What Happens When a New Building meets New Year

An investigation is underway, but early reports say that fireworks/firecracker activity in celebration of the Chinese New Year near the new Television Cultural Center (TVCC) in Beijing, China may have caused the building to be engulfed in flames. A Daily Dose of Architecture covers it with local video here, and what the building looked like afterwards is provided here.

Published Post Number (PPN):104/110

Next Stop: London

With the closing of the 29th Summer Olympiad in Beijing, some tidying up is in order.

Cost of the Olympics and the running up to it (new airport, infrastructure, venues, training): $43 Billion

Number of gold medals China won: leading with 51

Number of medals the top 2 countries won: U.S. with 110, China with 100 (short of their so-called "Project 119" to get 119 medals this year

London Mayor Boris Johnson's attempt at putting his hands into his pockets when on stage awaiting to receive the Olympic flag; his unbuttoned jacket; his lackluster whirl of the flag: Disrespectfully lazy?

The part of the Closing Ceremony involving London: so-so (Leona Lewis could have sang a little better, and some better symbolism at play)

Extinguishing of the torch: not as impressive, but probably meant this way

Olympics as a whole: Pretty good (I was going to say "priceless," but then Mastercard would have hounded me.

Rain Free Opening in Beijing

To prevent rain from disappointing the Opening Ceremonies in Beijing on August 8th, Beijing used cloud seeding to artificially precipitate in the outskirts before a rain band could move in. Officials from the Beijing Weather Modification Office fired over 1100 silver-iodide rockets, and are ready to fire more if smog envelops the Olympics venues during the 2 weeks of events.

>>>Treehugger.com: For Opening Ceremony, Beijing Told Rain to go Away
>>>The Independent: How Beijing used rockets to keep opening ceremony dry

And the Olympics Begin!

Awe-Inspiring. One of numerous words that can describe the Opening Ceremony of the 29th Olympiad in Beijing, China. The numerous cultural, historical, and technological aspects of the show made it into a feast for the eyes and ears as performer after performer performed flawlessly and with great grace and elegance. The show, which involved 22,000 people, none of whom were repeated, cost millions of dollars. Right from the start, it was moving when 2008 drummers made a spectacular light show.

Then came the human painting on top of a gigantic LED screen.

Flowing printing press blocks that were later revealed to be operated by humans (although I think that was to create the illusion.)* Everything just seemed to be well orchestrated and well thought of. The torch lighting at the end was even more amazing: a former Chinese Olympian, Li Ning, suspended next to the walls "membrane" surrounding the top of the spectacular Birds Nest Stadium, running the length of it.

It was well worth my 4 hours and would definitely pay to get a copy of it (uninterrupted of course) and watch all the symbolism, parading, and fireworks again.

Photo Sources: Los Angeles Times,Telegraph.co.uk

* After reviewing a picture found in a Chinese magazine which showed the workers underneath the boxes during movement, I withdraw my doubt.

Olympic Torch Protests

Both London's and Paris' Olympic torch relay routes were marred by protesters who almost got a grip of the torch. In France, the torch had to be extinguished a few times to prevent injury. In San Francisco, however, there were barricades, and police motorcycles on both sides of the torchbearer, dozens of uniformed officers walking along parallel, facing the left and right sides of the route, and unmarked sedans leading and following the procession. Why did London' and Paris' relays seem more violent? Because the government did not order such an intense police presence. They wanted their people to show their disgust of China, and show it to the rest of the world that the government dislikes her too. The US, on the other hand, cannot risk something like that. The US wants to have a friendly relationship with China. There is, of course, another reason why the relay in San Francisco, the only stop in North America, was so peaceful. Residents are just not as active in world politics and current issues as their counterparts in the UK and France. Remember a few protests in France a few years ago against the Iraq war, or any protest in France? They care about their role in the world. We should (have) too.