The auspicious date (I suggest to move it to 13 August) keeps Matthew Crabbe (Access Asia Weekly) very busy. He is another sarcastic fellow writing caustic newsletters. He discovered the worldwide enthusiasm of clueless journalists to talk about a party. Not THE Party (CP, remember?) of course. Follows well less than 50% of his findings:
Access Asia Weekly, Matthew Crabbe wrote:
As ‘coming out party’ is the cliché of 2008, we’ll be tackling those lazy members of the China hack pack who resort to using it. The rules are that using the phrase ironically or to criticise those who do use it doesn’t count – we’re just looking for the lazy, stupid and thick who cut and paste the cliché.
First up is a classic from The Economist. In their annual publication ‘The World in…’, Simon Long, their Asia Editor, made the point that ‘coming out party’ was a cliché on page 13. Then, on page 110, we are told that the main event in Asia in 2008 will be ‘China’s coming out party’!!!
• ‘NBC: 2008 Summer Olympics Coming Out Party For HD’ – Phillip Swann, TVPredictions.com
• ‘Organizers of the Beijing Olympics have left nothing to chance for China’s coming-out party this year’ – Reuters
• ‘Much of the pre-Olympics preparation involves convincing the Chinese that the CBC aims at fair coverage of the Games, widely seen as a coming-out party for the Asian juggernaut’ – Pip Bulbeck and Scott Roxborough, Reuters
• ‘The Olympics will be the coming-out party for a resurgent China’ – Patrick Collinson, Guardian
• ‘The Beijing 2008 Olympics (August 8-24) will be the biggest international coming-out party that China has ever seen’ – Screen Daily
• ‘The 2008 Olympics will serve as China’s official coming out party’ – Newsweek Special Edition
• ‘China plans to use the August 8-24 Olympics as its coming out party’ – AFP
• ‘China is treating its Olympics as a gala coming-out party for the nation’ – Canada.com
• ‘This year’s Beijing Olympics, widely seen as a coming-out party’ – New Zealand Herald
• “In many ways the games are China’s coming out party to the world,” said a rep for Olympic sponsor Bank of America.” – Adweek
• “Since much of the world sees the Beijing Olympics as China’s coming-out party, Chinese quality control officials have to assure that the party enjoys safe food.” – People’s Daily
• “With organisers leaving nothing to chance for China’s coming-out party this year ahead of the opening ceremony on August 8.” – China Economic Net
• “…next summer for China’s coming-out party. The Olympic symbol and theme “One World, One Dream” is omnipresent.” – History News Network
• “The Chinese government sees the Beijing 2008 Olympics as China’s coming out party” – Internet News.com
• “The Olympics is billed as the international coming-out party of the world’s most populous country and its dynamic economy” – Philippines Inquirer
• “Opera and fireworks to open Beijing’s coming-out party” – AFP
• “Organizers of the Beijing Olympics have left nothing to chance for China’s coming-out party” – Washington Post
• ‘Still, China is treating its Olympics as a gala coming-out party for the nation.’ – Canada.com
• ‘Around $40 billion are being pumped into new roads, railways, an airport terminal and other projects to upgrade the city and present a modern image of Beijing to the world for the Games, viewed as modern China’s coming out party.’ – Moscow News
• ‘The 2008 Olympic Games are often described as China’s coming-out party, but to many it’s more of a comeback, albeit one that has taken nearly 1,300 years’ – New Statesman
• ‘The Chinese sporting community is pointing to the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing as a coming-out party for the nation’s athletic prowess.’ CNN.com
• ‘Beijing has pulled out all the stops in preparing for what it views as a major coming-out party, spending billions of dollars on venues, new subway lines’ – Guardian
• ‘The Beijing Olympics this summer were supposed to be China’s coming-out party…’ New York Times;
• ‘… last year and he described the Beijing Olympics as China’s coming out party…’ People’s Daily;
• ‘China’s $10-B coming-out party this August’ – Belinda Olivares-Cunanan, Philippine Daily Inquirer;
• ‘The 2008 Summer Olympics is going to be China’s coming out party…’ – PC World;
• ‘It will be a coming out party of mammoth proportions for China, with Beijing debuting as the belle of the ball.’ – The Hindu (extra marks for the bell of the ball reference);
• ‘China’s coming out party’ – Mary Hennock, BBC News.
• ‘The decision by the Oscar-winning director comes at an awkward time for China, which is hoping the Olympics will serve as its coming-out party on the world…’ – BusinessWeek (‘coming out on the world’ sounds a bit messy!)
• ‘But whether Beijing’s big coming-out party will be spoiled by the city’s notoriously foul air is still a question.’ – BusinessWeek (again and in the same issue! Oh dear)
• ‘…the Summer Games as China’s coming-out party.’ – Rick Maese, Baltimore Sun
Now that’s enough. Matthew can fill a book with it.