A Boring Friday Before the Labor Day Long Weekend

(1) The 2008 Beijing Olympic Game closed on Sunday. The host country got 100 metals. Out of this total, 51 are gold -- a gigantic achievement for China. One day after the game’s closing, the media started to worry about an after-match trauma. As cars started to swamp Beijing streets once again, how long would the Beijing residents be able to enjoy a clean air and blue sky? What people should do about the run away inflation? What the government would do with the stock markets which after hitting a 3 year low before the Olympiad dropped another 30 percent during the game? What would the business do as exports showed a first sign of slow down in a 10 year up trend? Would the government really be able to recover all the money invested in the sports facilities? Good questions.

Watching the 2008 Democratic National convention in Denver, I suddenly got an answer to the last question. In fact, Beijing had had some football size stadiums that could have hosted the Olympic opening ceremony. Why did they bother to build a new one? This architectural master piece is most suitable to host a national convention. One day, billions of Chinese will hear the voices of their own Ted Kennedy, Hillary Rodham Clinton from a podium at the Bird’s Net. Once that happens, China will recover the full cost of all Olympic infrastructures. On this subject, professionals can forget about their mathematical, financial equations.

(2) Barack Obama officially accepted a Democratic Party nomination as a presidential candidate on Thursday night. It was the first time I heard an Obama speech in its entirety. Mr. Obama looked presidential. His tones carried a quality of a persuasive priest. He rightly pointed out that we should withdraw from Iraq – from a war of no win. He also nailed it on the head that we should complete the war in Afghanistan by wiping out the theorists in the caves. Mr. Obama also gains points by making compromising suggestions on the two issues that potentially could split the country, abortion and gun controls. Some other promises he made, such as tax reduction for 95% of Americans, universal healthcare are good to the ears. But I have not been able to come up with Obama’s math. Obama said he will elaborate those plans in the future presidential debates. Let’s just wait a bit.

Last night was an Obama’s night. He put on his best show and scored nicely. He apparently convinced his believers. Will he win in November? Here let us draw parallelism from the Olympic gymnastic shows. One girl has just scored nicely. The audience has to wait for second girl to complete her exercise. If John McCain makes many ‘un-forced’ errors, Senator Obama will be the next president.

(3) I have been having ‘Network World’ magazine for many years. Never read it seriously. Last time when my free subscription was about to expire, I renewed reluctantly only after the magazine simplified the renewal process to a single mouse click. In the last issue, an article stuck a cord in my heart. “20 ways to survive a layoff” stood out from many of the articles on this topic. It was written by an author who has been there, done it and survived it himself. The author’s personal experiences are not what the academic career counselors can offer. The author throws in many personal details that gave the article an irresistible power. In bed, I picked up this magazine to make me go asleep fast but ended up reading the entire article multiple times. All the advices are genuine. Some details are extremely touching such as on applying for unemployment claims, in cutting the cost of food by storing milk bought in bulk in the freezer, buying health insurance and using job boards. Thank you, Ron Nutter, for writing such an authentic piece. Speaking of authenticity, maybe it is not a bad idea to send a copy to Senator Obama's new partner Senator Joe Biden.

The Splendid Beijing Summer Olympic Opening Ceremony

The Beijing Summer Olympic Opening Ceremony caught the eye balls of the world with its splendidness. In my opinion, this opening ceremony has been the most artistically beautiful one in all Olympic history. NBC alone attracted 34.2 million viewers. While the most recent Summer Olympics, in Athens four years ago, averaged 25.4 million viewers for its first night and in Sydney in 2000 had 27.3 million viewers, according to Nielsen. Friday night, as the whole world was watching Beijing, watching China, we overseas Chinese are proud for the achievement of our mother country. One goal of this year’s Olympic game was to let the world know China. From this perspective, China has made a huge success.

The media coverage was overwhelming. Let me not to try to outdo the professional journalists with my own praises. Everyone who wants to enjoy the shows may do so from http://www.nbcsports.com. I would like to spend some words on those who remain critical of China’s human right records, Tibet and China handling of Darfur matters. On Sunday, NBC’s anchor Bob Costas interviewed President Bush in his NBC studio overseeing the Tiananmen Square. Four out of 5 questions was on those lines. The President answered all questions with almost the same argument, it is better to engage China than otherwise. He also urged the future Presidents to follow the same policy. Siding with the President, I would like to add that while Olympics is not going to solve all the world’s problems (incidentally, a war broke out between Russia and Georgia on the same day of the opening ceremony), the world will be much more peaceful with the Game than without; While some of the criticisms on China are understandable, the Olympic history will be much richer with a Beijing chapter than without.

My second thought was on city of Beijing where I spent the first 26 years of my life. As the news coverage of the Olympic Games continues, people will see more of her beauty. Some of the buildings and street scenes are new to me as well. But I do not need to know every new façade to know the city. I know her by heart. When I left China to pursuit my graduate studies in the US in 1986, I had one bicycle and a 12” black-and-white TV set among my most valuable possessions. I had never seen highways on which many cars moving in parallel towards one direction. I had never had a personal bank check or ATM card. What I had was a government issued coupon book on my monthly food rations. Yet I was able enjoy blue skies and clean air. Nowadays, people in Beijing have it all. Many young white collar professionals have their own apartments, cars, cell phone. They play the internet games. They enjoy vacations to same destinations as we do. Their life style is quite similar with ours. With per capita GDP in excess 8,000 US dollars, Beijing qualifies for what the World Bank defines as a “moderately developed countries.” (Other two Chinese cities enjoy the same qualification are Shanghai and Guangdong.) On the other hand, with 3.5 millions cars, the Beijing residents also kissed goodbye to the blue skies.

For those who do not already know, year 2008 is not the first time Beijing partitioned to host the Olympic Games. The first time Beijing made a serious attempt was for the year of 2000. That effort was thawed shamelessly by a bunch of anti-China activists on pure political grounds. As a result of some under-the-table maneuvering, Beijing lost her bit by 2 votes. In the evening Sydney celebrated her nomination, tears dripped down the cheeks of millions of Chinese and friends. Friday’s Opening Ceremony was a vindication. Eight years later, Beijing was able to prove what she deserves. Eight year of quiet hardworking and preparations have made the city stronger and more capable to pay for a bill of over 40billion yuan on the infrastructure. Gold glistens. People may cover gold with mud to stop it from glistening. Before long, rain and wind will wash away the bud and gold will shine again. Beijing is such a piece of gold. Beijing, my hometown, let me wish you many, many good lucks for a long, long time.