Dog Eat Dog - Double-Edged Sword

“8” is a lucky number in China, so the Olympics start in 2 days (Chinese time – 12 hours ahead from EST) on 8/8/08. At 8:08PM, of course. People from around the globe will be there, so China is going through massive changes to show their face to the world, which has been closed off for so long. This is a terrific opportunity for them, but it is also hurting them tremendously at the same time. For example, China is banning dog meat from their menus. (There’s the food reference for this food blog!) “The measure has been implemented to ‘respect the habits of many countries and nationalities,’ the Beijing News quoted the municipal food department as saying.” This is ludicrous, in my opinion. This is China. This is Chinese culture. China is the host. If you come to my house, sure I will straighten up, but I will not change my way of being to suit you. In fact, part of why people come to my house is to see how I live, to experience my home, and so on. When I go to another country, I am not looking for America elsewhere. When I ate dog in China, it was for curiosity’s sake, but also as the expression goes: “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.”

Well, while I have my soapbox, I can express some more experiences. Because of the Olympics, there have been drastic improvements. I was talking to someone who will take the new train to Beijing in the morning. This is the fastest train in the world now with speeds upwards of around 220MPH regularly! Of course, when they were taking the shuttle bus from Beijing’s new International Airport to Tianjin yesterday, they were stopped so many times at security checkpoints. There were sighs and groans on the bus. People began to revolt a little, mentioning that they are not pleased with the Olympics. They were calling it “a show, not Olympics.” This was happening on the Beijing-Tianjin highway that is packed with vehicles but was now an almost-vacant road. This, with colorful flags every 5 meters on both sides of the road saying “2008 Beijing Olympics.” It should make the Chinese happy and want to celebrate, but it was doing just the opposite.

Anyway, off my soapbox (for now). Enjoy the pictures I took of some changes I saw in China including some shots of Olympic stadiums.