So the Olympics in Beijing are not just a battle between athletes but a battle between systems, huh?

So it's not just shot-putters and crew jocks, bicyclists and divers, sprinters and ping pong paddlers. It's democratic capitalism (US) vs. authoritarian capitalism (THEM).
It's war by any other means, huh?

For those of you who buy into this "struggle of the titans" story line, the muscle-bound American Gladiators vs. the wily Fu Manchu, please, for a moment, take the new-Cold-War bong off your mugs and listen up.

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So I caught some of the Olympics opening ceremony on a Ukrainian website. It was pretty amazing. But I would have liked to have watched the whole thing live and not felt like a hacker while I was doing it. Sorry. NBC wasn't showing it. More important stuff to report. Maybe something on Britney or whatever.

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I think one of the most amazing things about the opening ceremony -- which was pretty incredible -- was how little "fortune cookie" Chinese culture there was. I mean, wasn't it great that there was no dragon/lion dance and no red lanterns? Shen Wei, one of the artistic directors, talks about this in a recent piece worthy of attention.

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So am I the only one who is having trouble figuring out how a nation of 1.3 billion people can't find a little girl who can be adorable and sing well at the same time? I mean why China had to lip-synch "Ode to the Motherland" at the opening ceremony, using cute as a button 9-year-old Lin Miaoke as a front for the voice of still pretty cute Yang Peiyi is truly befuddling.

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From the lip-syncing imbroglio, to reports on tween gymnasts and Han Chinese kids posing as ethnic minorities, to coverage that's focused on human rights, pollution and China's challenge to West, one could argue that Beijing is getting kicked in the teeth on a daily basis by the Western press.

Are we being too tough?

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You have to love what's happening in Taiwan. Yeah, I know the story is in Beijing with the Olympics and all that, but the former President of Taiwan, Chen Shui-bian, has just been banned from leaving the island and the Swiss are investigating a bank account that contains $20 million.

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Chinese authorities at the Olympics announced at the beginning of the affair that they were setting aside specific venues for protesters in a new sign of openness. Protesters were supposed to apply to the police for a permit. None have been granted and several of the applicants have been detained. Ooops.

Now comes this official Chinese report explaining the whole situation.

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Some Chinese friends have asked me to write a post or two in Chinese. So here goes. For those of you who don't read Chinese, it's similar to the Should We Give China a Break? post of two days ago.

总的来说我的评价是这样。在新闻报导方面，包括中国体操队员年龄的问题，北京空气污染，林妙可假唱的事，汉族小孩假扮少数民族小孩上开幕式，票卖完了但是赛场空的奇怪现象等等，我就觉得西方媒体写得蛮客观的。这些事情确实有的。西方媒体包括《华盛顿邮报》，《纽约时报》等媒体据我所了解没有出现什么捏造事实的行为。又不是一天到晚写这些不愉快的事情。

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Here's a smart piece by economist Robert Samuelson which sums up the bedevilling place the United States finds itself when dealing with China.
When will the Chinese government begin to encourage domestic consumption over an export-led model? Only then, will it begin to revalue its rigged Renminbi.

If anyone needs an example of how brittle China's Communist Party leaders think their country is, look no further than the case of Wang Xiuying and Wu Dianyuan. The elderly women, who both walk with canes and have failing eyesight, were sentenced to serve one-year terms in a labor camp after they applied to hold a legal protest in Beijing. And if you think there was no method to this madness, that it's somehow the fault of some random thug in the Ministry of Public Security, I'd caution you to think again.

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It's interesting to see how the Western press is summing up the Olympics. Thomas Boswell, one of the premier sports writers in America, has this to say.

The only thing that I'd add to Boswell's piece is something that he would have no way of knowing: The Chinese Communist Party can focus the attention of its people and its security services for limited periods of time, say the two weeks of the Olympics. But after that China does (and will) return to a certain normalcy. Now, whether that normalcy will be altered or improved by having hosted the Olympics is another question. Time will tell. But I think Boswell's concerns are legitimate ones and eloquently expressed.

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