August 19, 2008
Corrupt Culture on Display
James Fallows wrote this the other day:
“Empty seats [at the Olympics]. This truly is amazing. A few marquee events have drawn full houses, like last night’s 100m sprint final. But much of the time, huge swaths of seats have sat empty. This is unfortunate, given how many people, Chinese and foreign, would love to see those events. It’s also strange, given the repeated announcements from Beijing Olympic officials that every single ticket to every single event was snapped up long ago.”
Fallows is new to China, so veterans have quickly explained to him what is going on:
“The reason for [the huge blocks of empty seats] is that a large amount of tickets are given to the bigwigs who organize the events so they can guanxi them out as needed. Since the Olympics had so many different organizing bodies, the central government, the local Beijing government and the Chinese Olympic committee, I’m sure there were vast amounts tickets given to various officials. The reason that these tickets are not used is that by the rules of Chinese guanxi, you don’t refuse a gift, especially not from someone connected enough to get Olympic tickets.”
It’s worth noting that blocks of the best seats in the house are the ones that are always empty — this has been the case at every event that my family and I have attended. Those large gaps in the stands, which look “strange” to a newbie like Fallows, represent the inefficient and corrupt culture that old hands know so well.
August 19th, 2008 at 8:41 am
Maoxian, I don’t think it’s so black and white. There are other factors involved. Those large blocks of empty seats are not just the tickets for bigwig Chinese with guanxi, they are also for foreign sponsors, foreign dignitaries, Olympic committee members from each country and athletes and their family. The other issue involved is the security clearance measures and visa restrictions which are supposed to have taken a toll on foreign numbers. Not to mention the ridiculous amount of scalpers waiting outside every venue that must have cleaned up a fair chunk of tickets now with no one to sell to :)
August 19th, 2008 at 9:39 am
If this is true, it’s good news indeed. I think the people of China are truly good people and I for one am glad these Olympics are putting a bright spotlight on China’s oppresive government and exposing them for what they really are - Totalitarians who deny citizens their basic human rights. Just the other day the Chicoms confiscated 300 Bibles from Missionaries without question. That’s a serious act of oppression and one that is now highlighted for the world to see.
August 19th, 2008 at 9:42 am
Nik: You’re an optimist. :)
August 19th, 2008 at 10:09 am
Clark,
If only Bibles were confiscated in our own country (sigh), we’d be saved from being ruled by Jesus’ foolowers.
August 19th, 2008 at 10:15 am
Clark, I just read the article regarding the bibles being taken off the four american christians in Yunnan province. Thats funny and those people are quite naive, they wanted to distribute 300 bibles printed in Chinese. There is freedom of religion in that the individual can practice whatever they want, but there is restriction on propagating and influencing others to follow your belief system. This won’t rub up well with the Christians since they love converting so much :)
btw maoxian, when guo jingjing emerged from the water I fell in love with her too :)
August 19th, 2008 at 10:28 am
Nik: She has a certain “whatsit” as my old friend Bertie used to say.
Another amusing point to make is that China is the largest printer of Bibles in the world; I’ve visited the plant outside of Nanjing.
August 19th, 2008 at 8:47 pm
cant blame people for not showing up. The Olympics are boring enough on TV, I cant fathom how tedious they must be in person. Why sit in a huge stadium watching someone on a balance beam several hundred yards away when its much better in your living room on TV?
Of course the Olympics are corrupt. Of course the Chinese are corrupt,but they have a long way to go to get the level of the US Congress,the most corrupt institution in the world,no matter who is the majority
August 20th, 2008 at 8:21 am
Imagine the hysteria that would erupt if an American policeman confiscated hundreds of Bibles or Korans. Sure, China produces more Bible than any other country in the world. That’s great. But their use by their own people is sanctioned by the government. The Chinese government prints the Bibles, and the Chinese government distributes them. And Churches are also sanctioned through licensing. Such a license isn’t a privelege for the license holder, although it may seem that way. It is a ban for everyone else. Licensing decreases the amount of freedom in which to worship. It doesn’t increase it. And that’s exactly why the Chinese government does it - To shrink the Church. People need to remember that a McDonald’s and a shopping center do not a democracy make. Freedom of religion is one of the most fundamental and important human rights ranking right up with freedom of expression. Which the Chinese government also denys its people.
August 21st, 2008 at 11:02 am
Shanghai Scrap had an amazing photo of the empty seats at Shanghai Stadium and suggested that in Shanghai the problem is that people just weren’t interested. See the link:
http://shanghaiscrap.com/?p=1249
August 21st, 2008 at 11:53 am
Vinton: Yes, I saw that picture and agree in the case of women’s soccer that nobody is interested. I read that URL as Shagha is crap … I’m not sure if that’s intentional or not. :)