China allows Tiananmen music, warns protesters
Monday, 4 August 2008
BEIJING, August 3 (Reuters): Seeking to show openness yet desperate to avoid embarrassment at the Olympics, China allowed a first foreign orchestra performance in Tiananmen Square Sunday but also issued warnings to would-be protesters.
While local Communist leaders want the August 8-24 Games to showcase Chinese modernity and economic progress to the world, critics have used the build-up to put pressure on Beijing over its treatment of dissent, most notably in Tibet.
A youth orchestra of 2,008 international musicians became the first foreign group to play in Tiananmen Square, performing a medley of classical and modern pieces at the Beijing landmark best known to the world for student protests in 1989. "This is a significant message from the Chinese to say that China is now open to the world," one of the participants Max Ronquillo, leader of the Guam Territorial Band, told Reuters. "We are making history today."
With just five days to go before Friday's opening ceremony, Beijing has designated three parks for officially sanctioned demonstrations. But locals or foreigners wanting to use them must apply five days in advance.
And "citizens must not harm national, social and collective interests," Liu Shaowu, security chief of the Beijing Games Organizing Committee, added in a statement.
The Olympics has galvanized global critics of China on an array of issues from treatment of internal dissidents and censorship of the Internet to policies over the Darfur conflict.
A 100,000-strong Chinese security force is on hand to deal with terrorism or anti-government protests during the largest international event Beijing has staged.
The Games have given the world's most populous nation, whom many regard as an emerging superpower likely to rival the United States, an unprecedented opportunity to vaunt its merits.
Second in the medal table at Athens in 2004, Chinese hope their athletes will go one better this time to overtake the US team.
Visitors have been gawping at the main Olympic venue -- a steel-latticed stadium nicknamed the Bird's Nest -- and various other magnificent new buildings in Beijing that are a physical expression of the new China authorities want to show.
Beijing residents, and a visiting army of journalists -- who, at around 30,000, will outnumber athletes three-to-one -- caught a tantalizing glimpse on Saturday night of what is sure to be the most expensive Olympics ceremony in history.
Fireworks cracked into the Beijing skyline as thousands of workers, and a handful of reporters sworn to secrecy, watched a dress rehearsal of the extravaganza.
"A splendid performance at the Olympics opening ceremony is of major importance," said Li Changchun, the senior Communist Party leader in charge of culture and propaganda after watching the ceremony and exhorting performers to do their best.
With two million or so visitors flocking into China for the Games, a carnival atmosphere has started to take shape. Many donned shorts and T-shirts on Sunday in a third day of sunshine and blue skies that have replaced weeks of smog.
Rain and severe anti-pollution measures, such as taking half of Beijing's 3.3 million cars off the road and closing down factories, have helped clear the city's notoriously bad air.
Many health-conscious athletes, however, are waiting until the last minute before coming.
Forecasters said on Sunday there was a 41 percent chance of rain on Friday's opening.
"We exclude continuous heavy rain," the deputy director of Beijing's Meteorological Bureau said. "However we don't exclude that on the 8th of August there might be periodic rain."
August is the peak of China's rainy season, and aircraft are on hand to seed clouds in an attempt to trigger rain before they reach Beijing if Friday's weather prospects turn bad.
Some rights groups have urged athletes to use the opening ceremony, or their competitions, for discreet protests such as flashing a "T" for Tibet with their fingers.
How Chinese authorities would handle such gestures, in front of millions on worldwide TV, remains an intriguing question.
While local Communist leaders want the August 8-24 Games to showcase Chinese modernity and economic progress to the world, critics have used the build-up to put pressure on Beijing over its treatment of dissent, most notably in Tibet.
A youth orchestra of 2,008 international musicians became the first foreign group to play in Tiananmen Square, performing a medley of classical and modern pieces at the Beijing landmark best known to the world for student protests in 1989. "This is a significant message from the Chinese to say that China is now open to the world," one of the participants Max Ronquillo, leader of the Guam Territorial Band, told Reuters. "We are making history today."
With just five days to go before Friday's opening ceremony, Beijing has designated three parks for officially sanctioned demonstrations. But locals or foreigners wanting to use them must apply five days in advance.
And "citizens must not harm national, social and collective interests," Liu Shaowu, security chief of the Beijing Games Organizing Committee, added in a statement.
The Olympics has galvanized global critics of China on an array of issues from treatment of internal dissidents and censorship of the Internet to policies over the Darfur conflict.
A 100,000-strong Chinese security force is on hand to deal with terrorism or anti-government protests during the largest international event Beijing has staged.
The Games have given the world's most populous nation, whom many regard as an emerging superpower likely to rival the United States, an unprecedented opportunity to vaunt its merits.
Second in the medal table at Athens in 2004, Chinese hope their athletes will go one better this time to overtake the US team.
Visitors have been gawping at the main Olympic venue -- a steel-latticed stadium nicknamed the Bird's Nest -- and various other magnificent new buildings in Beijing that are a physical expression of the new China authorities want to show.
Beijing residents, and a visiting army of journalists -- who, at around 30,000, will outnumber athletes three-to-one -- caught a tantalizing glimpse on Saturday night of what is sure to be the most expensive Olympics ceremony in history.
Fireworks cracked into the Beijing skyline as thousands of workers, and a handful of reporters sworn to secrecy, watched a dress rehearsal of the extravaganza.
"A splendid performance at the Olympics opening ceremony is of major importance," said Li Changchun, the senior Communist Party leader in charge of culture and propaganda after watching the ceremony and exhorting performers to do their best.
With two million or so visitors flocking into China for the Games, a carnival atmosphere has started to take shape. Many donned shorts and T-shirts on Sunday in a third day of sunshine and blue skies that have replaced weeks of smog.
Rain and severe anti-pollution measures, such as taking half of Beijing's 3.3 million cars off the road and closing down factories, have helped clear the city's notoriously bad air.
Many health-conscious athletes, however, are waiting until the last minute before coming.
Forecasters said on Sunday there was a 41 percent chance of rain on Friday's opening.
"We exclude continuous heavy rain," the deputy director of Beijing's Meteorological Bureau said. "However we don't exclude that on the 8th of August there might be periodic rain."
August is the peak of China's rainy season, and aircraft are on hand to seed clouds in an attempt to trigger rain before they reach Beijing if Friday's weather prospects turn bad.
Some rights groups have urged athletes to use the opening ceremony, or their competitions, for discreet protests such as flashing a "T" for Tibet with their fingers.
How Chinese authorities would handle such gestures, in front of millions on worldwide TV, remains an intriguing question.