's points in his article one by one so morons like CometsWin at least know why they are morons: 1. Fake building in downtown Beijing with computer graphics? Last time I checked, it's called advertising. Kind of like, no, exactly like how a new condo going up have computer generated graphics on walls surrounding the construction site to sell houses. Happens all over the world, but apparently it's only a problem when the Chinese do it. 2. I believe the details of the lip syncing event was already posted by another poster here. The pretty girl was picked first, but the musical director wouldn't have any of it because apparently she wasn't as good a singer. Yet it was unfair to her if they picked somebody else after initially picking her, so they came up with an arrangement. Both girls were given credit on the DVD. Now, the only reason the Chinese media knew about it was because one of the artistic directors went on national radio and said so. And the only way the western media learnt then immediately gave it the usual spin was because they copied the Chinese media. Last time I checked, when one's trying to fake something, it's a good idea not to tell anybody. 3. The giant footprints actually were there. However, due to overcast skies, it would be impossible to see on TV without CGI. Furthermore, it is dangerous for helicopter pilots to get close to it for filming. Reilly spun it as if it never happened. I wonder why. 4. The directors got lazy. Instead of nabbing a children from all regions, they found a dance troup. Boy, I'm sure there's something sinister going on there. 5. This one may or may not be true. I'll wait until the IOC issues its judgement. 6. Which volunteer fans? Unlike morons like CometsWin, I was actually there. In many events in the preliminary rounds, large portions of the stadiums were empty. You could see it in person, you could see it on TV. One of the events I attended in Beijing, soccer between the US and Nigeria, then Serbia and Argentina (one of the most popular teams in China), the attendance was 49,000 out of a capacity of 60,000+. It came over the PA. No attempt to hide it. I'm wondering where Reilly got the source of his "volunteer fans." Out of his ass? 7. This is true to a certain extent. 8. Throwing out migrants? News to me. To ensure a less polluted environment for the Olympics, they stopped all factories and all constructions. The business owners have no business to run and only incur costs if they keep the workers on their payroll. So THEY are the ones to send all of them home, not the government. In regards to Joey Cheeks, Chinese law always kept trouble makers out of the country. I'm not surprised the western media spins it as a recent thing though. 9. The so called Great Firewall was always in place. Topics like Taiwan and Tibet always were sensitive. And Falun Gong always was banned because of it being a cult that challenged the government. Nothing new there. 10. It's actually funny that Reilly mentioned the rain rockets. The city of Beijing routinely used them for weather modifications. Beijing on the edge of the desert it doesn't get a lot of rain. Nothing new there. And gee, why would they drive down rain before the opening ceremonies? Much better to have 100,000 people plus 100+ foreign dignitaries get soaked. Funny thing, the only real issue with Beijing's weather during the Olympics is the western media's reporting of it. I remember a month before the Olympics, after the car/construction bans, CNN's John Vause posted a video. He was trying to highlight the smog in Beijing. So he showed a video of Beijing with blue skies couple days prior, then showed the then current video of Beijing, in the same location. And you could see a blanket of white, gray skies and couldn't see buildings 50 metres away. Having actually lived in Beijing, its air quality is bad, but I've never seen it like that. So I pulled up Beijing's weather report that day. Guess what? It was cloudy, with heavy mist. So it makes perfect sense that the sky was gray and you couldn't see buildings a short distance away. Yet John Vause and CNN tried to spin it as smog. I wonder why.
First of all, a lot of the new information we've gleaned about China from these Olympics is completely negative. Find me the positive human interest stories because I've been looking for them and would love to read them. I expected to see stories of Chinese entrepreneurship and other successful developments in China but I've seen nothing at all. The lead up to the Olympics, the crackdowns in Tibet, the torch protests, the crackdowns on political dissidents and undesirable ethnic minorities is what we've really seen. Plus, Chinese have lied to the IOC that there'd be no censorship and that people would be allowed to protest in designated protest zones. In fact they have arrested people with secret police when they have tried to go through the application process and people that have inquired about friends and family members that have already been arrested. That's pretty negative any way you slice it. We've learned that the Chinese use Soviet style sports factories to stock their athletic teams. They apparenlty have a government run program (119) that determines which events (particularly women's events) will be easiest to win medals in and then they pour money into those events. This, just like with the Soviet Communists, is an attempt to use nationalism to popularize the current government. Look at us we can win as many medals as the Americans, this obviously means that Communism is a success so shut up and enjoy your Starbucks before you get disappeared. Shawn Johnson, the 6 year old from Iowa whose parents pay for her to take gymnastics lessons because she loves the sport versus the Chinese gymnastics factory that picks adept 3 year olds from poor rural families that in a society where they're limited to one child have little choice in saying no to having their child used as a guinea pig for the greatness of China. You too can become the next Zou Chunlan. Furthermore, the Communists in China have no intention of giving their people more freedom. These games are nothing more than a show for the Communists. On one hand to show the world how allegedly modern and progressive China has become and on the other hand to show the Chinese people that Communists using a corrupt, extreme form of capitalism largely devoid of civil and human rights can achieve prosperity for its people. You won't be able to vote for a political party, or unionize, or have a free press any time soon but welcome to the McDonald's drive thru, can I take your order. The alleged logic behind giving China the games was to help open up their society but I think in time all it will have really achieved was to embolden the current regime. The Olympics have brought them greater legitimacy in the eyes of the Chinese people and that's a damn shame. Shame on the IOC as well as all of the American companies that are complicit in this fiasco.
I've been very disappointed in some of our Chinese friends here at Clutchfans -- there is minimal objectivity in their views or honest discussion about their homeland.
The same can be said about many of the American posters on this BBS as well. Everything have two sides. Chinese posters choose to look at the side are good while the Americans choose to mainly look at the bad side.
Why would they celebrate Chinese entrepreneurship? Does that have anything to do with the Olympics? Gee, and here I thought the crackdowns in Tibet happened because of violent riotings and terrorist acts. In typical moronic fashion, you didn't even bother looking up your facts before you bullsh1ted. The 119 programs is one where China previously had NO CHANCE in. Couple years ago the COC looked at the events and found out that the ones with the most medals are Track and Field, Swimming and Rowing, 119 golds in total, hence program 119, all of which China are very weak on. So they decided to improve on those aspects because they wanted to be good at all of them. Are you the same moron on another board that posted 3 year olds are taken from their families with ABSOLUTELY NO EVIDENCE TO BACK IT UP? Funny thing, 3 year olds are barely walking, but apparently the Commie apparatus can already tell who's good at gymnastics. Also a funny thing about free choice. Those people were asked. They could quit at any time. And the funny third to top it off, Shawn Johnson was hand picked (when she was 9) and trained by a Chinese coach. The Commies in China gave their people the right to live free of foreign invasions, the right to receive education, the right to social mobility, the right to become wealthy... which is more than one can say about India. Yet an Indian is here to bullsh1t about China. Highly ironic. No, the logic behind giving the games to China was because it represent over 1/5th of the world's population, is a rising power that never hosted the games before AND THE BEST BID. This coming from CC.net's resident moron and anti-China basher... highly ironic.
there is no need for arguing folks. only people don't have a positive view of China would come out here and argue with you anyway. it's not like Chinese people have a positive view about US. so it's all even. rest of the world have much better view on China anyways.
a lot of my American friends have positive views on China. not everyone here will argue with you about China on everything. online forums are where people come out and b**** about everything. it happens in China too. i have read a lot of Chinese forum where people will complete rip US apart in their discussion. there are all kinds of people everywhere in the world.
I am not going to sit here and let KingCheetah be crowned "resident moron." I was not given the opportunity to formally enter that competition, and I could crush KingCheetah. That said, his use of maps in the discussions of Taiwan will forever show mastery over all posters.
Do they have the same attitudes as Americans in terms of the whole "moral superiority" and "we know what's best for you" thing? That's the only thing that ticks me off about Americans when it comes to dealings with foreign countries. Otherwise, I agree. I ask because I really don't have the reading skills to browse through Chinese forums. Chinese websites in general are also crowded and really hard to navigate. So I never really bother with them.
china is a great country, great people. i don't like any nations that aren't democratic and esp. communistic. but the government isn't a potrayal of the people there. the chinese were very graceful during this olympics and i think the world saw that. china is becoming a global power each and every day.
With more than 20 years rapid economy growing, more than 30 million people were pulled out of poverty. You couldn't find anything positive about China. It says a lot more about you as a person, and the "new information" source you get yourself educated from, than it does about China. You don't need to read Chinese to know about Chinese entrepreneurship, just read any Fortune or Forbes in the past decade, you could easily find some stories there. Go to NYSE or Nasdaq to find out entrepreneurship stories of those public listed Chinese companies. It is a lot easier than finding ONLY negatives. There is a little thing called logic, try to use it once in a while. Don't be scared, it's not hard at all. Again, your confession tells a lot about you than China.
No, there are many Chinese who doesn't have high regard for United States. But they do not think China is better than the US or that China knows what is best for other countries.
