Asia Blog: China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam

An article in the New York Times, Records Say Chinese Gymnasts May Be Under Age , indicates that some of the Chinese gymnasts, namely He Kexin, participating in the Olympic games may be younger than the 16 years old that is the official limit:

Chinese officials responded immediately, providing The New York Times with copies of passports indicating that both athletes in question — He Kexin, a gold-medal favorite in the uneven parallel bars, and Jiang Yuyuan — are 16, the minimum age for Olympic eligibility since 1997.

Their allegations are backed up by stories in the Chinese news, like Uneven-bars queen the new star in town from China Daily May 23, 2008:

Olympic gymnastics title contenders suddenly have one more thing to worry about other than the eight gold medals China claimed at the Tianjin World Cup last week. Her name is He Kexin.

The 14-year-old newcomer to the national team, who was recruited last year, has raised a lot of eyebrows recently after she broke two world records on the uneven bars in as many months. She will be just one more weapon on an already star-studded Chinese Olympic squad.

The gymnast He Kexin is definitely young looking–as evidenced by the above photo–but what advantage does a gymnast gain from being younger? I can only imagine that a few years of age would give her greater skill, and make her more formidable, not the other way around. The New York Times should seriously consider reviewing their policy of demonizing China before the 2008 Summer Olympic Games.

Update

According to Stryde Hax, He Kexin is listed on official Beijing Municipal Sports Bureau pages (one, two) as being just 14 years old:

618,”何可欣”,”女”,”1994.1.1″,”湖北”
1040,”何可欣 “,”女”,”1994-1-1″,,,”武汉市”,”六城会交流”

I found the following fortunate cookie my dinner last night, it’s a little strange, but I get a positive impression from it. It’s wishing me well:

“Age can never hope to with you while your heart is young.” If you can figure out what the missing verb is, let me know.

Posters are appearing in Beijing with etiquette instructions designed to smooth Chinese-foreigner relations during the upcoming summer 2008 Olympics. The series of three posters are great Olympics propaganda, combining Taoist courtesy with humorous anecdote and undecipherable Chinese caution.

Smile When Communicating with Foreigners

1) A Smile is Beijing’s Best Business Card — A Smile is the Whole World’s Propriety
2) Eight things not to ask Foreign Guests about:

- income or expenses
- age
- love life or marriage
- health
- someone’s home or address
- personal experience
- religious beliefs or political views
- what someone does

3) General Rules for Etiquette with Foreigners

- One’s manners and bearing, and image should be graceful
- Be neither humble nor haughty, but at ease and self possessed
- Seek commonalities while reserving differences, have reason and integrity
- Adapt to others’ customs, respect ethical code
- Abide by agreements, adhere to promises
- Be enthusiastic in moderation, foreigners are different from Chinese
- Be appropriately modest, be affirmed in yourself
- Do not ask private questions, respect others’ customs
- Ladies first, be gentlemanly
- Seat honored guests on the right, and get along harmoniously

Instructions for walking

When men and women are walking together, men should generally walk on the outside, and the person carrying things should normally walk on the right. Men should help women carry things, but must not help women carry their handbags. When three people are walking side-by-side, elderly should walk in the middle. Where there are many cars around, men should walk on the side of the sidewalk closer to the street. When four people are walking together, it is best to walk two-by-two.

Etiquette for Interacting with Handicapped Athletes

1) You should use polite and standard forms of address for handicapped athletes.
2) Try to keep as light as you can with handicapped overtones.
3) Pay attention to how you congratulate handicapped athletes.

Pay attention to avoiding taboo subjects, quit using bad platitudes, and do not use insulting or discriminatory contemptuous or derogatory terms to address the disabled. Say things such as, “You are amazing,” or “You are really great.” When chatting with the visually impaired, do not say things like “It’s up ahead,” or “It’s over there.” When chatting with athletes who are paraplegic in their upper body, do not say things like “It’s behind you.”

The posters appear to be created with the intent of warning Chinese not to be accidentally rude to the millions of international guests that will be arriving for the Olympics. Beijing has issued similar edicts before, warning Chinese not to spit in public, for example; these are more of the same. Those making the posters out to be instructions to avoid discussing “politically sensitive” topics are probably reading too much into them.

This greatest hits album features the following tracks:

1. Wishing On The Same Star
2. shine more
3. Put’ Em Up
4. So Crazy
5. ALARM
6. ALL FOR YOU
7. GIRL TALK
8. WANT ME, WANT ME
9. White Light
10. Can’t Sleep, Can’t Eat, I’m Sick
11. Body Don’t Cry
12. FUNKY TOWN
13. NEW LOOK
14. ROCK STEADY
15. WHAT A FEELING
16. Do Me More (New Song)
17. Sexy Girl (New Song)

I think the airbrushers went a little crazy!

Thank god Shanghaiist can bring some context to the following photo which has been circulating the internet the last week. They point to the Xinhua’s photospread which has appropriate captions:

Members of China’s armed police demonstrate a rapid deployment during an anti-terrorist drill held in Jinan, capital of east China’s Shandong Province July 2, 2008, roughly one month ahead of the Beijing Olympics.

Yes, it’s a publicity stunt done by the police for a PR drill in light of the upcoming olympics. Note that the Segway devices are capable of 13 mph out of the gate, and ones used for anti-terrorist deployment are probably modified for a higher speed. 20mph is something that humans can’t sustain with all their gear for very long, so using Segways might not be such a bad idea!