BEIJING - A knife-wielding Chinese man attacked two relatives of a coach for the U.S. Olympic men’s volleyball team at a tourist site in Beijing, killing one and injuring the other on the first day of the Olympics on Saturday, team officials and state media said. The man then committed suicide by throwing himself from the second story of the site, the 13th century Drum Tower just five miles from the main Olympics site. The brutal attack shortly after midday was all the more shocking because of the rarity of violent crime against foreigners in tightly controlled China, which has ramped up security measures even more for the Olympics. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26104003
When the locals around me were informed of this there was a collective "god damn it" uttered in the room. I've never been shy about my beliefs in China and I've had ups and downs with most of my coworkers, but we've come to a mutual understanding recently. The people I work with now have a good grasp of why the protests happen and why the world responds the way it does to China. These Olympics have been viewed by many as the one little (but important) bubble to show China's openness, modernity, progress, love of the outside world and strength. To have such a sour note so early was a real blow to the esteem of the Chinese people around me, and there was a group sense of desire to give up. One of the most conservative (that is, traditional and government-defending/unwilling to discuss political topics) girls I know, who has undergone great change this year, gave my favourite reaction of the day, though. Her and I chatted about the war between Russia/Georgia and Putin's role in the Kremlin; she asked what the Chinese response had been to the war and I honestly answered I didn't know. I checked and reported back to her that the gov't had asked the Russians to "respect the spirit of the Olympic games" and ceasefire until the games were over. Her response - something I couldn't even imagine her saying 6 months ago - in a tone of complete understanding of the ridiculousness of this whole affair: "it'd be better if they just stopped for good, no?"
I feel more saddened by the people killed in China right now because they were there trying to enjoy themselves but were murdered only because they came to watch, not protest anything. This is a very bad thing that has happened and really puts me into a very unplesent frame of mind about the games now. As for the Russians starting the war right when the Olympics started, that only shows how little they too hold anything with respect and take advantages whenever they want. Putin should be publicly admonished for this, but watch, nothing will be said, as usual.
