From heartbreaking to predictable. The Telegraph (among many others) is reporting yet another Olympic Ceremony faux pas.

It turns out that the 56 children “from” China’s official 56 different minority ethnic groups that brought the Chinese national flag into the stadium were, in fact, all ethnic Hans wearing minority costumes. According to the official guide to the ceremony:

“56 children from 56 Chinese ethnic groups cluster around the Chinese national flag, representing the 56 ethnic groups”

Not so fast.  By “from”, they really meant “wearing ethnic costumes”.  It’s bad enough that they have to token-ize the ethnic groups with these official uniforms (sorry, costumes), but they didn’t even bother to use children actually from the ethnic groups to represent them.  That’s a more benign interpretation.  What if they actually considered and then rejected using actual members of the minority ethnic groups?

I guess it was all a bit too perfect. Following the news that the Opening Ceremony footprint fireworks were faked, it is now being reported (also here and here) that the cute little pixie, Lin Miaoke, who sang Ode to the Motherland at the Opening Ceremony was lip-syncing. And it wasn’t as though Lin was lip-syncing her own performance. No, that would at least be defensible. Apparently the girl who actually sang the song, Yang Peiyi, was judged to be too much of an ugly duckling to represent China at the opening ceremony. Chubby with crooked teeth. The horror. Can you believe a first-grader has crooked teeth? What? She doesn’t have a perfect figure? I am aghast.

Judged by whom, you ask? A member of the politburo. Absolute madness.

Faking the footprints - fine. No harm, no foul. If you ask me, they still looked really cool. You can even make the argument that it was safer to fake them rather than release fireworks in every neighborhood directly south of the Bird’s Nest.

What’s the argument here? According to one idiot, the musical director of the ceremony, it was done “in the national interest” and “considering the overseas image” of China. Please, tell me, someone, what is the national interest in this boneheaded move? Also, it really burns me that they’re trying to pin this one on foreigners, even indirectly.

What about the singer that “won the heart of a nation“? Shortly after the ceremony, Lin Miaoke’s father Lin Hui had said “it is too early for Miaoke to be part of the world of entertainment.”

I have a feeling we don’t have to worry about that now.

UPDATE: The New York Times has picked up the story.

UPDATE #2: Even Dlisted is covering the story.

The rest of the country continues to sacrifice for Beijing’s Olympic party. Yesterday SHTig and I visited one of the nicest (and largest) office towers in Beijing. The entire building was frigid–on a Sunday, when perhaps a few dozen people were inside. Meanwhile, Bloomberg reports on electricity rationing in Wuhan:

The provincial government decided to cut power supplies to the capital city of Wuhan by 34 percent, the city of Huangshi by 31 percent and Huanggang by 16 percent, the local economic commission said in a statement posted on its Web site.

China, facing its sixth year of electricity shortages, mothballed 3 percent of its coal-fired generating capacity as of July 25 after fuel supplies dwindled, State Grid Corp. of China said last week. Coal stockpiles at Hubei’s power plants have fallen below the “caution line” of 750,000 metric tons, the provincial government said.

“Insufficient coal supplies forced the closure of an increasing number of power plants in the province,” the commission said. “We decided to start rationing power supplies from Aug. 5 in order to ensure basic power demand for the summer and Olympics are met.”

Unfortunately for Wuhan and the rest of China, the current shortage is not being caused by the Olympics alone, but is rather part of a much greater problem:

State Grid said last week 46 percent of the power stations on its network have coal stockpiles below the “caution line” or seven days of consumption. More than 1 billion people rely on State Grid for their power.

The Three Gorges hydropower station in Hubei had a daily output of 440 million kilowatt-hours yesterday [August 5 or 6], or 5 percent of the nation’s total consumption, the Xinhua News Agency reported today.

Just took this photo with my cell phone on the way to lunch.

A London black cab with Beijing colors colours…

NATOR ADDS: China Car Times had some info on this back in May.

ODB ADDS: I know Israel was also testing these cabs out a few years ago, as they are supposed to be more secure with the driver being in a separate compartment from the passengers.

There was one pretty cool shot during the opening ceremonies last Friday that looked like it had been filmed from a helicopter flying from the Forbidden City straight north up Beijing’s central axis to the Olympic Village, then sped up to give a 10-second aerial view of the city’s skyline. I remember thinking 1) I had never seen such a shot for Beijing before, and 2) it looked computer generated, which would seem to be a lot more trouble than just doing it the old-fashioned way.

A story in the Telegraph explains that part of what I watched was faked:

As the ceremony got under way with a dramatic, drummed countdown, viewers watching at home and on giant screens inside the Bird’s Nest National Stadium watched as a series of giant footprints outlined in fireworks processed gloriously above the city from Tiananmen Square.

What they did not realise was that what they were watching was in fact computer graphics, meticulously created over a period of months and inserted into the coverage electronically at exactly the right moment.

The fireworks were there for real, outside the stadium. But those responsible for filming the extravaganza decided in advance it would be impossible to capture all 29 footprints from the air.

As a result, only the last, visible from the camera stands inside the Bird’s Nest was captured on film…

Gao Xiaolong, head of the visual effects team for the ceremony, said it had taken almost a year to create the 55-second sequence. Meticulous efforts were made to ensure the sequence was as unnoticeable as possible: they sought advice from the Beijing meteorological office as to how to recreate the hazy effects of Beijing’s smog at night, and inserted a slight camera shake effect to simulate the idea that it was filmed from a helicopter.

I’m not actually sure if this was the same moment I noticed; what I saw (or thought I saw) was a computer-generated aerial view of much of Beijing’s skyline (i.e. the buildings and roads looked faked). I understand the logic behind the decision to go with computer-generated effects and don’t have a problem with it. Regardless, it is interesting to note the attitude and motivations behind this decision.

A lot of the lazier reporting on China portrays the country as a place where the government controls every facet of life. While the government may try to do so, China more often feels like a place out of control than under control. At no time is this more apparent than during Chinese New Year, when fireworks are going off all around and the city looks and sounds like a war zone. The contrast between that happy chaos and the nervousness surrounding the Olympics is striking.

ODB ADDS: Funny. As I was watching the ceremony and the firework part, I was thinking to myself: “These fireworks should be going off right over my head… but I can’t see or hear anything…”.

It seems Ha’aretz, Israel’s leading newspaper, shares some of our views on the opening ceremony. Here are a few excerpts:

I should have been excited, but I wasn’t. I sat a few dozen meters from the track at Beijing’s Bird’s Nest Stadium and was one of the 91,000 lucky individuals who had tickets for the opening ceremony of the 29th Olympic Games, an event that dozens of millions of Chinese and many other millions around the world would have loved to attend.

…

Still, from where I sat, the ceremony looked soulless. No doubt, the production was grandiose and the ceremony rich in color, but it was somewhat schematic and mechanical, even a touch militaristic.

Note: In the original Hebrew article (which was much better), the words “maybe even fascist” appeared after the word militaristic.

In my opinion there were two emotional moments that stood out. The first was when giant Chinese basketball player Yao Ming walked alongside a little Chinese boy who barely reached his knees. The second was when members of the Spanish delegation started to dance while circling the stadium, ignoring the pleas of Chinese organizers that they complete their round.

…

Yimou was quoted in the ceremony’s program as saying his aim was to put together a happy event. Going by Friday’s final product, he failed.  

“This isn’t the first time this has happened and it doesn’t surprise me anymore,” Olympic Committee of Israel General Secretary Efraim Zinger told The Jerusalem Post.

“My heart goes out to the Iranian athletes. In the Athens Olympics one of their sportsmen, who was a gold medal favorite, had to pull out because he was drawn against an Israeli.”

“There’s no place for this kind of behavior in the Olympic movement and it’s a shame it continues.”

There is a sister site devoted to Beijing’s roads. That one seems much less interesting. What can they say besides “They’re all jammed”? I’d recommend Beijing’s traffic station instead.

Both sites are related to the folks at Beijingology.

Even thought the first thing I did after I woke was turn on the Slingbox and watch the NBC broadcast, I couldn’t get that excited about this year’s ceremonies. Having lived in Beijing for most of the last seven years, I have definitely become a bit sick of the endless preparations and was just looking forward to being finished with the whole thing. I’m also not as impressed by certain features of the ceremony that are fairly common in China–large crowds moving in unison, for example. 

Knowing all this, I was still surprised to hear Bob Costas say that this event should ”retire the trophy” for opening ceremonies and to read Pat Forde’s glowing praise on ESPN.com (though I did agree with most of his article on opening ceremony fashion). Granted, both of them viewed the spectacle in person, and perhaps many of the best moments just didn’t translate well onto TV. But isn’t TV what really matters? Even in Beijing, 99% of the audience probably watched it on a TV or outdoor screen.

Below are a few of my specific reactions to various parts of the ceremonies:

Surprised: That NBC didn’t bother showing the opening ceremonies live. Highlights were available everywhere online immediately after the event finished, and I imagine that many casual viewers in the US simply watched a couple minutes at work and didn’t bother with the four-hour evening event. I had NBC on via Slingbox all evening, and they just showed The Today Show as usual. They even had a couple hosts talking live from a dark Beijing, while the event was going on somewhere nearby.

Impressed: By the giant screen that ran all the way around the top of the stadium and showed various images during the ceremony–a clever touch, though from the TV broadcast it was often hard to make out what was being shown on the screen….The people flying around, suspended by wires, early on (though not later on–see below for more on that)….The two dancers who painted swirls on the ground with their feet and ands–it was simple yet effective; and it had the China element without hitting viewers over the head….The Olympic rings logo that started flat on the ground, then slowly peeled upward to float vertically in the air….The opening string of fireworks, and the swirling flame racing up to light the the cauldron.

Underwhelmed: The opening drum-light sequence. It looked like they were using flourescent lights, many of which flickered for a few seconds before coming on. And they didn’t really do anything with the lights except to stage confusing countdown with the kind of graphics normally found on ODB’s calculator wristwatch. The countdown started at “60″ but we thought it might have said “GO”. Then they went to 50, 40, 30, 20, 10, 9, 8 (by this time the crowd had finally figured out what was going on and started yelling out the numbers) and down to zero. But the time between the jumps of 1 and of 10 was exactly the same–just odd.  

Baffled: Several bands took turns playing music during the athletes’ walk-in: a group of Chinese ladies who looked a lot like the 女子十二乐坊 (”Twelve Girls Band“) and played squawky Chinese stuff that I tuned out and that JZ said was commonly heard at Chinese weddings; a group of African(?) drummers, by far the best of the lot; and, inexplicably, some bagpipers, who I never actually saw. I missed NBC’s introduction to this part and didn’t hear any explanation from the Chinese announcers, so I still have no idea why these groups were chosen. It was jarring to hear the switch to a new band every three minutes. And they seemed to have only prepared a song or two each–the bagpipers definitely played at least one well-known bagpiper song (and how many of them are there?) more than once.

Nodding: In agreement at the repeated use of children in the festivities. Not exactly the boldest choice, but surely the among the safest.

Annoyed: At the often frazzled camera work from CCTV. Several times they switched to cameras that weren’t ready–where the cameraman was walking along, getting into position, or not focused on anything. During several sequences, they cut to different shots every second or two, almost like a music video, with no rhyme or reason. A number of views that came without explanation, such as the multiple shots of a certain athete during the “march of nations” without ever telling us who he or she was, or the repeated shots of blue-shirted volunteers/cheerleaders awkwardly dancing and waving as the crowd around them sat in silence. NBC did a much better job, going for longer shots and and generally choosing better angles for most of the scenes. The NBC crew also reacted quickly, switching cameras within seconds to someone whose name had just been mentioned by the announcers. It may have all been scripted, but it felt natural.

Amused: At the difference in the Chinese and US announcers’ handling of the event, especially during the athletes’ walk-in. The Chinese announcers stayed far away from any controversy and introduced each country by listing its strongest events, number of medals won, and other simple (and boring) facts. NBC’s crew, in contrast, used a lot of political background and human interest stories. As China’s athletes entered the stadium, for example, the young boy walking with Yao Ming got more face time than anyone on NBC’s broadcast and allowed Costas and others to talk about China’s population, economic growth, the Wenchuan earthquake, the torch protests, and all sorts of other anecdotes.

Horrified: At the goose-stepping soldiers. I know it’s normal here and in many other countries, but it instantly makes me think of Nazis, and I imagine most other Americans have a similar reaction.

Embarrassed: The birds’ nest and flying dove segment was a hot tranny mess. I’m sure both were very difficult technically and required months of practice. But the ”flapping” of the bird’s wings looked pretty amateur from CCTV’s camera angles, and the human version of the Bird’s Nest stadium made me feel that the hosts were just a little too proud of their new stadium. It’s impressive enough on its own–reproducing it just felt a bit over the top.

Patiently waiting: For audience reaction during the final stages of the torch relay. I didn’t recognize any of the torchbearers, but I expected that the crowd would. Aside from shoe salesman Li Ning, who actually lit the cauldron, however, none of the runners got much applause from the audience. 

Giggling: For me, the goofiest part of the evening was the sight of Li Ning flying into the air. Compared to the elegant air dancing in the first part of the show, he looked awkward and clumsy, like some of the poorer flying scenes from the old Superman movies. Except this was a slightly overweight middle-aged guy. The giggling turned into belly-laughing when he started his sideways, slow-motion run. It didn’t help when they had problems aligning his speed with that of a video scroll that was unrolling on the screen behind him. The whole thing caught me completely by surprise, in a bad way. I can’t think of another time when I’ve seen someone of his stature in China do much more than stand politely and perhaps wave to the crowd in a public event….For me, Muhammad Ali’s shaking arm in Atlanta and the flaming arrow in Barcelona were the two most memorable torch lightings. 
 
Overall, there were very few ”gasp inducing scenes” (to borrow Pat Forde’s phrase) for me this year. It seemed that way as well among the crowd in attendance, at least from what I heard and saw on TV (though the NBC broadcast and several other reports I’ve read since indicate otherwise). It was telling that Kobe Bryant got one of the loudest cheers of the night when the camera switched to him for a fews during the walk-in.

What did the rest of you think?

UPDATE: Shanghaiist has a nice collection of reactions to the opening ceremonies from major media outlets and blogs, most of them far more positive than my comments….I wasn’t the only person surprised that NBC didn’t offer a live broadcast of the opening ceremonies….Chad Catacchio has set up a handy feed for the Beijing Olympics on Friendfeed….An American was killed right around the corner today.

It’s always interesting to see well-known personalities reacting to things the rest of us notice here in China. (I remember seeing a short video of South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone on a similar trip a few years back but can’t find any clips online.)