Month: August 2007

11 August 07: with tennis champion Michael Chang

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

[updated 18 August, see down below)
Under a bright and blue sky (yep, happens sometimes) I had the pleasure to join the famous star Michael Chang for the opening ceremony of the “2007 Beijing International Tennis Festival”, in Chaoyang Park.
The event is organized by the Beijing Sports Bureau, Beijing Sports Federation, Beijing Tennis Association, Beijing International Sports Exchange Center, Beijing Veteran Tennis Association and also the “Beijing Association for Promoting International Sports Exchanges” (of which I am the honorary director of the board).

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hip dancers – folkloric dances – Michael arriving

The competition is open for all interested players aged 18-50. Registration is at the following website (Chinese only….): www.united-mission.com
Finals will be on 22 and 23 September 07.

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speech by Michael – demo tennis – Michael invites a kid

I had distributed many tickets during the recent Amcham event (“countdown”), not sure if people turned up, well, too bad if they missed the star. There were some real cool girls dancing – I took some good movie and pictures.
For more and better quality pictures of the event, open this link: http://homepage.mac.com/bjprc/PhotoAlbum3.html
To see a short movie, click the following link (sorry, I am still learning how to do this and have better quality… maybe I need to buy iMovie PRO version…): http://homepage.mac.com/bjprc/iMovieTheater4.html
And yes, this is being added on 18 August: the full quality clip is online:
http://homepage.mac.com/bjprc/iMovieTheater5.html
Let me know how it turns out for you… The clip was made with the basic version of iMovie.

8 August 07 – Amcham Olympic countdown

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

In the evening of 8 August the American Chamber organized a party for the Olympic countdown in the Crowne Plaza Park View Wuzhou Beijing.

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The large crowd was able to follow the countdown on a big screen. There was a raffle to give away Olympic souvenirs as well as promotional stays in Las Vegas. As usual, Gilbert was out of luck… but anyway was the only participant in a genuine 2008 Olympic shirt anyway!
Worse, I walked away with some of the Olympic posters and … forgot them in the taxi 🙁
I guess I had too much of the Pinot Noir distributed by ASC…

9 August 2007 – Olympic fatigue?

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Previous postings have been modified “by request”.
So one year minus one day to go for the 2008 Olympics.
For me, Olympic fatigue.
I was lambasted for airing my “criticizing views on the preparation” on my blog. I thought I was neutral, certainly overall more positive than other (foreign) observers and experts. Also trying to convince local authorities to change their attitude in the interest of Beijing and China.
Well, seems Chinese don’t read well and don’t grasp the nuances of the English language; locals see some words in my blog and get unhappy.
In the past days I have been bugged by many journalists. Some come with tricky questions that I will not even print here. I try my best to defend Beijing and answer in a balanced way. Seems a rather futile exercise in trying to play the substitute PR agency of Beijing.
Then, journalists misquote me, like in part the SCMP.
More, what does it all bring to me? Headaches. Misunderstandings.
So, if one is looking for “insight” in the preparation here in this blog, sorry. Wrong address. Please read China Daily, look up BOCOG’s website (apparently efficient and impressive according to a “survey”) and watch CCTV and BTV.
Yes, we are all fully confident the 2008 Games will be the best ever in history and everybody will be in full admiration. If the IOC is happy, so be it.
Anybody who is still interested in my insights, I do discuss them – for a fee.
As for the journalists, well, the press and media centers, gracefully set up by the Beijing Government, will fully attend to your needs.
And I will be busy preparing for the next marathon and trying to finally improve my Chinese.

Preparing Beijing for 2008: part 2

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

(edited 9 August)
Beijing is preparing for 2008. The rumor mill and the stories of the people who have received “notices” provide some interesting gossip.
When the US athletic delegation was in town a few weeks ago they were assured of a “clean Olympics”. Indeed, “All factories will be closed for 3 months”. I am not really sure if the journalist (Stephen Wade – ASSOCIATED PRESS) got that right:
“They’ve have told us the factories will be closed for three months in 2008 and that they will have a directive to encourage residents to stay off the roads with their cars”.
A lawyer with office in Jianwei SOHO apparently received a notice they will not be allowed to operate during 3 weeks at least. So, holidays for the staff. Just wondering if that will apply to all offices.
The entertainment sector? Curious what will remain open to the public in the now famous “Gongti Strip”. Also, some venues such as bars and restaurants might be taken over for big bucks by companies who will set up their hospitality center.
So, hopefully one will be able to have a good time after watching the Games, like in Sydney where visitors were very happy and had a good time.
Well, let’s hope the city will not be too much sanitized.

Preparing Beijing for 2008: part 1

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

(edited 9 August)
Dongcheng District has informed the owners of the buildings on Gongti Bei Lu, in front of the Workers Indoor Gymnasium (where boxing events will take place) that all their façades will be changed and standardized. All in grey (the official color of Beijing), new windows, new doors, publicity panels changed etc.
The street has a wide range of restaurants.

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the buildings on 2 August when workers started working on the façades

The president of the IOC, Dr. Jacques Rogge as well as his son (leader of the Belgian Olympic Team), are all well known customers of the famous restaurant Morel’s might have a problem trying to locate their favorite café.