Posted on 07/19/2008 2:15:20 AM PDT by bad company
Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) - For "reasons of safety", bars are forbidden to serve "blacks"" and Mongolians or place tables in the street. Street musicians are being banned, and so is buying medicines containing "stimulants" without a prescription. Prohibitions are on the rise for the Olympic capital, while the first leaks reveal a grandiose fireworks display for the inauguration.
Bar owners around the Workers' Stadium in downtown Beijing say that public security officials are telling them not to let in "blacks" and Mongolians, and many of them have even had to sign a pledge. The official reason is the fight against drugs and prostitution, dominated in the past by Mongolians and persons of colour. Moreover, public places must close by 2 a.m., for security reasons, and the bar owners are being asked to remind their clients that they must always have an identification document with them. There is even doubt over whether the bars within a radius of two kilometres from the Olympic buildings will be able operate, or whether they will have to shut down for the entire period. In some areas, tables are not permitted outside, because "the presence of too many foreigners gathered outside could create problems". There is also an attempt to shut down outdoor musical concerts, to prevent disorder.
Jazz musician David Mitchell says that it is increasingly difficult for his band to find places to play in Beijing "Everything is aimed at creating stability, but they don't understand that is precisely the unfounded prejudice that foreigners have of Chinese society - that it is a highly controlled and not a very cultural place. It seems completely self-defeating".
To guarantee a "clean" Olympics, a doctor's prescription is now required for 1,993 commonly used medicines, or the package must show a warning that the product contains substances believed to be stimulating and not permitted for the athletes. One must go to a hospital to get a prescription, but many of the hospitals ask for as much as 100 yuan for each prescription, causing problems for the elderly and the poor most of all.
Meanwhile, as of July 20 a new regulation will go into effect prohibiting everyday circulation for millions of vehicles, but the three new underground lines are not yet working, and Zhou Zhengyu, deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Committee of Communications, is unable to say when they will be opened.
But the inauguration on August 8 will be very well prepared. The programme is "secret", but it is hard to hide a fireworks display, and those who live near the Bird's Nest stadium and have seen the trial runs say they are impressed. The director Zhang Yimou has been preparing the show for three years with artists from all over the world: there was a general rehearsal on July 10, with hundreds of police standing guard to guarantee secrecy.
Holy crap! Right out of the stone age!
"How is your view of the games, Herr Chancellor?"
...dominated in the past by Mongolians and persons of colour.
Persons of colour? Like my wife and kids who are moreno? Like my ex-wife who was dark enough to be told to use the "service elevator" when she was a kid in Rio De Janeiro?
China sucks...bigger than life.
Here that Commies? MUCH loss of face here...
Not touching that bet, even if you gave me odds.
Sorry, but this simply isn’t true. I sat in an outdoor Beijing restaurant yesterday and today and saw black people being served. I don’t know where they get this stuff. I mean, maybe it happened somewhere for some unrelated reason, but I’ve been in Beijing for over a month now and haven’t seen a trace of this kind of thing.
No comment. This one is just too ripe.
To guarantee a "clean" Olympics, a doctor's prescription is now required for 1,993 commonly used medicines, or the package must show a warning that the product contains substances believed to be stimulating and not permitted for the athletes.
So they've tightened things up to become more like the US, I see.
Right by the stadium?
The Chicoms are gonna totally screw up their global image because of the Olympics.
A world full of ignorant liberals desperate to love one of the few remaining socialist tyrannies are going to see how ugly a police state can really be when invaded,albeit peacefully,by zillions of foreign folks who are used to political correctness of a more “softer” type.
The Chicoms need to recruit Singapore police advisers to show them how to maintain totalitarian order without ruffling the feathers of tourists.
The SingPo are the very best at it..
I’m not right by the stadium, but not that far from it. I really doubt the veracity of these stories. I’ve seen black people shopping, eating, and generally being treated like worthy customers all around.
It would be a good way to get rid of them. The Chicoms would make them disappear in about two seconds.
Are these tourists? Does China have a significant foreign population?
I assume when I see “westerners” that they’re either tourists or ex-pats. I was around one busy Beijing area yesterday where a lot of western tourists gather. There were three outdoor restaurants with a good number of western tourists types, mostly white, but a few blacks. Everyone seemed to be happy. No armed police in the vicinity.
Are you a mouthpiece for the Communists?
That's the media! More fake but accurate posturing.
As I said on the other thread, no. Just an honest observer. If I see anything to support the claims of this article, I’ll let you know.
No true American and no self-respecting European (are there any) should go to China for any reason whatever.
“No true American and no self-respecting European (are there any) should go to China for any reason whatever.”
We’ll just have to agree to disagree on that one.
He DOES sound like a Chicom Blogshevik.
Perhaps Compound W is the concentration camp he came from and may have to go back to if he doesn’t spam the “love” of the Chicoms for the barbaric running-dog Capitalist West on American websites—at least until the Olympics are over.
PRPR (Peoples’ Republic Public Relations dontcha know.)
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