After 8 long years of preparation and 30 years of economic reform and opening up, China will begin its coming out party tonight with a Zhang Yimou directed extravaganza of an opening ceremony. Some preliminary events have already started. Word out of Beijing this morning on the air quality is not good, to say the least. The official air pollution index, however, refuses to inch past 100, which is slightly suspect. This is really a shame, as I was hoping for nice clear skies for the opening ceremony, but I don't think it will cut down on the majesty of the event itself. Too bad we can't transport Shanghai's weather to Beijing for one day, as the sky is blue, and the humidity is mercifully low. I for one, will be watching the ceremony at a party thrown on the rooftop of a friend of mine. After all this time and build up, it's still hard to believe that the games are actually here.
For the past few weeks, the security presence in the city has noticeably increased. This has been especially so in areas such as the subway stations, landmark buildings, and sporting venues. Today in the Century Avenue subway station, in addition to the security guard wanding bags for metal objects that has been present the past two weeks, there were also police officers with sniffer dogs (friendly black labs by the way). I also saw a group of volunteer security guards, ostensibly local residents, sporting red armbands, ala present-day parking attendants and the red guards of yesteryear. I'd heard of a similar 'posse' in Beijing, but didn't know they were organizing these guys as lookouts in Shanghai as well. I guess the more the merrier when it comes to safety though.
I seem to once again be able to easily post new photos, so there are some new ones from the last few months here.
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