Olympics

Because of my job, I can see the newest soundbites of the most talented athletes and of the potential Olympic gold winners in various fields. China's “gold fever” has become so overwhelmed that people in U.S. are also caring about the number of golds they can get. While athletes are vying for the gold medals, the sports sponsors are engaging another war under the table.

For example, in the track and field, people are all talking about the three potential winners of the 100m and 200m races: Tyson Gay, Usain Bolt, and Asafa Powell. PUMA sponsors Usain Bolt; Adidas, Tyson Gay; and Nike, Asafa Powell. Any one of them who gets gold would boost his sponsor's sales and brand name, and this champion can get almost everything he wants—money, fame, power, women, etc. None of these guys would settle for a silver, not to mention a bronze. The spotlight is only focus on the winner. Others will only fade away…

Good luck, Liu Xiang.

Forbidden Cliche

This is a great, funny article written by Kaiser Kuo making of foreign journalists in Beijing. Let me extract two paragraphs:

No writing “There is an ancient Chinese curse that says, “May you live in interesting times.’” There isn’t such a curse. No writing “the Chinese word for crisis includes the character for opportunity and the character for danger.” That it may be true doesn’t reduce my aggravation each time I see it in print. In fact, just to be safe, avoid anything involving “an ancient Chinese saying.” This will save you, anyhow, from having to Google for choice quotes from Sun Tzu or Confucius’s Analects.

While we’re on puns, some common ones to avoid include pander/panda and the always irksome Peking/peeking. And no using “your average Zhou” or “Zhou Sixpack.” There will be absolutely no punning on the interrogatives “who” or “when” and the family names of the Chinese president and premier, respectively. I know you’re thinking, “Hu knows Wen I’ll get another chance like this?” and I feel for you, but just resist it, okay?