When all hope seems dashed… Olympic Torch Relay

Everyone knows the tradition of the Olympic torch passing through many
cities on the way to its final destination and beginning of the games.
Today my friends and I had the chance to go see it in.

Knowing that big crowds are anything but rare in urban China and how
excited everyone is about the Olympics, I was prepared to not get the
best seat in the house (I mean “by the street”) this morning when I
only left an hour before the torch was supposed to pass by. But after
walking outside my house and turning I saw the 2nd of 3 barricades
where officers of the law would not allow anyone to pass. Even at this
point we were 100+ meters from the road where the torch would be
carried.

We soon learned that the only people they allowed through were those
that arrived before 6 AM (although most arrived by 4 AM) and had an
official company registered team or volunteer status. Having arrived
well after 6 AM and with none of these credentials, even the most
flowery Chinese language and jokes I could come up with wouldn’t
budge those in charge.

After about an hour and failing to get through 3 different barricades,
we despairingly headed back for our apartment. Then, just as we were to
enter our apartment’s gate we noticed a stream of people running
through the 2nd barricade towards the torch route! We joined hundreds
of others in this mass movement of people as we hurried through the
barricade and dipped under a couple more pieces of caution tape before
reaching the street. We were delighted to have gotten so close to the
street and soon looked anxiously for the arriving motorcade.

As we were waiting for the torch, I was personally disappointed that
despite the hoards of people with flags, headbands, and Olympics
regalia galore, there wasn’t any kind of cheering. Bound to fix the
problem, I leaned over to my friend and asked if he thought I should
begin a cheer. As I weighed my options: the amount of staring and
humiliation I might bring upon myself if the cheering failed, I quickly
realized: “I already stand out like crazy in this mass of people and
I frankly don’t care what these people think about me.” I then
quickly proceeded to let out my loudest “Zhong Guo…JIa You”
(literally “China, Add Oil”). Within a matter of about 20 seconds I
had a huge group of Chinese around me echoing my cry of “Zhong Guo”
and a lot of entertained fans!

In a few minutes time, the torch came and went and that was it. A great
experience of cheering on the home country in preparation for the
Olympics in just 6 days!

For specifics on the torch relay se: http://torchrelay.beijing2008.cn/en/