All day I got BBC hollerin about censorship, human rights and nationalism in one ear and CCTV hollerin about the glory, sacrifice, achievements and bursting pride of the Chinese nation in the other ear.
In the middle, i compile reports. I tell Prof. Han to find the "good news" and Zhu Di the "bad news," then i put it together (compressed like a .zip) and pass it to people who have never stepped foot in China before and want the whole place at their fingertips for the next month.
I have always had the feeling, since day One, that this place has the deepest and most glaring contradictions of any nation I have ever visited. So since day One I have tried to figure out
1) is this in fact the case: is China more contradictory than other places
2) if so why?
I have never really been able to answer question 1 to my satisfaction, so i just skipped it and went to question 2.
(My computer is burning up as I write so i'll make it short and sweet):
Question 2 ends up being answered through a vast collection of observations that in turn substantiate the quest for the answer to question 1. Question one then becomes "the question" for all human society, as each observation on China becomes applicable to every other nation in the world.
Eventually, one gets down to the "molecular" level and puts forth the hypothesis that all humans are contradictory and the Chinese just have had a LONG time to observe this phenomenon, hence the Yin and Yang and all inbetween.
The point being, I cant wait for the Games to start, because I now lay my hopes at the feet of the under-reported stars of the show: the athletes. We all know that sports can bring out the best in us, as mortal enemies hug and cry after a hard fought emotional match ...(was that transition short and sweet or what)
i hear cool rain outside my window and smell it too ...
i will leave you with a picture of Macamaya .. one of the flyest women on the planet, doin her thang in Japan ... go on girl!
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