Too bad columnists can't write unfinished symphonies
When Beijing hosts the 2008 Olympics, I have to be there. Not to watch the athletes. Not to watch the dull Great Wall-to-Great Wall coverage. I just want to come in order to experience again Beijing’s perennial unofficial sporting events.
Take the sport of X.J., or extreme jaywalking, for example. I have seen Beijing grannies cross dense traffic in ways that would make an inebriated Bode Miller shout “Are you 480° crazy or just this short of a half-pipe!?”
Outside of the Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macao, Chinese citizens do not have the freedom to question the rule of the Communist Party, but Beijing motorists do have the freedom to reenact driving fit only for a Grand Theft Auto video game. The right of way works a little differently; the vehicle that can crush all other vehicles has the option of driving towards oncoming traffic for short spurts when in a jam or a rush.
While surely the Chinese government can put a damper on the urban motocross with the new sections of subway to open and a People’s Army of traffic whistlers, Olympic visitors are nevertheless sure to be spectators to the People’s Republic’s attempts to control virtual traffic.
My personal web blog, along with thousands of others using the same web host, is presently blocked by firewall feat. Mainland China is now safe from any invidious influences were I to decide to videocast a “Falun Gong Show” – an hour long weekly monotony show where meditators chant mantras until they lose focus and are gonged off.
...
And then my inspiration teeters off and I have no idea where I was going with all that. I'm left with no column to submit to The Denver Post. I can leave it smoldering on my to do list, or can it and look for inspiration elsewhere.
Take the sport of X.J., or extreme jaywalking, for example. I have seen Beijing grannies cross dense traffic in ways that would make an inebriated Bode Miller shout “Are you 480° crazy or just this short of a half-pipe!?”
Outside of the Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macao, Chinese citizens do not have the freedom to question the rule of the Communist Party, but Beijing motorists do have the freedom to reenact driving fit only for a Grand Theft Auto video game. The right of way works a little differently; the vehicle that can crush all other vehicles has the option of driving towards oncoming traffic for short spurts when in a jam or a rush.
While surely the Chinese government can put a damper on the urban motocross with the new sections of subway to open and a People’s Army of traffic whistlers, Olympic visitors are nevertheless sure to be spectators to the People’s Republic’s attempts to control virtual traffic.
My personal web blog, along with thousands of others using the same web host, is presently blocked by firewall feat. Mainland China is now safe from any invidious influences were I to decide to videocast a “Falun Gong Show” – an hour long weekly monotony show where meditators chant mantras until they lose focus and are gonged off.
...
And then my inspiration teeters off and I have no idea where I was going with all that. I'm left with no column to submit to The Denver Post. I can leave it smoldering on my to do list, or can it and look for inspiration elsewhere.
brainfart by Daniel at
1:39 PM
1 Comments:
You should mention those sharp loogie-hawkin' skills you witnessed, which for some reason brings me to ask...
Do the streets in Beijing have names? If so, how are they named/after who, etc?
-Dave
By
Anonymous, at 8/23/2006 4:01 PM
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