Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 15 of 23

Thread: Winter Olympics 2022

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Fremont, CA, U.S.A.
    Posts
    47,946

    Winter Olympics 2022

    I know, I know, we don't really care about the Winter Olympics here. No martial events really, unless you count biathlon.

    But still...

    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Fremont, CA, U.S.A.
    Posts
    47,946

    On topic!

    Luv it when an OT thread becomes forum relevant.

    Jackie Chan Records a Song for 2022 Winter Olympic Games
    2015-03-10 13:14:27 CRIENGLISH.com Web Editor: Li Shaotong


    Famous Chinese actor Jackie Chan [Photo: Beijing Evening News]

    Famous Chinese actor and national political advisor Jackie Chan took time off during the two sessions and rushed off to a recording studio in Beijing's Chaoyang District yesterday to record "Wake up Winter", the theme song for the application of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games.

    "In the morning, I am working for the two sessions; in the afternoon, for the application of Olympics Games", Jackie Chan said with a sense of humor.

    "Wake up Winter is actually a call to people around the world, an incessant eagerness for the Olympic Spirit and a longing for friendship between people and countries," songwriter Wang Jiuping explained.

    A large number of well-known musicians both domestically and internationally are working on the song including Zhao Jialin, one of the main composers for "Little Apple", the song which went viral last year.
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Fremont, CA, U.S.A.
    Posts
    47,946

    a redundant article...

    ...but in the L.A. Times.

    Jackie Chan lends his voice to China's Olympic bid


    Jackie Chan appears at an event in Taipei, Taiwan, to promote his new movie "Dragon Blade" on Feb. 12. (Chiang Ying-ying / Associated Press)
    By David Wharton
    Chan has joined in the recording of a song that will be used to help promote China's 2022 Olympic campaign

    The bid committee hoping to bring the 2022 Winter Olympics to Beijing has pulled out a secret weapon.

    Jackie Chan.

    The action movie star -- one of his country's best-known personalities -- has joined in the recording of a song, "Wake up Winter," that will be used to help promote China's campaign.

    "'Wake up Winter' is actually a call to people around the world, an incessant eagerness for the Olympic spirit and a longing for friendship between people and countries," songwriter Wang Jiuping told China's state-run radio news service.

    Officials have called upon numerous musicians to participate, including composer Zhao Jialin, who had an Internet hit with "Little Apple" last year.

    Beijing is competing against Almaty, Kazakhstan, for the 2022 Games.
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Fremont, CA, U.S.A.
    Posts
    47,946

    Just seven years away

    Hard to imagine where we will all be in 2022.

    Get hyped! Beijing releases 10 songs promoting Winter Olympics bid, feat. Jackie Chan



    In a move to spread Olympic and winter sport spirit across the country and to promote its own bid, Beijing's Olympic committee has released 10 tunes that are certain to be the songs of Winter 2022, highlighted by a performance by pop sensation and all-around Renaissance man Jackie Chan.

    What Beijing may lack in snow or winter sports culture, it certainly makes up for in self-promotion. According to the Global Times, the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games Bid Committee shifted through a "plethora" of submissions before unveiling the 10 most outstanding yesterday to kick off Olympic Music Week.



    The star-studded list of performers includes Singapore's first celebrity anti-drug ambassador, who recorded the (Olympic) stadium anthem "Wake Up Winter." Proving himself worthy of his title as dean of his very own arts academy, Chan discussed the song with the media, lecturing that it imparts two messages: spreading world peace through the promotion of Olympic values and stoking the flames of China's newfound passion for winter sports.

    The lyrics were written by veteran Chinese Olympic songwriter Wang Pingjiu, who also worked with Chan on "Welcome to Beijing" in 2008. Chan also recorded the inspiring one-year countdown song to the 2008 Summer Olympics "We Are Ready." Only thing the guy likes more than Olympics is a good cheek rub.

    "Wake Up Winter" was also reportedly part of the soundtrack for the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) visit to Beijing in March, so it's no wonder they left impressed.



    Other performers include: veteran pop singer Sun Nan, young heartthrob Lu Han and solo singer Tan Jing. Most of the other song selections seem to play on themes of cold weather and love. We are partial to Kang Zhuqing's "Pursuing a Dream of Snow."

    Even before the release of these 10 hits-to-be, Beijing was considered to be the favorite over its only rival Almaty, Kazakhstan. While the joint bid made by Beijing and China's smog capital Zhangjiakou in Hebei has some worried, it doesn't seem like small problems like air pollution and a shaky human rights record are of much concern to the IOC. The committee will announce their decision for 2022 host city in July at a session in Malaysia.



    Here's a montage of the 10 chosen songs. Tell us your favorite. We honestly can't choose.

    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Fremont, CA, U.S.A.
    Posts
    47,946

    Wushu may not be at the Olympics...

    ...but Jackie is all over it.



    Jackie Chan and Lang Lang on Hand for Official Unveiling of 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Logos
    Tom Arnstein | Dec 17, 2017 1:00 pm

    On Friday, Dec 14, athletes, government representatives, Beijing 2022 Organising Committee (BOCOG) members, and the press came together at Beijing's Water Cube for the official unveiling of the official 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games emblems.


    Fans posed for photographs with athletes prior to the unveiling

    The event got off to a slow start with an initial gong signaling to the only half-present crowd that the run of celebrities, songs, and presentations were about to begin. At that time, 50 or so child choir singers shuffled onto the stage but wouldn't be permitted to sing their unity-espousing song, accompanied by the world-renowned concert pianist Lang Lang, for another 40 minutes.


    CPC Secretary of Beijing Cai Qi demonstrates two screens are better than one

    However, once the initial pomp finished, what followed was a quick succession of speeches, including a pre-recorded message from International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach, reminding attendees that Beijing is on track to become the first ever city to host the summer and winter Olympic Games. Then it was the turn of Cai Qi, BOCOG president and Communist Party Secretary of Beijing, to drum up excitement before the final run of Spring Festival gala-type numbers.


    Jackie Chan sings "Wake Up Winter"

    The most notable of those performances was Jackie Chan's rousing "Wake Up Winter" alongside snowflake-twirling, sequined dancers. It also took gold for the most convincing live act, what with everyone else lip-synching their way through and a further reminder that when it comes to conveying an assertive appearance, China will leave nothing to chance.

    Before the crowd had time to blast out grainy sights of Big Brother, the star-studded stage backdrop parted to give the audience what they'd been waiting for, the official 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics logo.



    And here it is:



    Said to have taken inspiration from the character 冬, winter, the colorful and lively ribbon-like lines of the emblem also outline the figure of a downhill skier; knees bent, poles horizontal, and head down.

    The Paralympics logo is more vivid and is said to be based on the character for fly, 飞. The lower legs of the skier in the logo above have been replaced by two semicircles, representing a wheel in motion.



    The logos were designed by Li Cunzhen, who also had a hand in creating the emblem for 2014's Summer Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, and were chosen from 4,506 submissions from around the world, according to olympic.org.

    I'm going to copy some of these Winter Olympics 2022 posts to our fledgling Winter Olympics thread, just to help it grow for now.
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Fremont, CA, U.S.A.
    Posts
    47,946

    See? I knew the 2022 Olympics would pay out.

    Chinese sports authorities recruit Shaolin monks, teach them snow and ice disciplines to boost Beijing Winter Olympics squads
    Sports Agence France-Presse Jul 31, 2018 18:58:10 IST

    Shanghai: A Chinese kung-fu monk rockets down the halfpipe, his robe fluttering behind him, bald head glistening in the sun, to claim snowboard Olympic gold.


    Representational image. Reuters

    It may sound like a sequel to hit comedy film "Cool Runnings", but for Beijing 2022 hosts China this is no joke. China is so worried about its lack of winter Olympians and losing face on home soil that it is plundering the martial arts schools of Buddhist monasteries in the search for a star.

    Frantic sports chiefs have plucked 125 teenage students from the renowned Songshan Shaolin Temple in the central province of Henan in the hope their martial arts prowess can translate into medal-winning performances on the snow.

    The latest batch of 23 students left for Beijing on Monday for initial training in freestyle skiing and other Olympic disciplines, the Henan Daily newspaper said. The best among them will then venture to New Zealand to hone their skills.

    Medal-hungry China is turning to martial arts training schools as part of what it is calling "cross-discipline candidate selection" for Beijing 2022. More than 600 prospective Olympians — boys and girls — have been hand-picked so far in Henan alone, the Xinhua news agency said.

    China's General Administration of Sport, the government's top sports body, said the nationwide search was designed to "enrich the talent pool for ice and snow disciplines". Officials are also considering asking talented skateboarders, acrobats and trampolinists to switch disciplines as part of the ramped-up recruitment drive.

    It is easy to see why they came up with the idea, seeing as at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in February, China won just nine medals, only one of them gold.


    Updated Date: Jul 31, 2018 18:58 PM
    THREADS
    Winter Olympics 2022
    Winter Olympics
    Shaolin and the Olympics
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Fremont, CA, U.S.A.
    Posts
    47,946

    The end of Chinglish?

    Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

    Beijing is trying to rid city of Chinglish before 2022 Winter Olympics
    Enjoy them while you can, folks!
    by Alex Linder December 4, 2018 in News



    In order to make the city a more foreigner-friendly place, Beijing is in the midst of a colossal crackdown against the hilarious, ubiquitous English mistranslations known as Chinglish.

    On December 1st, 2017, a new English translation standard went into effect in China. Since then, Beijing’s foreign affairs office claims to have vetted more than two million Chinese characters on bilingual signs to ensure that they have been properly translated into English.

    Back in April, the city even launched a website to allow residents to report Chinglish signs that they spotted around town.



    Much like a similar campaign launched a decade ago ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, this crackdown is aimed at cleaning up the city’s signage ahead of foreign visitors arriving en masse for the 2022 Winter Olympics.

    Of course, Chinglish signs are part of the charm of living in China and many foreigners here will be sad to see the mistranslations go. So enjoy while you can, folks:








    THREADS
    Chinglish
    Winter Olympics 2022
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Fremont, CA, U.S.A.
    Posts
    47,946

    Sun Wukong, Nezha, and More Feature in Shanghai Animation Studios' Winter Sports Prom

    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Fremont, CA, U.S.A.
    Posts
    47,946

    More division...

    Beijing is planning to host another Olympics. Clashes over human rights are back, too.
    Han Zirong, secretary general of Beijing 2022, waves the Olympic flag during a ceremony Feb. 27, 2018, to mark the start of the flag’s tour for the 2022 Winter Olympics. (Ng Han Guan/AP)
    By
    Gerry Shih
    Oct. 8, 2020 at 3:00 a.m. PDT
    TAIPEI, Taiwan — In the run-up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, activists and others called for a boycott to protest China's treatment of Tibetan minorities and its human rights record at home and abroad.

    Beijing is now deep in planning to reprise its Olympic host role for the 2022 Winter Games. And again, it’s facing a chorus of condemnation over its mass indoctrination and labor program for ethnic Uighurs in Xinjiang and its security crackdown in Hong Kong.

    But if the demands for a boycott haven’t changed since 2008, China — and its relationship with the world — have.

    Twelve years after the Communist Party weathered criticism to hold a lavish, and ultimately successful, coming-out party on the world stage, a more powerful and globally influential Chinese government is squaring off against a more united and skeptical bloc of critics, particularly in the West.

    Negative views of China rise sharply in developed countries

    A mass boycott of the Winter Games does not appear imminent. But widespread human rights concerns — accentuated by geopolitical rivalries — suggest the 14 months leading up to the Feb. 4, 2022, opening ceremony will be particularly fraught.

    Calls to cancel
    Last month, more than 160 human rights groups asked the International Olympic Committee to move the Winter Games. Other demands to scrap the Beijing Olympiad have come from leaders of a newly formed multinational coalition of lawmakers called the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, which includes Sens. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Iain Duncan Smith, a member of the British Parliament, and legislators from the European Union, Japan, Australia and other countries.

    In March, 12 senators led by Rick Scott (R-Fla.) submitted a bipartisan resolution asking the International Olympic Committee to rebid the Games.

    On Wednesday, British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab made headlines in Britain when he said he needed to gather more evidence on whether Chinese actions in Xinjiang amounted to genocide and would not rule out a boycott.

    “Generally speaking, my instinct is to separate sport from diplomacy and politics, but there comes a point when it is not possible,” Raab said. He was speaking to reporters shortly after 39 countries, led by Germany, condemned China’s crackdown in Xinjiang and Hong Kong at the United Nations.

    Reinhard Bütikofer, a member of the European Parliament from Germany and part of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, said legislators from the alliance this summer organized news conferences, rallies and hearings at every stop of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s European tour to counter the Chinese official’s talking points, and might organize again around the Olympics.

    In 2008, Bütikofer said, Olympic organizers promised that China would improve its rights record as part of the agreement to hold the Games. In the decade since, China has moved in a “totally opposite” direction, he said.

    “When you look at how the IOC justified the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, you really wonder how they could sustain the decision on 2022,” Bütikofer said. “Some of us will make the public remember that.”

    Analysis: What the U.S. election means for China

    A Western-led boycott in 2022 would hark back to the final decade of the Cold War, when the United States and its allies walked out of the 1980 Summer Games to protest the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan. Communist countries retaliated by skipping the 1984 Games in Los Angeles.

    China’s critics have reached further back in history to argue against the 2022 Games.

    Since 2008, human rights activists have warned that China hosting the Olympic Games would be compared in hindsight to the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, which Hitler used to burnish Nazi Germany’s image as a rejuvenated industrial and military power.

    Those comparisons are resurfacing with resonance at a moment when several governments, including the Trump administration, are weighing whether to designate the Chinese repression of the mostly-Muslim Uighurs as genocide.

    Pompeo seeks unity to counter China’s growing clout, but don’t expect an Asian NATO

    Sophie Richardson, the China director at Human Rights Watch, said the Chinese government enjoyed the world’s “benefit of the doubt” in the 2000s, as it was seen as embarking on a fitful journey toward liberalization after its 2001 entry into the World Trade Organization.

    In the run-up to 2008, Chinese officials also pledged to make certain concessions, such as letting foreign journalists report freely and allowing petitioners to openly protest in a designated zone in Beijing.

    'Radically different'
    But in the years since, politics in China tightened sharply after the ascent of President Xi Jinping in 2013. Across the developed world, public opinion of China reached a record low this year, a stark reversal of the favorable or mixed views of the 2000s, according to a study released this week by the Pew Research Center.

    “That willingness to give the benefit of the doubt has evaporated,” Richardson said. “Look at Hong Kong or Xinjiang now versus in 2008 or even two years ago. The order of magnitude of violations is radically different and far more disturbing.”


    A worker carries a scaffolding pole at the National Speed Skating Oval on Sept. 23. (Thomas Peter/Reuters)
    At the same time, the current Chinese leadership is less amenable to making concessions and more influential in the international arena, including at the United Nations. Last year, China secured support from 50 ambassadors, mostly from developing countries wary of the West and buttressed by Chinese economic ties, to extol its Xinjiang policy not as an infringement on human rights, but a boon to social stability.

    Last month, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin dismissed criticism of China’s qualifications to host the Games by pointing out the support it has drummed up from countries including Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

    “By linking the so-called human rights issue with the Winter Olympics in an attempt to pressure China, certain organizations have made the mistake of politicizing sporting events,” Wang said. “That goes against the spirit of the Olympic charter and disrupts and jeopardizes the progress of the global human rights cause.”

    Officials at the International Olympic Committee, already under pressure from the Tokyo Games that have been delayed by the coronavirus pandemic, have also criticized boycott calls as generally unproductive. IOC President Thomas Bach told reporters in July that he was “fully confident” China would deliver on its “commitment” to respecting human rights.

    “Boycotts and discrimination because of political background or nationality are once again a real danger,” Bach said. “A sporting boycott only punishes the athletes of the boycotting country and deprives their people of sharing in the success, pride and joy of their Olympic team.”

    The hashtag “Boycott Winter Olympics” in China’s social media network Weibo has been completely censored. But a few essays in the WeChat ecosystem, analyzing the political context of past boycotts and lamenting the mounting controversy over the 2022 games, have cropped up in the past week.

    'Anti-globalization is the trend'
    In a post entitled “American imperialists are trying another harmful trick,” the nationalist world affairs blog Telling International Jokes noted how the Olympics went from a showcase for China in 2008 to a cudgel in a “New Cold War” in 2020.

    The 2008 Games “let the world know about the all-new China and how China could make the world a better place. Globalization was the biggest theme in the world in 2008,” wrote the author. “Fast forward to 2020, and anti-globalization is the trend. Political and economic friction between China and the West has only worsened. The ‘New Cold War’ has only intensified.”

    Nicholas Sarantakes, a professor at the U.S. Naval War College who has studied Olympic boycotts and the author of “Dropping the Torch: Jimmy Carter, the Olympic Boycott, and the Cold War,” said the Olympics have long been intensely politicized. Nearly half of the Games in history have been subject to some kind of political action, said Sarantakes, who cautioned against a boycott.

    “Sending the IOC to Beijing is politically tone deaf, but the reality is the IOC is boxed in a corner,” he said, adding that it would be highly unlikely for Olympic organizers to move the event, which was given to Beijing over Almaty, Kazakhstan, after other contenders dropped out six years ago.

    So what is likely? “I have every expectation that criticisms and political posturing will increase and not stop until the Olympics are over,” Sarantakes said.



    Gerry Shih
    Gerry Shih is the interim bureau chief in Beijing for The Washington Post. Before joining The Post in 2018, he was a correspondent for the Associated Press in Beijing.
    Still saddened that the 2020 Olympics didn't happen.
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

  10. #10
    Looking forward to this event. Hopefully, it will push through.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Fremont, CA, U.S.A.
    Posts
    47,946

    potential boycott

    U.S.
    2022 Beijing Winter Olympics Boycott Looming From 'Genocide' and COVID
    BY SCOTT MCDONALD ON 2/16/21 AT 10:49 PM EST

    Politicians from two powerful western countries have begun initiating a boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing if the International Olympic Committee (IOC) does not move the Games to another country. It started with politicians in the United Kingdom, followed by one proposal in the United States Congress.

    So far, two major Olympic committees don't agree, saying they are against Olympic boycotts—regardless of the reason. The United States and Canadian Olympic committees have already said they do not support such boycotts.

    China has already spent billions in infrastructure, and the country hopes to use the Winter Olympics to coincide with the Chinese New Year in 2022. The two elements would allow China to showcase its centuries-long tradition along with state-of-the-art technology. Beijing would also become the first city to ever hold both the Summer Olympics (2008) and the Winter Olympics. Countries have held multiple Games, but a single city has never held both.

    However, other countries point toward China's recent controversies as a way to keep their athletes, coaches, fans and families from visiting China or any of the host cities near Beijing.

    Mike Waltz, a Republican representative from Florida, said Monday he doesn't believe the United States "cannot" in good conscience participate in the quadrennial Games hosted by a "brutal dictatorship." This follows British politicians supporting a boycott of the 2022 Beijing Games.

    Waltz filed a resolution urging the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) to "propose the transfer of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games to a site other than within the People's Republic of China." Should moving to another country not happen, then Waltz said the U.S. and other countries should "withdraw" from the 2022 Winter Olympics.

    The USOPC issued a statement on February 4 that said it was against a boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. "We oppose Games boycotts because they have been shown to negatively impact athletes while not effectively addressing global issues. We believe the more effective course of action is for the governments of the world and China to engage directly on human rights and geopolitical issues."

    The resolution filed by Waltz says the Chinese Communist Party has extended "repressive policies through censorship, intimidation and the detention of individuals and groups for exercising their fundamental human rights, especially in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) and Hong Kong."

    The resolution also identifies mass internment camps, forced labor, efforts to intensify persecution of campaigns that bring religion into China and those under watchful control during the spread of COVID-19.

    "Hosting the 2022 Winter Olympics Games in the PRC, where organized atrocities in the XUAR are ongoing; where the freedoms of Hong Kong's citizens are being trampled; where the fundamental right to worship is brutally persecuted; and in the wake of the ongoing global devastation from COVID-19; would be immoral, unethical and wrong," the resolution states.


    People celebrate the one year countdown to the Olympics at Tiananmen Square on August 8, 2007 in Beijing, China. Various events are being held in the Chinese capital to celebrate the one-year countdown to the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympic Games today.
    PHOTO BY GUANG NIU/GETTY IMAGES

    Although the relationship between Washington and Beijing has splintered over the last several years, a U.S.-led boycott could drive an even bigger wedge between the two countries.

    Though the Summer Olympics have been boycotted before—notably by the U.S. in 1980 and the U.S.S.R. in 1984—a Winter Olympics boycott would be unprecedented. If other countries follow suit and also boycotted the 2022 Winter Games, it could have a crippling and embarrassing effect for Beijing, which is scheduled to become the only city to ever hold both a Summer Olympics and Winter Olympics. The 2008 Summer Olympics still have one of the most-memorable Opening Ceremonies that was held at the famous Beijing National Stadium, also known as the "Birds Nest."

    The 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics are scheduled to take place Feb. 4-20, 2022, in three different cities in northern China. Russia is not allowed to compete because of past doping allegations, which leaves countries mostly from the West. If the U.S. were to boycott, many European countries could follow the United States' lead.

    A multi-national boycott could have a ripple effect into China's economic forecast that could lead to a mammoth financial loss for the country. China has already built a high-speed rail line to connect Beijing to Yanqing and Zhangjiakou, which are the other two cities scheduled to host events for the 2022 Games.
    When will the call for a Kung Fu boycott happen?

    threads
    Winter-Olympics-2022
    covid
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Fremont, CA, U.S.A.
    Posts
    47,946

    Boycott?

    Why the world must boycott the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022
    By Steven W. Mosher March 13, 2021 | 9:28am | Updated

    Stadiums built in Beijing for the 2008 Games (pictured) were later used to host public executions.Alamy

    The 2022 Winter Olympic games are currently slated to be held in Beijing, China, next February. But the voices demanding that they be moved to a more freedom-friendly venue are growing louder.

    Last September, a coalition of 160 human rights groups called for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to “reverse its mistake in awarding Beijing the honor of hosting the Winter Olympics.”

    The Trump administration also pushed for the IOC to move the games, according to former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Pompeo now wants the United States to boycott the upcoming games entirely.

    Two weeks ago the Canadian Parliament joined the chorus, urging the IOC to strip Beijing of the right to host the 2022 Games unless it ends its genocide against the Uighurs.

    The ongoing Uighur genocide — carried out by mass incarceration, forced abortion, and modern-day slavery — tops the list of what Pompeo calls the Chinese Communist Party’s “nasty activity.” But it certainly does not exhaust it.

    Holding the Olympics in Beijing is an insult to every Tibetan nationalist, every Chinese political dissident, every Catholic, Christian, or Buddhist who languishes in China’s prisons because of their personal convictions.

    Human rights conditions in China today are in many respects worse than when I came face-to-face with China’s brutal one-child policy in the early 1980s.

    They are worse than they were in 2008, when the Summer Olympics were held in Beijing.


    To spruce up China’s image before the 2008 Olympics, authorities drove out illegal immigrants — and even painted the dead grass green.
    Getty Images
    And they are likely to get even worse in the months to come as the Winter Olympics grows ever nearer.

    For me, one of the most disturbing aspects of the 2008 Games was the construction of new stadiums. You see, stadiums in China are used not just for athletic competitions, but for public executions.

    Like the Colosseum of Ancient Rome, these stadiums double as killing fields, where thousands of people have been executed without due process. China continues to execute more people each year than the rest of the world combined.

    The day of an execution, the stadium stands are filled with people. They are there by official order, in order to witness what happens to those who break the Party’s law.

    The prisoner — sometimes there are several — is marched in and forced to kneel in the middle of the field. After his crimes are read, he is killed by a single shot to the back of the head.

    The West may view the upcoming Winter Olympics as a celebration of the human spirit, but the Chinese Communist Party views it as a massive propaganda exercise.

    The Party’s chief aim will be to spruce up the country’s image abroad — badly tarnished by the coronavirus pandemic — and to generate nationalistic zeal at home.

    We know the playbook that the Party will follow. We’ve seen it before.

    In the run-up to the 2008 Olympics, Beijing received a face lift, buildings were refurbished, and illegal urban residents were driven out of the city and their hovels demolished.

    The authorities even painted the dead grass green.

    At the same time that they were sweeping the streets, they swept up dissidents of all kinds, banishing them to labor camps and prisons.

    This time around the controls will be even tighter. The international media will arrive in Beijing to find the city sterilized of all possible protest.

    More surveillance cameras will be installed, more facial recognition technology utilized, and more AI deployed. The population in and around the games will be monitored in real time, and any dissent or unrest snuffed out before it occurs.

    All this is to say that the games will not bring change to China, but instead generate a new wave of persecution.

    Once the Winter Olympics of 2022 are over and the athletes and the international press leave, the playing fields will once again become killing fields as well.


    China’s oppressive treatment of the Uighur population will only get worse in the run-up to the 2022 Olympics.
    AFP via Getty Images
    At their highest level, the Olympics celebrate the human spirit. It is not just about ice hockey or the toboggan run, the giant slalom or ice skating, but the efforts of individual men and women to be the best that they can be in every field of human endeavor.

    This is why the games should always be held in countries where human rights are respected. This is why Beijing, where that overarching spirit is violated every day, is such a bad choice for the Winter Olympics of 2022.

    The Chinese Communist Party should not be allowed to hide its atrocities behind the drama of athletic competition.

    Because if medals were given to nations for committing human rights abuses, China would win the gold every time.

    Steven W. Mosher is the President of the Population Research Institute and the author of “Bully of Asia: Why China’s ‘Dream’ is the New Threat to World Order”
    Weird for the US to call out PRC on immigration issues but we shall see if this makes any headway.
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Fremont, CA, U.S.A.
    Posts
    47,946

    US Boycott

    US announces diplomatic boycott of Beijing Olympics, citing ‘ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang’

    about 2 hours ago

    The U.S. will engage in a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Beijing Olympics in response to China’s “ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang, and other human rights abuses,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki announced on Monday.

    “U.S. diplomatic or official representation would treat these games as business as usual in the face of the PRC’s egregious human rights abuses and atrocities in Xinjiang, and we simply can’t do that,” Psaki said during a press briefing.

    The Biden administration’s diplomatic boycott will not prevent American athletes from competing in the 2022 Winter Olympics in February.

    While some lawmakers praised the Biden administration’s decision, others said that the move was inadequate, and called for the U.S. to carry out a total boycott.

    House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) lauded the president’s “strong leadership” in a statement, saying that the U.S. and the rest of the globe “cannot give our official imprimatur to these games or proceed as if there is nothing wrong with holding the Olympics in a country perpetrating genocide and mass human rights violations.”

    But Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) said the U.S. should totally boycott the Olympics in Beijing.

    “The President has once again opted for a half measure, when bold leadership was required,” Cotton said in a statement about the administration’s move. “The United States should fully boycott the Genocide Games in Beijing. American businesses should not financially support the Chinese Communist Party and we must not expose Team USA to the dangers of a repugnant authoritarian regime that disappears its own athletes.”

    The Global Times, an outlet that is viewed as a Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece, according to U.S. News and World Report, tweeted about the U.S. diplomatic boycott that, “… Chinese are relieved to hear the news, because the fewer US officials come, the fewer viruses will be brought in.”

    #COMMENTnTo be honest, Chinese are relieved to hear the news, because the fewer US officials come, the fewer viruses will be brought in.https://twitter.com/washingtonpost/s...3699u00a0u2026
    — Global Times (@Global Times)
    1638815504

    COVID-19 was discovered in Wuhan, China back in Dec. 2019, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

    The illness and related lockdowns and restrictions have had a significant impact on both the U.S. and the world.

    “Without being invited, American politicians keep hyping the so-called diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics, which is purely wishful thinking and grandstanding,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said, according to the Associated Press. “If the U.S. side is bent on going its own way, China will take firm countermeasures.”

    The #US should follow the #Olympic spirit of “together” and stop politicizing sports and the diplomatic boycott of #Beijing2022, lest it would affect China-US dialogue and cooperation on key areas. #China will take resolute countermeasures if the US is bent on the wrong decision.pic.twitter.com/xnDBIDzGer
    — Lijian Zhao u8d75u7acbu575a (@Lijian Zhao u8d75u7acbu575a)
    1638802939
    I'm always saddened to see politics interfere with global games but what must be, must be...
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Fremont, CA, U.S.A.
    Posts
    47,946

    Here we go...

    China Warns U.S. Will ‘Pay a Price’ for Boycotting Olympics
    Bloomberg News 7 hrs ago

    (Bloomberg) -- China has threatened the U.S. with retaliation against its decision to declare a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics, warning that ties between the world’s two largest economies may suffer.


    © Source: VCG/Visual China Group/Getty Images Beijing 2022 Olympics

    “The U.S. is standing opposed to athletes and sports lovers across the world,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said Tuesday at a regular press briefing in Beijing. “The Olympics are not a stage for political stances or political manipulation.”

    “The U.S. will pay a price for its wrong practices,” he said, without specifying what actions China might take. The U.S. will host the Summer Games in Los Angeles in 2028, though it’s unlikely Beijing would wait that long to respond. Zhao added that China had lodged its complaint with American diplomats.

    Washington’s decision not to send officials to the event is largely symbolic considering the Covid-related restrictions they would face in the Asian nation, which has taken a zero-tolerance approach to fighting the pandemic. Still, Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to attend the Olympics, which start Feb. 4.

    White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki cited China’s “ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang, and other human rights abuses” as the reasons the U.S. won’t send representatives. China calls allegations about abuses in its far western region “the lie of the century.”

    The Canadian and Australian governments are also mulling whether to attend the event. New Zealand said Tuesday it told China in October its officials would not attend, citing a range of factors “mostly to do with Covid.”
    I'm troubled over the fallout this might have on #stopasianhate
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Fremont, CA, U.S.A.
    Posts
    47,946

    Sex toy ad

    Sex toy ads removed from ice at last-chance Olympic curling qualifier
    Deemed too racy for curling audience, ads to be replaced by statement #equalityforall

    Jimmy Golen · The Associated Press · Posted: Dec 10, 2021 2:40 PM ET | Last Updated: December 10


    Team Shuster's Chris Plys is seen above at the American Olympic curling trials in November. Ad for sex toys at a last-chance qualifier for Beijing in the Netherlands were removed from the ice on Friday after broadcasts deemed them too racy for the audience. (Rebecca S. Gratz/The Associated Press)

    Ads for a sex toy website that led to a U.S. blackout of an Olympic curling qualifying tournament will be removed from the ice and replaced with the statement "#equalityforall."

    Erotic website EasyToys and the World Curling Federation said on Friday that they have reached a deal to return the livestream to the United States and Japan, where broadcasters decided that references to the company were too racy for the curling audience. The event in the Netherlands will determine the last remaining spots in the Beijing 2022 curling fields.

    "During an Olympic qualifying tournament, it must of course be about the sport and not about the sponsor," Eric Idema, CEO of EasyToys parent company EDC, said in the statement, which was emailed to The Associated Press and translated from Dutch. "Curling also deserves that, as a sport that is one of the few mixed sports that is way ahead of its time. In fact, just like us."

    The tournament began Sunday with mixed doubles, but American fans were unable to watch their local livestream due to what the World Curling Federation said was "an ongoing sponsor rights issue." Still available was an international livestream where viewers could see the EasyToys safe-for-work logo on the ice and on ads surrounding the rink; the company's name was also embedded in the hog line that determines where curlers must release the stone.

    "We hoped that our visibility would contribute to breaking the taboo that still rests in many countries on both sexuality and on our industry," Idema said. "It is unfortunate that adjustments are now needed to get the sport to the fans."

    According to the company, when the tournament resumes on Saturday "almost all" EasyToys logos — which depict a pair of hearts nestled into the company name — will be removed from in and around the rink. It will remain on one sheet and the hog lines will remain "EasyToys pink."

    Instead, the ice will feature the hashtag calling for equality.

    "With this slogan, we still want to start the conversation about sexual wellness and the importance of safe and pleasant sex for everyone," Idema said. "In many countries that conversation is already well underway, but the boycott confirms to us that we must continue to work on this topic normalize it for a wider audience."

    The event in Leeuwarden, about 90 minutes north of Amsterdam, is a last-chance qualifier that will send two teams in mixed doubles and three each in men's and women's to Beijing in February. The United States and Australia qualified in mixed doubles; there is no U.S. team in the other divisions because the Americans had already qualified for the Winter Games.

    "EasyToys and the World Curling Federation entered a sponsorship contract for this event in good faith, based around the shared values of equality and respect for everyone," the international governing body said in a statement.

    "The legal guidelines along with social norms that influence the broadcaster's policies in certain parts of the world, have proved to be a complicated barrier to showcasing this championship," the WCF said. "This action has been taken to avoid any further distractions to our athletes as they seek to achieve their dreams of reaching the pinnacle of our sport."
    Kinda wanna see that ad now...
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •