I dare you to tell them apart anyway.

Jesus. Why are the Chinese lying and cheating when it matters the least? If this is true, its just so stupid - its that hard to find a cute kid from each group?

DamnYankees: its that hard to find a cute kid from each group?

It depends on what you mean by "cute."

/also, +1 for subby. May the win be with you

Hokey lip synching and underage gymnasts are no substitute for a good blaster at your side.

That whole "happy ethnic minority" meme is about as convincing as "TV preachers care about your soul." anyway.

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DamnYankees: Jesus. Why are the Chinese lying and cheating when it matters the least? If this is true, its just so stupid - its that hard to find a cute kid from each group?

Jesus, why do we give a crap?

UDel_Kitty: DamnYankees: Jesus. Why are the Chinese lying and cheating when it matters the least? If this is true, its just so stupid - its that hard to find a cute kid from each group?

Jesus, why do we give a crap?

Have you ever had a boyfriend that lied about things that you didn't think needed to be lied about? Say you ask him where he was and he says he was at his friend's house, but he was actually at the grocery store? And you can't figure out why he would lie about that, since you would have no problem either way?

Chances are he is doing a lot of things he doesn't want you to know about and he forgets when he needs to lie and when he doesn't. So he lies all the time.

It's like that, China just lies all the time because they aren't sure which of the things they are doing is acceptable to the rest of the world.

Oops, I forgot to answer your question:

If China is lying about mundane things such as this, what more horrific things are they doing that they need to disguise?

jaylectricity: Oops, I forgot to answer your question:

If China is lying about mundane things such as this, what more horrific things are they doing that they need to disguise?

The Chinese are so insular they disguise things there's no logical reason to disguise.

One time, I brought my film to the developers, and when I got my pix back, lots of prints were missing. So I went back, and they said that since those prints had no people in them (pix of landscapes, flowers, etc), they threw them away. They assume that if there isn't a person in a pic, the customer won't want to pay for that print.

It really is a society of hiding. Once, when I was in Mongolia, I asked a question about the road quality, and someone offered that the government really doesn't spend any money on the backwoods people anyway, and another person groused that a foreigner ought not be allowed into the backwoods to discover that in the first place.

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The Han ethnic group accounts for more than 90 per cent of China's 1.3 billion people and is the dominant cultural group.

They would definitely shoot first.

jaylectricity: I dare you to tell them apart anyway.

Pretty much this. The only way you can really tell an Chinese ethnic group apart is by the way they dress.

MickeyD:

Pretty much this. The only way you can really tell an Chinese ethnic group apart is by the way they dress.

There really is more to it than that. For example, the Hui men can grow a strong moustache and beard, a feature not shared by the Han. They also have freckles, the occasional reddish hair or two, and are often tall with a long face. It's that drop of Turkish Uighur, you see.

Several Southern tribes corespond directly to Thai, Lao, and Viet minorities such as Hmong, and are accordingly short, dark, flat nose, and so on.

The Manchu resemble the Mongols to a good extent, and the Mongols themselves are often very lean, with pronounced bony facial structure.

You can actually make educated guesses about general region and so forth after being over there for a while.

/They don't all conduct themselves the same either.

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OH NOES!! TEH OPOENING CEERMEONIS WAZ FAKED!

Who the fark cares. Gasp they didn't have a child representing each culture or whatever. It still made the rest of the entire ceremony awesome.

Unless the flying man turns out to be CGI or the Chinese Death Star was faked who cares.

Clearly China didn't want to show the world their Dong.

Chinese communists are being chinese communists. Why is anyone surprised about any of this?

Man, I was all inspired and touched by that ceremony and now it's ruined. Way to pee in my Coke, China!

/me make joke

The parade needed a little of that Hunan touch

Weaver95:
Chinese communists are being chinese communists. Why is anyone surprised about any of this?

Not to put too fine a point on it but Chinese culture is way older, more durable, and more persistent than the relatively naive fad of "communism."

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Submitter, what you did, I see it there.

jaylectricity:Chances are he is doing a lot of things he doesn't want you to know about and he forgets when he needs to lie and when he doesn't. So he lies all the time.

It's like that, China just lies all the time because they aren't sure which of the things they are doing is acceptable to the rest of the world.

Because that's nothing like what happens in American politics. While I don't think McCain calling asians "gooks" is racist (he's entitled to say what he wants), this story clearly is. Judging a foreign country by higher standards than you judge your own country is just plain hypocritical. Focusing on it rather than problems domestically is downright counter-productive. Nobody cares here nor there.

//get off my lawn

DistendedPendulusFrenulum:
Not to put too fine a point on it but Chinese culture is way older, more durable, and more persistent than the relatively naive fad of "communism."

Which the communist party is happily out to destroy. Your point?

DistendedPendulusFrenulum:
Not to put too fine a point on it but Chinese culture is way older, more durable, and more persistent than the relatively naive fad of "communism."

It's a culture that used to be warring tribes, which then evolved into totalitarianism, which it has maintained in one form or another. The result is everyone is paranoid, all the way to the top, fearful of disapproval, which can be fatal.
Hell, at least we elect our tyrants here and don't get punished too badly for criticizing them, long as we're not too loud or uppity.

This is news? My girlfriend and I commented on this when it was aired live. There is no way in hell they were going to put little Uighur kids on tv.

At this point, China should just save themselves the grief and have the closing ceremony be a 40 second Chinese fire drill.

seminole87: Yet 90% of Chinese are happy with the direction of their country when asked at gunpoint or under threat to their life while very few Americans are happy with the direction of their country when asked but not under threat to their life.

There. FIFY.

DamnYankees: Jesus. Why are the Chinese lying and cheating when it matters the least? If this is true, its just so stupid - its that hard to find a cute kid from each group?

No, it's more like the Chinese don't like all the other ethnic groups. They're trying to cleanse them without actually killing them, ie breeding them out of existence.

Some of the minority groups in China more resemble Turks, as their lineage is probably closer to Arabian anyway.

The Chinese have a despicable government and the people are completely clueless about it.

I also really hate how their grad students take all the spots in college math and science classes and can't speak a damn word of English.


Disgusting. I can't believe the Bush administration has sold our country to these people.

seminole87: Yet 90% of Chinese are happy with the direction of their country while very few Americans are happy with the direction of their country.

90% huh? I'd love to see the study to back up that claim.

Remember when we had the winter olympics in Utah a couple years ago? And in the opening ceremonies, they did all this historical reenactment of the Mormons settling Utah?

How many of the actors in that do you think were actually Mormons? If they had prevented non Mormons from pretending to be mormons, you probably would have been offended about that too.

DamnYankees: Jesus. Why are the Chinese lying and cheating when it matters the least? If this is true, its just so stupid - its that hard to find a cute kid from each group?



FTFA: Organizers often limit minority participation to prevent spontaneous outbursts of independence


/GOP approves

Yet 90% of Chinese are happy with the direction of their country while very few Americans are happy with the direction of their country.

I'd love to see the citation on that one. Oh, it's a poll sponsored by and/or supervised by the Chinese government? How about that!

At the '84 Summer Games, I heard that the Puerto Rican was actually just a kid from Tijuana.

Did the Chinese ever actually claim that the children were actual members of each ethnic group? This is what I heard the commentators say opening night:

"And here are 56 children representing China's 56 different ethnic group, each wearing traditional clothing.

This is not news, it's just people who apparently can't remember what they heard.

Carth: seminole87: Yet 90% of Chinese are happy with the direction of their country while very few Americans are happy with the direction of their country.

90% huh? I'd love to see the study to back up that claim.

Ethnic majority magically equals happy, evidently.

Oh, well except when that ethnic majority happens to be the 70% of America that's white...

It does matter, imagine if we had the gall to represent Vancouver as all white people. While keeping the inukshuk logo and dressing up performers in Haida ceremonial garb.

What is so amusing/scary is the way the available spokesperson smilingly offers a counterintuative explanation and everyone just prints it. Every time.

I think they bit off a little more than they can chew.

seminole87:
Yet 90% of Chinese are happy with the direction of their country while very few Americans are happy with the direction of their country.

You can thank Xinhua for that. It's an inside job.

TripleK:

Which the communist party is happily out to destroy. Your point?

Mao is long dead, and Chinese culture, viewed historically, still persists. The Chinese government gave up on changing the culture some decades ago, and has concentrated most of its energy since then trying to maintain a mandate for itself.

Which, if you think about it, is what every past emperor had to do.

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jaylectricity: UDel_Kitty: DamnYankees: Jesus. Why are the Chinese lying and cheating when it matters the least? If this is true, its just so stupid - its that hard to find a cute kid from each group?

Jesus, why do we give a crap?

Have you ever had a boyfriend that lied about things that you didn't think needed to be lied about? Say you ask him where he was and he says he was at his friend's house, but he was actually at the grocery store? And you can't figure out why he would lie about that, since you would have no problem either way?

Chances are he is doing a lot of things he doesn't want you to know about and he forgets when he needs to lie and when he doesn't. So he lies all the time.

It's like that, China just lies all the time because they aren't sure which of the things they are doing is acceptable to the rest of the world.

And China is also farking your sister.

/and they left the damn toilet seat up!
//bastards!!

At least nobody has questioned the age of the Chinese swim team.

I knew something was fishy when the kid from Tibet wasn't moaning and complaining for freedom.

"It is typical for Chinese performers to wear different apparel from different ethnic groups," said Wang Wei, spokesman for the organisers.

"There is nothing special about it. They will wear different apparel to signify people are friendly and happy together."

I don't think the Chinese are being intentionally deceptive here.
I think they're honestly just this clueless.

BiggityBanninated:


I also really hate how their grad students take all the spots in college math and science classes and can't speak a damn word of English.


Why not donate money to the Discovery Institute, then? We can LEAD THE WORLD IN INTELLIGENT DESIGN TECHNOLOGY!BBQ

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How many fourth-grade Thanksgiving reenactments star actual Native Americans? Think of the scandal!

This seems like sour grapes that the Chinese just put on one of the most awesome spectacles in the history of human performance. I don't think we are even capable of that level of discipline and organization. Watching that opening ceremony scared the living shiat out of us so we have to be all "I can see the wires!" to sleep at night.

Expelled from china?
Oh shiat, my mom is going to kill me!

seminole87:


Pew Research Center is an inside job?

Pew Research Center merely asked questions.

What you do not understand is that Xinhua controls all the news and information (including publishing and school textbooks) inside China. It's all controlled, and it's remarkably pernicious if you live there and watch and read this stuff. Remember in the eighties and nineties when the Liberal Bashing Industry was all on the same message, and attitude policing was constrained strictly to the Republican party platform?

Now imagine a country where ALL the media has that kind of message control.

So yes, it's an inside job.

/Knew I had you when you didn't know what Xinhua is

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seminole87: Carth: seminole87: Yet 90% of Chinese are happy with the direction of their country while very few Americans are happy with the direction of their country.

90% huh? I'd love to see the study to back up that claim.

Ask and ye shall receive:

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/07/22/asia/poll.php

It isn't your fault (since the article you linked didn't have the full survey) but the stats are flawed. Here is the full report Link (Pops PDF warning)

The polling was done overwhelmingly in urban areas where the reforms are working best and ignoring the rural areas where discontent is high. The population is still over 60% rural.

Also, the survey was done face to face with a state reporter present. No citizen would give an honest opinion that is going to be reported to the local police.

It's amusing that everybody who's defending china here has to compare it to the US. Yes, the US has problems. So does China, and pointing out China's problems doesn't absolve the US of theirs.

mccallcl: How many fourth-grade Thanksgiving reenactments star actual Native Americans? Think of the scandal!

Taking over someone's country really puts a damper on dinner.

unsurprised Farker is unsurprised.