RBKWP is right.
In the time I spent there I found the CHinese to be among the most optimistic people on earth.
You see people in their 20s and 30s all the time with ridges in their teeth.
This tells you that when they were 4 years old, they were starving.
I WATCHED as a sleepy little factory town went from mopeds and 3 wheeled delivery carts, to having the single highest per capita car ownership in China... in just 5 years.
The stores used to all be construction supplies and fixtures... the stuff you need to build factories... Today, the street level stores are all consumer goods and services, from restaurants to DVDs and electronics... cosmetics and clothing.
China still has a lot of poor... but they already have 100 million middle class consumers... close to matching the US.
The government of China is trying it best to MANAGE the country's shift away from collectivism and toward capitalism.. WITHOUT such huge mistakes as profit oriented healthcare.
But its a big task. And they have to do it in a way that does not result in cultural chaos.
Listen mate, when I was a child I used to visit my maternal grandparents in Ireland, they lived (like much of Ireland) in abject poverty, the diet was eggs, lard, cabbage and potatoes....bacon if you could get it and black pudding. Now Ireland is a whole lot wealthier....so what?
The opening ceremony I am sure was SPECTACULAR, and within the next 20 years I am sure that another opening ceremony will be written about in such lustful regard.
In the meantime however, what about the Chinese Governments blatant disregard for it's own people in its drive to create this spectacle that will create wonder and awe? While you are all 'oooohing' and 'aaaahing', RIGHT now there are HUNDREDS of thousands of people left destitute, homeless, beaten by developers and governmental thugs, or locked up in jail for complaining. Also, some have gone missing. Don't believe me, watch
THIS.
OVER 1.5 MILLION Chinese people have been evicted, often by brute force, to make way for the Chinese Olympics.
Not some bandwagon that I have pointedly jumped on either, but in all actuality, a fact I have known about for some years. After reading 'Seven Years in Tibet' as a teenager, I've always felt anger and reproachment at the Chinese Government and watch them with a suspicious eye.
Also, yes actually, they do use slave labour in China, much of the official olympic merchandise on offer were made by children, working long hours for a menial wage. In this day and age, that to me is slave labour. And the Chinese Government are very canny....if found out, they will report the finding of the child labour factory in the (state controlled) press, and say that officials are investigating. In the meantime, the labour goes on. But the World thinks...'ok, something is being done'.
All of you who
choose to enjoy the Olympics,
you should do....after all thousands of innocent people were forced out of their homes and livelihoods, with little or no recompense, destitute, in jail for protesting...after all, nothing untoward must be seen on China's tightly controlled streets.
These are
PEOPLE WITH SOULS,
HUMAN BEINGS, not just stories, or pixels on a screen.
Keep those blinkers on, while you watch the games on your huge plasma screen in your cosy home, with your Grandparents, parnts, spouses, your children...all that you hold dear, privileged and safe.
Again, watch THIS... (
if you dare).
WOW, just look at that amazing Olympic Torch.
BULLSHIT.
BULLSHIT.
BULLSHIT.
If we truly live in a World where our people, our
kind, can so easily turn a blind eye to the wrongs done by the
corrupt powers that be to others, then lets face it, we are
FUCKED.
It's fucking shameful. And utter
shame on those who wilfully wear those blinkers.
Shame on
you.
It was truly an awesome opening event. 
