Wednesday, August 08, 2007

Fun And Games In Tiananmen Square

Proof, if any were needed, that the Chinese sense of humour is no laughing matter. As Bryan has pointed out, totalitarian regimes and the Olympics are a perfect fit. (Memo to self: Leave London before 2012.)

2 comments:

  1. Reminds me of that well-known Chinese expression and curse: May you live in amusing times.

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  2. Not as well-known as the interesting times one, admittedly, for the simple reasaon that an equivalent of the word amusing doesn't actually exist in the Chinese language and, moreover, their concept of irony was exported to the US in the late 19th century. Apparently. Therefore, it's origin is unknown but is believed to date from around the time of the Cultural Revolution (the earlier one, that is, not that 20th century farce).

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