YOGAYUGA

Beijing farewells to Olympic, London gets ready!

It was a happy closing ceremony. It was spectacular! The closing ceremony opened with torrents of fireworks and included a pulsating show-within-a-show by London, host of the 2012 Games. From a stage formed from a red double-decker bus, Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page played classic rock hit “Whole Lotta Love” and soccer icon David Beckham booted a ball into the surrounding throng of athletes on the stadium floor. I love it!

It was a symbolic London theater scene included the ironic images of England - umbrellas, weather, double-decker bus, soccer, Jimmy Page and of course Beckham. Many love Beckham in Hong Kong, included my mum. Haha! I felt so moved to see the rising of British national flag. I do have certain sense of belonging about England that comes from the great time I spent in there. Five years of living in England, it does mean a lot to me. No wonder I don’t have much sense of nationality when the controversial topic of medal counts raised between China and the U.S. as I grew up from various cultural backgrounds.

It was a great game. Over 25 world records broke. The U.S. won the most medals overall. Medals of gold, silver and bronze are all in average quantity. China won gold medals the most. China did a great job as a host though many controversial issues raised. China can take this chance as their internal improvements and external assessments. Outsiders can gain better insight into China through the Olympic. China invested more than $40 billion in the games, which it viewed as a chance to show the world its dramatic economic progress. Hope that they will also spend significant amount on the poor. Overall, visitors did give positive comments about Beijing so far for what I heard.

Hope that various advantages can be brought to everyone throughout the Olympic.

1) It can provoke Chinese leaders to think throughout various controversial issues raised during the games.

2) Westerners can make fair judgment on Chinese politic throughout the observation of games.

3) One of the best advantages is………….everyone could take this chance to stay at home, and spend good time in front of T.V with your love ones!

BTW, the fireworks this time are real! lol

This controversy topic has been on more than a week since the Chinese women team won the gold medal of team gymnastic. Chinese women do usually look young compared with our actual age, but obviously two in the team do look particularly young.

On one hand, many are delighted that China is doing so well in the Olympic, on the other hand, many are disappointed that China is breaking rules in the games. A good post made by James Fallows that shows a post, from the Stryde Hax blog, did the technical job of finding information that has not been removed from caches of official Chinese web sites. I am very surprise that how this technical guy found the caches page, and discovered the niches of the Chinese system. As what James Fallows said is correct, this revising public records is not something Chinese or outsiders should want to see, but in my eyes this is something related to justice. I think I do look at things in fair open way. Although I am a Hong Kong born Chinese, I truly believe that the internal issues of China could only be improved under international pressure. International pressure is seen as a challenge of Chinese government, is also a way that leads China towards the real modern world. Hope that this controversy story will end up in happy way but under the truth.

I read a sad story about mothers of two Chinese gold medal winners on newspaper - one is a beggar and one is picking up rubbish on the streets of Beijing for self support. Of course, these two mothers are now having good life since their sons/daughters won the gold medals. The news story didn’t name those two gold medal winners. They are now awarded big money by the government. Before they won the medals, it’s hard to imagine how their mothers survived in poverty, but their sons/daughters are actually in the national teams. Needless to say, this is the way to get out of the poverty by joining the national training. However, their parents didn’t get any government support until their sons/daughters won any international games, and became famous. Yao Ming and Liu Xiang are really the special case and exceptional case. Many of Olympians are still earning very little money every month. They do look at the competitions as their only life goals, and as the only way towards good life. The physical environment of Chinese Olympians is indeed very different from those in the west.

Just imagine how much money China spent on the Olympic and how many people of China are still under poverty, you cannot blame those who made harsh judgment on internal issues of China, and call it as a totalitarian country. I got no doubt about it.

I didn’t know that there is a new Starbucks opened by the Victoria Harbour. It may not be new, but I just didn’t know until I walked pass today. Although it was so hot, I did enjoy the harbour walk though…..

I also didn’t know there is something about Olympic set up by the Cultural Center. I am so outdated. lol

Under 33C = 91F

I feel sorry for Liu Xiang not because he withdrew from the games, but how much pressure he put on from the public. I don’t feel anything bad or shame personally that Liu Xiang withdrew from the games. His right leg was badly injured. He can’t even walk properly, so how he can complete the games. Many put all their hopes on him for all the opportunities of winning gold medals of athlete events this week. He even needs to make a public apology announcement today for his withdrawal. It’s just ridiculous. He is not the only one in the whole event. The Beijing sport media even prepared a poster of “his winning” image for the publication one day before he withdrew the game. They thought once he won, they would have the poster published right away. Unfortunately, he withdrew next day. Then the media had the poster of his “painful look” image published right after he withdrew. At last, both posters had also been published on the same day. You can see how much pressure people gave it to him, and how ridiculous the public media is.

I don’t feel right that China is obsessed with trying to out-medal the Americans, this is ridiculous. I hope this is not true. It doesn’t really matter who won the medals, and how many gold medals have been won by China. Overall, it’s an international game held once in four years, it’s about union of international sports not the opportunity of necessary showing national power. China had a great open ceremony shown to the world; it’s great and fantastic, but obsession of winning most of the gold medals over particular country then it doesn’t sound good to me.

I had been the Equestrian Events tonight. I can’t say I do understand every part of it, but I did enjoy watching it. It is not really an easy sport at all. I like watching horses since I was a little kid. I did consider to learn horse riding when I was around 18, but it wasn’t a very common sport to do at that time, so I didn’t do it. Anyway, the event of tonight was Individual Jumping, 1st Qualifier. It was very full, but some people left early. I did stay for three hours. I took some photos, here you are……

By the entrance, people queued up for security check up.

All the helpers are very friendly and helpful with big smiles.

People queued up for buying souvenirs.

The Olympic torch! Many people were holding their own national flags, but I saw British flags, Swiss flags, and German flags the most.

From Switzerland

From Norway and Hong Kong The H.K. team member did complete it very well, so everyone was very exciting.

The Olympic cartoon characters came up during break time.

It was a fun night though I was very tired. zzzzzzz

I felt so touched by seeing father of Nastia Liukin, who is also her coach, grabbed her in a bearhug, squeezing her tight for several minutes after the announcement made she is a winner of the all-around final in women’s gymnastics. She was indeed perfect. I enjoyed watching her so much when she did the gymnastics floor. Her body shape has the elegance and classic lines that looks particular good when she did the dancing pattern. Shawn Johnson did the great works too, a very sweet and cute gymnast.

Many here do expect China to get one more gold medal for the women all-around gymnastic. It would be the first time in the history if China did it. China did have three gold medals in the whole gymnastic event included both men and women, therefore, I think it’s fair enough that another country should get the last gold. American team did it very good anyway.

I was so happy to see Ryan Lochte and Aaron Peirsol, both getting gold and silver medals separately in 200 men swimming Back final.

I am happy to see whoever won the games, regardless where they are from. I don’t have much nationality sense on such events. Olympic is not just an international competition, is also a game to share international friendship.

I really enjoy watching Olympic, and gymnastic is my favourite. China won the gold medal in group men’s gymnastics, Japan won the silver, and the U.S. won the bronze. China lost the gold four years ago, so they really well prepared for the Olympic this time. Some of the retired Olympians also re-joined the games in order to enhance the overall performance of the national teams.

The judo gold medal winner of Womens’ Half Lightweight, Dongmei Xian retired two years ago, and decided to have a baby. However, she re-joined the national team, and committed not to see her new born baby girl for 14 months during the intensive training. It’s really a high level of commitment that all the Olympians need to achieve. Chinese Olympians are well known to be trained under tough and harsh time. Visiting of families and friends, personal outing are all limited during the intensive training. They cannot see friends and families for more than one year. Many rules are set up in the national training schools. It sounds like being in a jail in my eyes with no freedom. It’s the fact that Chinese government does train their people with structure of communist attitude. This is not easy to be changed. Russia is still doing the same for their training though they are no longer the same as former U.S.S.R. However, this fact did bring the success of China towards many gold medals in the history.

Li Ning was secretly practicing Olympic flame light up performance (the last part of the ceremony) for 30 days without telling his wife. He practiced it during mid nights. He said it’s indeed an order of his country though he is very happy about it.

Both Diving gold medal winners of men and women also belong to China. Guo Jingjing did the great job. She carried the expectation of everyone. In fact, all the Chinese Olympians carry the hopes of 13 billions people. I feel sorry for how much pressure they all have. The gold medal winner of men Weightlifting, Qingquan Long is only 17 years old. I bet he probably can attend two more Olympics in the near future. The gold medal winner of women Weightlifting, Xiexia Chen was found by her father she was amazingly strong when she was 9. Her father sent her for weightlifting training since then, because her father said she was able to push a trolley with almost 100kgs of bamboo shoots when she was only 9. lol

Chinese national diving team decided to find twins in the country, who can join the team, and become Olympic divers. Twins have the similar body weights, similar heights, and similar shape of body figures, therefore these factors help up the performance of Diving - Synchromnized Platform and Springboard. What an ideology of winning proposal!

The U.S. swimming team is so great. I enjoy watching swimming and diving. Michael Phelps set the new world record. The U.S. swimming team is not really a team that China can beat. Diving coaches of national teams of Canada and Australia are actually from China. They were coaches of Chinese national teams, but seems not necessary the learners did really pick up the skills and techniques of Chinese.

The hotels of Beijing are so expensive during the Olympic period. Those Xiehuyuen (traditional Chinese houses in Beijing with four sections) are unbelievable expensive. It costs USD400.00 per night. It’s not really up to 5 or 6 stars standard though. They are just traditional Chinese houses, which attract foreign tourists to stay. Many are still not full this week because many foreign visitors who booked them, turned out not appear at all. I am not surprise. First of all, Chinese government has straight visa policy to limit the issuance of visa before Olympic started. Secondly, cost of air tickets increased significantly at the beginning of August due to petrol cost issues. Thirdly, the cost of hotels is so expensive. The main concern of the whole trip is about to attend the games of Olympic, not to enjoy the classy hotel stay. A ticket of entering Diving competition only costs USD6.00, but the hotel stay each night is up to USD400.00. It doesn’t make much sense. Maybe, I am looking too much into the economic way, so I prefer to watch TV at home. lol

Some Chinese bloggers did critise the opening ceremony on internet by giving very harsh judgment. Some said it’s a total of typical Zhang Yimou’s piece of works having many people, brightness Chinese ornaments and royal costumes, etc, ; similar to those scenes in his movie, Curse of Golden Flower. It’s boring they said. Well, what can I say? He is the appointed director of the whole ceremony by the government. He is a film director himself. So what can you expect? His idea of style must be more or less very much of his own image. This is the fact that the government did choose him, not someone else. This is what they want, and expect. He has big name internationally. Westerners know him well, and love his works. Nothing is perfect. I think China did the great job, and expressed their best to the whole world.

Some critised that the expense of China spent on Olympic (the most expensive Olympic ceremony on the record), which is only the totalitarian country can pay. I totally agreed with such judgment. Be honest, let’s say such money to be spent on Olympic in a western country, what the tax payers are going to say?? China doesn’t have such problem because what they said is an order for everyone. They paid for people, who are in Beijing to learn English. They forced the store owners to close their stores during the Olympic period, who have stores around this area. This is a national order. No one would say NO in Mainland. Yes, it’s no human right. This is what the west always complains about. This is why I mentioned in here. I am just telling the truth. On one hand, I am happy with the economic growth of our motherland, economic grooming, etc. It’s great to all of us. On the other hand, I also voice the truth of lacking of human right in China. This requires a long period of time for improvement under international pressure. It will move slowly in Chinese way of CORRECTION. Yes, I mean correction. lol

At last, has anyone noticed that a little girl who sang at the beginning of the ceremony in a lovely voice? Guess what? It wasn’t her voice. The radio channel of H.K. told the public today that somebody was singing behind her. It was a 7 years old girl. The one on the stage who is 9 years old, but cannot sing well. It was said by Zhang Yimou. The interviewer asked him why he didn’t let the girl to go up on stage who has a lovely voice. His answer is “She doesn’t look that pretty as the one on the stage. She is also on her teeth changing period, so she doesn’t look good to sing in front of public with her imperfect teeth.” My goodness! How could he say that!!?? It is not something to tell the public in such manner, especially for such event. Dearr…..Mr Zhang! I indeed feel sorry for that little girl who sang behind the scene. They are actually hurting feeling of a child. It sounds like “you can’t go on the stage if you don’t look pretty even though you got talents.” So fake!

Today is my mum’s birthday! We got her a Napoleon chocolate cake.

We chose a restaurant nearby where we live, where we can have a huge TV screen for watching Olympic. I am sure many of places in the city center you can see Olympic games played on huge TV.

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I do feel proud as a Chinese for what China did for the Olympic ceremony. One World One Dream is really a dream of Chinese in 100 years. Today is the day to show national power of China. 21st century is in China.

The whole ceremony is about history, culture and the civilisation process of China. All these ideas were shown in visual form focusing on the theme of Chinese philosophy - The Sky is in round shape and The earth is in square. It was the biggest Olympic ceremony in the history with 15,000 performers. It was also the most expensive on record. China had been preparing it up to seven years. The whole performance was absolutely amazing. It’s such a spectacular show of the century. China does make a great improvement and a big step forward towards the world being opened and welcomed. Yao Ming was holding the national flag in front of the whole Chinese team with a little kid accompanied him. The kid was the survivor of Sichuen earthquake who saved lives of his mates during the tragedy. He is only few years old. A little kid can be allowed to walk with the person who carried the national flag in the ceremony that shows the significance of Chinese attitude towards the new age. It means China is willing to accept the new thought with open minded.

Former gymnast, Li Ning was lifted with the torch to light the Olympic Flame in the last part of ceremony. It was brilliant. He was running against the wall of Bird Nest in the air. I was so touched and moved by seeing this scene. It was such a heartfelt feeling. I believe many of Chinese would feel the same as the way I did. It’s the scene of showing future of China towards the brightness and the glory. This scene was directed by a Hong Kong movie director.

The whole performance was organised and directed by Zhang Yimou. He is a great director of many international movies. You certainly feel like watching his films while you are watching the open ceremony. The ceremony was full of his typical movie elements such as elegance costumes, colourful lighting, artistic ornaments and Chinese philosophy. The major idea of the whole ceremony is to make Beijing unforgettable, and to express the new of China, not the backward.

I watched the live broadcast “China welcomes world leaders” in the morning. When Bush walked close to Hu Jintao for handshaking, he naturally put his left arm around shoulders of Hu Jintao acting very FRIENDLY but the rest of Presidents didn’t. He posted for photo section immediately in front of all the cameras. All the cameras kept flashing. All the camera men were just waiting for this photo I persume. I was waiting for it too. It’s so typical of Bush by acting friendly in many ways he can.

One more interesting news about Olympic! Chinese of Mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong are always looking for special days of getting married or having child born. It’s no exception for Beijing Olympic. Wedding and having babies born on 888!

For those who want to watch the open ceremony earlier, then you may go to CCTV. I mean for those who don’t live in Asia. Due to the time difference, some of you probably need to see it in the next day if your country doesn’t do live broadcast. CCTV did live broadcast for the open ceremony on internet. I think they will do live broadcast for all the events in the rest of days.