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A recurring problem during the Olympics has been getting precise and reliable information about the times and locations of events. Part of it is a language problem, but Susan says it’s more than that. In China there is reasonable freedom of speech, but no freedom of assembly. The government is averse to large gatherings of people generally, and with so many people in one city, vague or inaccurate information seems to be used to discourage crowds. The internet provides a big source of information, but it is still not easy.
Using the net, I discovered that there was an official pin-trading center in Chaoyang Park, on the other side of town (and Beijing is a BIG town, so that means an hour travel time minimum). The Olympic culture guide said there would also be dance and music performances near the west gate, so we headed across town. Pin trading is a long Olympic tradition that derived from the practice of athletes and officials trading the stick pins that served as identity badges before credentials were invented. Now several hundreds of pins are designed for each Olympics. The most valuable ones are those you can’t buy: national team pins, bid pins, etc. There are so many different kinds of pins, you have to pick a theme or you’ll end up with millions. I have settled on collecting Olympic cycling pins and I have at least one from every Olympics going back to 1968 in Mexico City. More important, pin trading is a way to meet other “pinheads” from all over the world.
I brought a folder of about 50 trader pins into the trading area. The first guy I saw was from Russia and he had about 500 pins to trade. We went through his collection and found 13 cycling pins that I wanted—including two from 1968 and one from Munich 1972-which had been a gap in my collection. I was afraid that I wouldn’t have enough to trade, and he only found 9 pins among my collection that he wanted, but he let me take all 13 in exchange. After that I traded with people from Japan, France, Germany, and USA. The Chinese pin traders were just getting into the game and didn’t have cycling pins just yet.
After the pin trading, we visited an exhibit sponsored by the electronic appliance company Haier entitled “One World One Home.” An English-speaking volunteer personally guided us through the exhibit, which included the chance to play an ancient Chinese string instrument, and to paint some calligraphy characters (I painted the characters for “Heaven” and “Olympics,” the only ones I know). Afterward we got to play virtual games: fastest out of the starting blocks, a virtual cycling race, and virtual weight lifting. We even got to have our pictures taken with virtual medals on a real podium with real China team jackets. The last exhibit was one big advertising demonstration of the Haier home of the future, where you’ll be able to send a text message from your cell-phone to your air-conditioner, refrigerator, and security system to prepare for your arrival.
After the Haier exhibit we went in search of the cultural site, but a guard told us there was never such a thing in the park. Instead, we drank coconut milk directly out of a coconut that the vendor opened up for us on the spot. Susan resorted to word of mouth for information, phoning a colleague who was doing research on the cultural program (the academic mafia). He recommended that we go to Ditan Park, so we caught a taxi and ventured off into the traffic. China was playing Spain in basketball and our driver was visibly tense listening to the game on the radio. In fact everyone in the country seems to be watching or listening to the Games—from big screen TVs to handheld TVs, from big fancy office buildings, to seedy hole-in-the-wall shops. It’s a nice change from all the cynicism in the West.
Ditan park did have a cultural festival, with beautiful lantern-sculptures of silk stretched over wire frames, a stage with singers and dancers, and lots of booths selling everything from handicrafts such as jade and traditional clothing, to cheap sunglasses and bicycle pumps. We ended the evening with some Chinese fair-food: spicy chicken on a stick, a kind of gyro sandwich with shredded cucumber, a rice-flour tortilla type thing stuffed with noodles and sautéed vegetables (pretty tasty), and….popcorn, topped with sugar rather than salt.
After several hot and sticky days, then a day of rain, it was relatively cool and dry today—you could even see blue sky. As we strolled back through the park after dark, under the beautiful decorative lights and glowing lantern-sculptures, I looked up at the sky and for the first time in China, I could see the glowing moon.
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