I have not updated this blog for close to 9 months now. I was caught up in the whirlwind of promoting and screening my documentary about the Beijing Olympics.
Now it is time to get back to some blogging. BTW you can watch the film online. You are more than welcome to steal this movie.
As the Beijing Olympics fast approaches, Western media organizations are quick to pull out the well-worn cliches about repressive regimes and the Olympic Games.
It is refreshing therefore to read this interview in the Seattle Times blog with Dr Susan Brownell, an American anthropologist who does research on sports in China and their connection with politics, culture and society.
You may want to read the entire interview but here are the two excerpts extracted by Danwei:
Politics, Beijing and the Olympic Games
What I find most interesting is Dr. Brownell’s proposition that major events like the Beijing Olympics are the accelerators of great change in China. This is a departure from the usual point of view that the staging of the Olympics is merely “window dressing” a great public relations push to present China in an acceptable light.
This is a perspective of someone who knows China well. Dr Brownell is a former athlete who has spent time living and studying in China.
But will her voice be heard amidst the din of China-bashing that has become “fashionable” in some media circles?
Technorati Tags: Beijing Olympics, 2008 Olympics, Beijing, China politics, sports, Susan Brownell
Keel over the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Move aside, the Twin Towers of Kuala Lumpur.
Here come the Twin Leaning Towers of Beijing. The new CCTV (China Central TV) building is one of the growing number of icons designed by international architects in the city of Beijing.
I passed by this building almost every day while I was filming my documentary about the Beijing Olympics. I always felt bemused by the seemingly impossible structure of the towers.
The building is clearly part of the city’s efforts to lay claim to its status as an international metropolis by building futuristic and foreign-looking landmarks.
Call it odd or a show-off piece, it is definitely identifiable. In fact I used it as backdrop to one of the scenes in my film.
This week, the news is that the twin towers finally join, with a walkway connecting the two parts.
As usual, a plethora of ironic observations have surfaced in the international media:
China’s impossible leaning towers join : December 2007 : Richard Spencer : Foreign : Telegraph Blogs
Orwellian architecture in China | The Ministry of Truth | Economist.com
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