BEIJING (AP) — Martial arts student Cheng Jianghua only saw the army barracks he stayed in and the stadium where he performed at the spectacular Olympics opening ceremony. But his sacrifices were minor — other performers were injured, fainted from heatstroke or forced to wear adult diapers so the show could go on.
Filmmaker Zhang Yimou, the ceremony's director, insisted in an interview with local media that suffering and sacrifice were required to pull off the Aug. 8 opening, which involved wrangling nearly 15,000 cast and crew. Only North Korea could have done it better, he said.
But some news reports have raised questions about the lengths to which Beijing went in trying to create a perfect start to the Summer Games.
Chinese officials were accused of fakery for using computer-generated images to enhance the show's fireworks display for TV viewers.
Organizers also have been criticized about their decision to have a 9-year-old girl lip-synch "Ode to the Motherland" because the real singer was deemed not cute enough.
Performers have complained that they sustained injuries from slipping during rain-drenched rehearsals or fainting from heatstroke amid hours of training under the relentless summer sun.
Cheng and 2,200 other carefully chosen pugilist prodigies spent an average of 16 hours a day, every day, rehearsing a synchronized tai-chi routine involving high kicks, sweeping lunges and swift punches. They lived for three months in trying conditions at a restricted army camp on the outskirts of Beijing.
"We never went out during the time we were training," Cheng, 20, told the AP in a phone interview. "Our school is quite strict. When we stay in school we can't go out on our own, let alone when we're at a military camp."
In the most extreme case, Beijing organizers revealed last week that Liu Yan, a 26-year-old dancer, was seriously injured during a July rehearsal. Shanghai media reported that she fell from a 10-foot stage and may be permanently paralyzed from the waist down.
Zhang, the ceremony's director, visited Liu in the hospital and has told Chinese media that he deeply regrets what happened to her — but he has also defended the training schedule his performers endured.
He told the popular Guangzhou weekly newspaper Southern Weekend that only communist North Korea could have done a better job getting thousands of performers to move in perfect unison.
"North Korea is No. 1 in the world when it comes to uniformity. They are uniform beyond belief! These kind of traditional synchronized movements result in a sense of beauty. We Chinese are able to achieve this as well. Though hard training and strict discipline," he said. Pyongyang's annual mass games feature 100,000 people moving in lockstep.
Performers in the West by contrast need frequent breaks and cannot withstand criticism, Zhang said, citing his experience working on an opera performance abroad. Though he didn't mention specific productions, Zhang directed an opera at New York's Metropolitan Opera in 2006.
"In one week, we could only work four and a half days, we had to have coffee breaks twice a day, couldn't go into overtime and just a little discomfort was not allowed because of human rights," he said of the unidentified opera production.
"You could not criticize them either. They all belong to some organizations ... they have all kind of institutions, unions. We do not have that. We can work very hard, can withstand lots of bitterness. We can achieve in one week what they can achieve in one month."
In the Olympic ceremony segment showcasing the Chinese invention of movable type, the nearly 900 performers who crouched under 40-pound boxes donned adult diapers to allow them to stay inside for at least six hours, Beijing organizers said.
Some students of the Shaolin Tagou Traditional Chinese Martial Arts School in Henan province who began training for the event last May were injured in falls on the LED screen that forms the floor on which they performed and was made slippery by rain, said Liu Haike, one of the school's lead instructors.
"At one point, the children had to run in four different directions. ... When one fell, others quickly followed," Liu said, adding the injuries were minor.
While in Beijing, the constant exposure to the dizzyingly hot summer resulted in heatstroke for some students, particularly during one rain-drenched rehearsal that stretched on for two days and two nights.
The students were kept on their feet for most of the 51-hour rehearsal with little food and rest and no shelter from the night's downpour, as the show's directors attempted to coordinate the 2,008-member performance with multimedia effects, students and their head coach told the AP.
"We had only two meals for the entire time. There was almost no time to sleep, even less time for toilet breaks," Cheng said. "But we didn't feel so angry because the director was also there with us the whole time."
Despite the sacrifices, the student performers were grateful for the opportunity to participate in the historic event and view it as an honor. "All the tears, the sweat, and sometimes even blood that we shed, I now think it was quite worth it," said Ren Yang, 17, also of the Tagou school. "When we performed that night, all that I could feel in my heart was joy. Pure joy."
Retarded nationalism at its finest. I guess the last part is easy to say if you're not a paraplegic.
I'm honestly curious about what Chinese TL members think about the organizers trying to model themselves after North Korea servitude.
Performers in the West by contrast need frequent breaks and cannot withstand criticism, Zhang said, citing his experience working on an opera performance abroad. Though he didn't mention specific productions, Zhang directed an opera at New York's Metropolitan Opera in 2006.
"In one week, we could only work four and a half days, we had to have coffee breaks twice a day, couldn't go into overtime and just a little discomfort was not allowed because of human rights," he said of the unidentified opera production.
"You could not criticize them either. They all belong to some organizations ... they have all kind of institutions, unions. We do not have that. We can work very hard, can withstand lots of bitterness. We can achieve in one week what they can achieve in one month."
Wow...it just stuns me how the Chinese government feels it has to do shit like this to get the world to respect them, when in reality these things are causing them to lose face amongst most people.
Unions definitely cause a lot of trouble in the US these days, but it's still mindboggling to think people would happily accept that type of regimen for a program that everyone forgets in three weeks.
There was an article in either the WSJ or USA Today about some older Chinese athletes being concerned that the games have actually caused a step back in modernization, since the government took control of everything for these games.
Within the next few years the NBA will probably break that open.
Also somewhere I read a quote from an expert that if North Korea had China's budget for their Arirang Festival they would have raped the Olympic ceremony.
Yeah, and Korean gamers sit in a stifling box in front of cameras for hours on end "for their country." Everyone's retarded when they do something that you wouldn't do.
American high school cheerleaders have lost legs and broken bones in routines and athletes across American get heat stroke not infrequently. But when it happens in China, I guess it gets to be headline news.
On August 21 2008 09:59 haduken wrote: It's all in the face. I can't shit, i can't pee I can fell 10 floor and still not mad But lose your face... omfg
??
Losing face is a slang term for losing respect, I was just saying how it strikes me odd that the government seems to think that these elaborate ceremonies and their efforts to appear perfect will actually gain respect when in reality most people won't really care a day after seeing it.
Unless that wasn't directed at me, then completely ignore this
We choose not to be as productive, because we find that some things are more desirable than being productive, such as creature comforts. Our choice, their choice - simply a different notion of what's important.
Actually I do have a pretty set notion of what I think is right and wrong, and what is valuable and what is silly. As I'm sure you do.
But I also recognize other people think differently. What is the point of arguing whether or not something is "silly" or "stupid" when we cannot agree on what the terms mean?
I'd think it retarded to even go to the olympics to watch when I can simply turn on the TV or open a stream on my computer. But I know that being there, competing, whatever, it all has some value for the people who do it, and that value is greater than the cost they are paying to do it - otherwise, they wouldn't.
but that kind of training is pretty ridiculous and kinda unnecessary. it sucks how the chinese government values its image over the safety and security of its citizens
You know that raises a point. Why do western governments care so much about the safety and security of its citizens? In times past citizens were just the people who fed or became soldiers which allowed you to claim territory. Now, citizens are the primary concerns and their safety and health is seemingly so important that the rights of other people may be readily violated just to preserve the health of citizens. It doesn't make sense... unless you really buy into the bullshit that governments actually do represent what the common man wants.
this is really a small bone to pick, especially with china. to the students this should be a once in a life time event, however silly the circumstances contriving such sentimentality are. it is not enough to make me rage.
although collectivised activities often are hugely problematic, you cannot dismiss them altogether. political theory arose out of ordinary political activities that form a part of the human lifeform, and when you dismiss something like collective action categorically, there is no replacement for that vacuum. people simply do not know any other way of behaving, and designing a new form of society from the ground is anything but easy.
would do well to highlight the economic decisions made by the chinese government, pretty much a continuation of regionalism and systematic exploitation of the peasantry and lower working class.
On August 21 2008 13:26 EmeraldSparks wrote: American high school cheerleaders have lost legs and broken bones in routines and athletes across American get heat stroke not infrequently. But when it happens in China, I guess it gets to be headline news.
On August 21 2008 13:26 EmeraldSparks wrote: American high school cheerleaders have lost legs and broken bones in routines and athletes across American get heat stroke not infrequently. But when it happens in China, I guess it gets to be headline news.
On August 21 2008 23:33 Hippopotamus wrote: You know that raises a point. Why do western governments care so much about the safety and security of its citizens?
Because the citizens get to choose their government nowadays.
On August 21 2008 13:26 EmeraldSparks wrote: American high school cheerleaders have lost legs and broken bones in routines and athletes across American get heat stroke not infrequently. But when it happens in China, I guess it gets to be headline news.
Way to read the article dumbass
I did, fucktard.
While in Beijing, the constant exposure to the dizzyingly hot summer resulted in heatstroke for some students, particularly during one rain-drenched rehearsal that stretched on for two days and two nights.
The students were kept on their feet for most of the 51-hour rehearsal with little food and rest and no shelter from the night's downpour, as the show's directors attempted to coordinate the 2,008-member performance with multimedia effects, students and their head coach told the AP.
"We had only two meals for the entire time. There was almost no time to sleep, even less time for toilet breaks,"
Welllllll crap on human rights than! wooooooweeeee!
It's not too often you see athletes here working for two days with two meal breaks, or running around with diapers on, huh?
Yeah, forcing people to wear diapers is human rights abuse. Somebody call the Hague.
Nations with conscription - South Korea, Israel, the United States at various times in the past - put their citizens through far worse in the name of national service. Unpleasant? Yes. Human rights abuse? I'd hesitate.
Jibba can you drop your blatant propaganda? What's disgusting to me is how you try to fob off your own values on everyone else, like you have a greater right to tell others how to live their lives.
If you like the way you live, then great. Go live it. Don't try to act superior to others and drum up some kind of anti-Sino sentiment with your bs arguments.
There are pros and cons to both the USA and China. Both are world powers. China has had barely 40 years to develop. The USA has had at least 100. I don't even need to get into what kinds of external challenges CHina has faced compared to the USA either.
Does China do everything right? No. Is it right to say unions are just pesky things that keep people from becoming great? No. Unions obviously have their good points, and securing proper work conditions for employees is critical for a prosperous and healthy society.
But when it comes to the performing arts and taking things to new heights? Yes. There's a certain amount of dedication and sacrifice that every performer needs to make. Is that level of dedication somewhat muted by US labor laws? Yes, they most definitely are. There's always more than one side to everything. Stop trying to talk about the philosophy like there's a definite black and white. It's juvenile and petty.
The performers choose to be there. They consider it an honor to be there. I highly doubt that the performers didn't have a choice in participating. I don't think any of them were forced into the show. So, in light of that, this is by their own choice. It's not the act of some tyrannical gov't that doesn't give their citizens human rights. Just stfu already with that crappy angle fed by the US propaganda machine.
You ever seen what living conditions are like for Navy SEALS? I bet that breaks more than a few labor laws and human rights doesn't it? Oh but wait, they're volunteers. And it's the military! So that makes it OK. Wait but why? Wouldn't military training be the epitome of governmental policy? Isn't that one of the areas where gov'ts have the greatest say-so in how matters should be conducted? So why should that one be exempt from all this talk you're putting up about human rights?
And honestly, as if the West should talk about human rights. Last I checked, the only country in the world to obliterate an entire civilian population with nuclear weapons, not once but twice, was the US of A. I'm not even going to bother getting into the rampant abuses of the Colonial/Imperialist era of W. Europe. They massacred entire continents. But I guess now that they've had hundreds of years to grow fat and prosperous off the plundered wealth of entire civilizations, they feel superior enough to dictate to others how they should govern their countries. Yeah, I don't smell any hypocrisy there. Nope, just a big heart for all the people of the world. That's exactly what the West is. A beacon of moral fortitude.
On August 21 2008 23:33 Hippopotamus wrote: You know that raises a point. Why do western governments care so much about the safety and security of its citizens? In times past citizens were just the people who fed or became soldiers which allowed you to claim territory. Now, citizens are the primary concerns and their safety and health is seemingly so important that the rights of other people may be readily violated just to preserve the health of citizens. It doesn't make sense... unless you really buy into the bullshit that governments actually do represent what the common man wants.
It's quite simple. It's been proven that economic output is greater when you have citizens that are highly educated, in a hygienic and stable environment, with a large degree of intellectual/political freedom, and an economy with low barriers to entry.
It's money. It's always been money. And it always will be money. They do it because it's better.
Your understanding of history is obviously very shallow and comparing military personnel to 17 year old dancers is quite a stretch.
This is exactly the nationalism that I'm questioning. Whenever there's a story about any other part of the world, including the 50,000 stories on the US, we jump on it and criticize them. Post a story about Russia or China and suddenly the motherland sends out an SOS for every forum troll on the planet to start crying.
What I also find hilarious is that you're trying to condemn me for the things the government done, when it has no connection to my morality and especially when I've made multiple posts on this website criticizing the humanitarian record of the US. Patriotism in the Western world includes constantly questioning the judgement of your leaders. Sometimes we fail, but we agree it should always be done. Why have you chosen to go immediately into defensive mode instead of addressing the actual content of the article, as the rest of us are used to doing.
S. Korea conscripts kids fresh out of high school. 17-18 year olds. And they go through not only basic, but 2 years of service. Compare to 2 days...? But I guess they're military then, so they don't count.
Wait a second. These Chinese fuckers were doing it voluntarily?! Fucking human rights abuse, man. Fuck them chinks.
No, this bugs me because when we do have real threads on humanitarian issues in China, I post shit like "Japan, Britain and the US all went through the same thing during their industrial revolution" or "it's unfair from China's perspective because those policies stifle development and no one else had to abide by them." There's plenty of more damning stories to post if that was my intent. I'm wondering why the hell would anyone willfully wear diapers for the image of something like an Olympic ceremony? Someone answer the question.
On August 27 2008 06:47 BottleAbuser wrote: S. Korea conscripts kids fresh out of high school. 17-18 year olds. And they go through not only basic, but 2 years of service. Compare to 2 days...? But I guess they're military then, so they don't count.
Wait a second. These Chinese fuckers were doing it voluntarily?! Fucking human rights abuse, man. Fuck them chinks.
I'm sure they put them through 51 hours at a time, and give them 2 meals, right?
An educated guess would be that this is not very uncommon for the Chinese military, judging by their ridiculous standards and egotistical way of thinking.
On August 27 2008 06:47 BottleAbuser wrote: S. Korea conscripts kids fresh out of high school. 17-18 year olds. And they go through not only basic, but 2 years of service. Compare to 2 days...? But I guess they're military then, so they don't count.
Wait a second. These Chinese fuckers were doing it voluntarily?! Fucking human rights abuse, man. Fuck them chinks.
not that i agree with this but north korea is like right there -_- and north korea has a huge military
If the real issue is why someone would voluntarily do this?
Why would pro gamers train 16+ hours a day?
Practicing an average of 16 hours a day for a 10 year old computer game isn't worth blogging about, but doing it for a truly worldwide performance is?
I've long ago accepted that there are some seriously dedicated people out there that are to me indistinguishable from simply crazy in their level of commitment. These guys aren't dying to do what they want to do - they're not even close to the front of the line.
Pro gamers play for individual benefits. This is of no personal benefit to them, so where does that sense of nationalism arise from?
If I ask you to sacrifice yourself for your country, you're first going to ask what's in it for you and what's at stake for the country. There's little in it for them, and honestly there's not that much at stake for the country simply in terms of having a nice looking opening.
The cost/benefit analysis doesn't come close to making sense for any Westerner. Obviously the sense of nationalism is the tipping point, but how does it get that large.
Your understanding of history is obviously very shallow and comparing military personnel to 17 year old dancers is quite a stretch.
No, not really.
There's plenty of more damning stories to post if that was my intent. I'm wondering why the hell would anyone willfully wear diapers for the image of something like an Olympic ceremony? Someone answer the question.
Why the fuck not? It's not like they're making you suck a row of cocks or drink a gallon of piss. It's an adult diaper. Hundreds of thousands of people wear them. Maybe I'm alone, but it just doesn't seem like that big of a fucking deal. Why would they do it? For the same reason they wanted to participate in the ceremony in the first place - why else?
The question doesn't fucking need to be answered! It's like asking "why the fuck would anybody willfully put on a costume just for the image of something like a parade"? Your question only makes sense in the way you want it to if you are holding an assumption that all people do or should have an amazingly powerful aversion to wearing diapers, which I don't really have (okay it's unpleasant, but I'd hypothetically have a chance to take place in a historic event and if that causes me to be somewhat inconvenienced, fuck that), and to me it seems like just not that much of a big fucking deal.
China is a poor country. Don't let the spaceships, the bird nest deceive you. I wonder if you have even been to the poorer parts of China. There are many many many beggars. Guranteed 2/3 meals per day is a dear thing for many of those peasants. For the same reason (money), many parents are forced to send their sons to learn gymnastics/table tennis at a young age. There was a story where a man commited crime so he could go to jail for food, the purpose is the same.
I would say that their behaviour is a bit egoistic. Hell, I wouldn't want to practise that hard for an Olympic, but I am in the wealthier part of China (Hong Kong). I think it is naivefor westerners to look at China from their own perspective.
I do find them the Chinese have a high sense of nationalism but the performers are NOT only moltivated by nationalism. If the Chinese's living standard is as good as Western counrtries (materially), then i bet there would be a lot less people willing to do that.
I would NOT call that retarded nationalism.
I can understand the comparison with North Korea, because North Korea is the best in these perfomance with lots of people(I hope you have done your research). When you compare things, you would always aim to compare with the highest quality stuff. Like in SC, you would always compare top foreigners' skills with koreans'.
I see no problems with diapers if it allows you to train better.
Ahh, the sacrifice. Let's not forget the traveling Japanese world warrior. After he defeated the Thai champion, he disappeared without showing up on the medals podium. Rumor was he started training right away doing constant dragon punch motion underneath the waterfalls.
EPT
