[princess leah]

Communism - “don’t believe the hype” (phrase used on a Raymond episode)

[BigBobber]

They calculate that the total costs may exceed £30 billion, more than the Chinese government will spend this year on education or public health or relief for the Sichuan earthquake. These are questions that would make any ruler nervous.

This is going to hurt their economy for quite a while.

[JimSEA]

Blocks of tickets went to government departments, Communist party officials or state-owned companies, which have quietly obeyed orders not to hand them out. “People are so angry because they slept all night outside ticket booths and got nothing and now they see this,” said one blogger, Jian Yu.

Communist China projects an image of nationalist unity which cannot be validated. Underground Christians, Falun Gong, invisible minorities whose costumes were worn by "loyal" children, democracy advocates, and Islamists are all tearing at the fabric of unity. Other than the Islamists and some fanatic Maoists, most would be "friendly" to the West. All are viciously and successfully oppressed.

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

Made in China Restricted Ticket Sales Crowd Control PING!

[bvw]

Happy 8/8/8, China!

FWIW you should know that 1777 was a very hard hard year for the fledgling US of A. And yet '7' is as lucky to us as '8' is for you. And we were very superstitious in those years -- much less so now. Some years are learning experiences.

[SunkenCiv]

from the 18th.