Sinister Side to Beijing Olympics

I've already written about the Chinese Government banning churches from operating for three months surrounding the Olympic Games.  We've looked at the evidence that some members of the Chinese gymnastic team were underage.  And now finally, we have the inside-story from a New York reporter who was arrested, interrogated and abused.  His crime? Taking photos of a Free Tibet protest

Rae refused to give the police the passwords, which made them very angry. One interrogator stood menacingly in front of Rae with a steel bar in his hand. He also hit him on the shoulder with an open hand. “I don’t want to exaggerate what happened,” said Rae, “but after having been awake so long, it’s difficult to get hit like that.”

At one point, Rae asked his interrogator what was going to happen to him. “We’re not sure if we want to slit your throat or shoot you,” was the answer he was given...

...After the 22-hour interrogation, Rae was made to sign and fingerprint every page of a 45-page document that was all in Chinese. He and the others were then driven to the Chong Wen detention center about 30 minutes away. They were kept in separate cells and made to wear prison uniforms of red T-shirts and red shorts. The police told him he was not in a jail, that it was “just a detention center.”

Rae was mixed in with the general population of prisoners—about a dozen people in a cell with narrow wooden platforms as beds, all pushed up against a wall. When they slept, it was shoulder-to-shoulder. He was given a military blanket that reeked of urine and a dirty plastic bowl and spoon for meals. Potable water was made available to the prisoners for only 15 minutes a day. Rae scrounged an empty plastic soda bottle to store water in for the day.

Read the full article here: www.en.epochtimes.com

Hat-tip: Half Done blog

Congratulations Caroline and Georgina!!!

New Zealand Twin sisters Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell take the gold medal for the Women's double scull in an amazing victory at the Beijing 2008 Olympics.

Go Team New Zealand!

China Cheating?

China is currently leading the world with 22 gold medals and a total of 35 medal. But are they cheating?...

First it was the fireworks. One billion people around the world sat back in their armchairs, oohing and ahhing at the pretty impressive fireworks display. It wasn't until about a week later that we found out that part of the display had been computer generated.

And then it was the little girl singing the Chinese Olympic Games anthem, a patriotic song entitled v "Hymn to the Motherland" - it wasn't actually her singing it, as The Telegraph sums up,

"Chinese officials have admitted deceiving the public over another highlight of the Olympic opening ceremony: the picture-perfect schoolgirl who sang as the Chinese flag entered the stadium was performing to another girl's voice."

Apparently, the show's musical director Mr. Chen decided that Yang Peiyi was too ugly, with her "buck-teeth" being one reason given for why, at the last minute Lin Miaoke (the girl in the red dress) was chosen to lip-sync the pre-recorded song. "She was not cute enough" said Mr. Chen. Rick draws an interesting parallel here.

And now, speculation is growing over allegations that some of China's athletes are underage. The age-restriction for competiting in the Olympic games has been set at 16yrs in an attempt to cut back on the high numbers of children who had been suffering from extreme training schedules that would eventuate in them being crippled or disabled. However trainers recognise that the younger gymnasts are more flexible, and have a higher strength:body-weight ratio. Check out this video which seems to present some strong evidence that several of China's gymnastic team are indeed underage. A forensic scientist who is interviewed in the video suggests that some of the athletes may even be as young as 10 years old.

Are these girls really 16?

Gateway Pundit has some screenshots on his blog, evidence that China has been removing references to it's athletes ages, and changing them to 16yrs.

These few examples just seem to exemplify China's culture of deceit.

---

Hat tip: Half Done
Update (15/08/08 11pm): Children dressed in traditional Chinese costumes representing the 56 ethnic groups in China exposed as fakes: they were all of the Han Chinese ethnicity.
Related post: Chinese Govt. closes down churches for duration of Olympic Games.

Chinese Govt. Bans Churches for Three Months

To the left is a copy of the letter delivered to Beijing Churches by the Chinese Government. Click here for a translation of the letter into English. The letter essentially demands that all churches in China be shut down for three months (July 15 - October 15). The letter further goes on to state that Chinese churches are prohibited from accepting help from visiting Christians such as donations or preaching. The China Aid Association has reported on this traversty of freedom in this article, and below is an excerpt,

"Beijing- CAA has discovered that a number of Chinese House Church Pastors were forced to sign a written agreement that they would not participate in religious services while the Olympic Games are taking place in China. The document, drafted by Chinese Govnerment Officials, specifies that the House Churches in China

“…refrain from organizing and joining illegal gatherings and refrain from receiving donations, sermons and preaching from overseas religious organizations and groups that have a purpose.”

The document also prohibits the churches from gathering in their communities for more than 3 months while the Olympics are taking place. Should church members violate these rules they will be subject to the disciplinary actions of the Chinese Government."
Click here for full article

Hah! So much for the "Chinese Dream" which we were presented with at the Opening Ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, broadcast to 1 billion (15% of the World's population) on TV a week ago. This is the true China.

Hat tip: Doug's blog

Black Sticks Defeat Korea

Watched my first game of Hockey tonight, the Kiwi men's team (the Black Sticks) vs. the Korean team. It was nail-biting stuff during the first half of the game, with Korea leading 1-0, courtesy of a penalty corner early in the game. Thankfully a friend told me a few things about the game in general, and some rules, so I wasn't completely ignorant to what was happening.

In the second half, 28 year old Hayden Shaw pulled off a hatrick, leaving the Koreans mourning after a 3-1 defeat dealt to them by the team from down under. As far as I know, this game was heat 4, a qualifying match for the semi-finals. Go the Blacksticks!

Huh, check this out, they were playing a game pretty similar to hockey 4,000 odd years ago in Egypt. Click here for some more ancient pictures of (naked) guys playing versions of games that we still play today.

Opening Ceremony

Crashed Rick's headquarters last night for the Opening Ceremonies of the 2008 Bejing Olympic Games. I brought a couple of packs of Grainwaves (the best), and plenty of Coke to keep us awake.

We were watching the proceedings on Rick's Commodore Amiga monitor which did the job.

The displays put on by the Olympic hosts were bizzare to say the least, yet still astounding in their execution. You find yourself staring at the screen wondering what 4 colourfully attired puppets have to do with the huge square pattern of a thousand or so dancers. The dancers with paint-brushes attached to their hands were incredibly agile and managed to draw a fairly decent picture on the huge scroll which appeared to be center stage for most of the preliminary events of the ceremony.

TV One Olympics commentator Keith Quinn entertained us with a number of amusing reflections on the ceremony. Refering to a parade of traditionally-dressed Chinese marchers he commented "They are representing the provinces which they represent". And a bit later on, "The silk-road was instrumental in allowing China to trade with... other countries". Give the guy a break though, I suppose he's not really into this stuff, his specialty is sport, and he had a few interesting statistics and comments to make about the teams as they came out into the Birds Nest Stadium.

We were treated to some pretty fantastic fireworks, and many other displays of China's power. I can only wonder at how they pulled off some of the spectacles. The girls flying about over the stage, suspended by wires. The guys running around the large globe which rose out of the floor of the stage, with Sarah Brightman and Liu Huan singing "You and Me", standing on top. Actually the synchronised boxes which rose up and down was pretty impressive too. As I commented to Rick, "The Chinese seem to like a lot of people doing the same thing at the same time." The Chinese National Anthem definitely had that Communist ring to it, and brought to mind the National Anthem of the USSR (a favourite - even if it's translation into English does send a shiver up your spine).

204 Countries! We turned the box off at about number 90, and had half an hour of sleep. 2:30am we woke up again and blimey, if they weren't still churning them out. We watched for a bit longer and then fell asleep again. We are die-hard Olympics fans... New Zealand apparently walked out onto the track immediately before China's team - which was last up, as is the tradition at the Olympic Games. I will steer clear of the political/ethical aspect of the Bejing Olympic Games for now, apart from quoting a Chinese person who said to me the other day "I will kill you if you disagree with the Bejing Olympics". Anyway, hope to blog on this interesting subject shortly. Till then,

Go New Zealand!