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Beijing
Blues skies 2008Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn on Tuesday, January 1, 2008 at 11:49 PM
 The photograph above of the Great Wall was taken today, January 1, 2008. It shows a chunk of the Wall in Hebei; just over the Wall is Beijing. The sky is very blue. Today's air pollution index or API for Beijing is 32, according to the State Environmental Protection Agency. The API number of 32 qualifies the air quality as "good" according to this U.S. government agency. And apparently, blues skies on December 31, 2007 meant that Beijing met its "blue sky days" target for 2007. Whoopee. So everything is looking rosy for this year, 2008, year of the Olympic Games, Year of the Rat. But lest the blues skies as photographed above fill you with too much optimism, let's take a look at this neon slogan displayed above Beijing's famous and infamous Silk Street market, purveyors of real and fake dodgy clothing and handbags etc.and for decades. The photo, snapped a few days ago, shows a Silk Market neon slogan that is a borderline intellectual property infringement of the 2008 Olympic Games slogan, and also a rather sad illustration of one of the only truly universal values of our globalized world:  |
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Comments on Blues skies 2008
Isn't it our shared dream that the world will finally become a "shopping paradise", and we v all got plenty of money to spend? You get what you want, sounds almost like communism comes true. The only drawback maybe is that to build such a paradise, we first have to pollute the air to produce enough goods.
I passed through Beijing on the 31st and was shocked by the clear skies and breathable air. Just ten days before, Beijing's air caused coughing and throat congestion as soon as I stepped off the plane into the airport. I guess the solution to the air pollution is giant wind machines.
It's actually my dream that the world will become a giant hot tub filled with cheerleaders*. Although now that I put that fantasy down in words it seems disappointingly nasty. Some things are better left in the head, I suppose.
I think it's charming optimism that the New Silk Market, a sweaty and obnoxious grind at the best of times, can claim the mantle of "shopping paradise". It's slogan ought to be, "One world, one day at the mall that will feel like being whipped with bicycle chains."
*The catchall American icon of pubescent sexuality.
Marx himself always thought it would be globalising capitalism that destroyed the nation state, and then communism could arise after its inevitable collapse, didn't he? Old boy still bang on target I reckon. Keep the faith, comrades.
why change the caption on the picture?
Didn't it say Great Wall - barbarian or something?
The Beijing barbarians are on the other side, no doubt. Polluting and consuming like the barbarians they are. Time for a new revolution/invasion! You know what, we need to get those stupid peasants to rise up and do the dirty work; kill the fat guys with the S500s, heck, kill the people with Audi's.
Burn let it burn! Show us what you are made of Chinese nongmins (preferbly live on t.v during the Olympics). Rebellion 2.0 FTW!
Arlight: We did not change the caption, we replaced the image file with a clearer version that had a different name. The old file's name was 'wall_barbarian_side'.
I know, I'm NOT attacking you guys.