We have two friends about to leave for China to work on the Olympic TV broadcasts. Both are quite excited as neither has been there before. We've all been reading around the web and referring one another to pertinent posts. In poking around, I came across an article titled Beijing's Olympic Makeover written by William Langewiesche for Vanity Fair back in April.
Langewiesche is talented and graceful. Amazon suggests he's written six books and I have read and enjoyed three. But his Vanity Fair article is petty, sarcastic and, well, mean.
From the very start he means not to like China.
First he levels on the Chinese civil airline industry, with side shots at passengers and Chinese drivers.
The last few times we've flown in China have been on sparkling new airplanes. Compare and contrast with the U.S.
Langewische doesn't like Air China or the new Beijing airport terminal, which gets a slam bang review in Vanity Fair's current issue (in the article From Mao to Wow!)
Langewiesche points out that Air China carried the Olympic torch, then tattles that the torch relay "was first cooked up by Nazi propagandists." As if every other Olympics hasn't had its own torch relay.
Ten years ago Langewiesche wrote a truly remarkable account of his trek - on camel and on foot - across the Sahara called Sahara Unveiled. I'm saying, he walked and rode a camel all the way across the desert.
But in his Vanity Fair article he "slogged" all he way across Beijing for a meeting - and he was none too happy about it. He called doing so "usually a daunting prospect in Beijing."
He dismisses Beijing's arts scene and "unofficial counterculture" as "nonsense."
He writes that "a culture of self-centeredness is often on display."
The same guy who crossed the desert decided in Beijing that "crawling out of bed for a flag-raising ceremony is something I simply will not do." Self-centeredness on display?
A person is entitled not to like a city. I didn't much like Shanghai. Maybe Beijing caught Langewiesche on a bad week.
Beijing does operate as the capital of a totalitarian regime and there are obvious things not to like about that. They're thrashed out in a vast body of books, journals and blogs. And you don't have to be mean.
The tone of Beijing's Olympic Makeover is just so out of character. That's the thing.
(We've previously posted about the Beijing Olympics here, here, here, here, and here.)
Comments