August 06, 2008
News post
The Daily Telegraph
BEIJING — Tall yellow signs have been erected at the turnstiles of all Olympic venues, looming over spectators as they queue to take their seats, and giving an exhaustive nine-point list of “do’s and don’ts”. The 4.6-metre-high yellow signs cite rules that range from the usual bans on smoking and gambling to more peculiar bans on the opening of umbrellas, or bans on standing up in your seat.
On the ever-sensitive subjective of political protests, visitors are warned in no uncertain terms that protests on any subject — be it about politics, environmental issues or animal rights — will not be tolerated.
At the Bird’s Nest stadium on Monday, foreign visitor Frank Lejeune said: “The signage does feel a little bit aggressive and in-your-face.”
Among the more perplexing banners exhibited elsewhere is one that reads: “Go outside less — give our foreign friends some space.”
The banners are all part of a clean-up of the city. Beggars, dissidents, the mentally ill and hundreds of thousands of poor migrant workers have also been removed from the streets of the city.
>> Preposterous. I would be so ashamed of belonging to a city that seems so ashamed of me.
Posted by 杏 cy （Jancy） at 10:26