China café

Sport in China, as the Beijing Olympics demonstrated, is a state enterprise. It’s all about national glory. There’s little room for amateurism and grassroots development is deemed unnecessary. So it’s been a pleasant surprise to discover a thriving amateur competitive cycling scene. When I was a student, I worked as a bike courier in London. Last year I bought a decent road bike and took up cycling again. I even competed in a few races before winter. I’m already in training for the coming season, making long rides through the hills while pondering why cycling bucks the trend of sport in China. To begin with, all Chinese learn to ride a bike at an early age from necessity, since there is usually no other way to get around. And bicycles are cheap—a young white-collar worker can afford a good one, while Mr Zhou Nouveau can buy a better vehicle as a status symbol. Finally, and probably most importantly, there are major Chinese bicycle companies. Giant, for example, is developing the sport and holds China’s biggest amateur race, Giant’s Thousand Island. It was oversubscribed last year, with 250 riders in the elite category alone. But despite rules against professionals entering races, the same faces appear on the podiums and collect significant prize money. Some of them are meant to be students, but I doubt they are working as couriers on the side. A few weeks ago I came across a bunch of kids who had taken over a hotel. The parking area was littered with bikes and dumbbells. It was a state-sponsored training camp for “amateur” cyclists. Opting out of exams School has started again after the long new year holiday. The second and final term of the academic year runs straight through to late June, when it ends with intense exams for all students, at all levels. Please don’t tell her, but our seven-year-old daughter Isabel won’t be taking them. We are planning a family trip in June, so I asked the headmaster if we could take Isabel out of school a few days early, missing the exams. I made my request with exaggerated timidity, as you do in a headmaster’s study. The reply surprised me. “I know you foreigners see exams differently,” the headmaster said. “You don’t think annual exams are necessary, just the important ones. You know why we have them though?” I shook my head. “For the teachers. It’s how we assess them,” he explained. “The exams are also for the parents, so they can be sure they’re getting their money’s worth. Now if you don’t mind her missing them that’s fine, but she must be removed from the teacher’s assessment too.” I agreed on the spot. Now I’m worried that Isabel will be ignored by her teachers and fall behind. She’ll have to learn by osmosis. Which, on second thoughts, served me well enough. Moganshan's world expo As you may know, the 2010 World Expo will be held in Shanghai from May. Recently, I was in the Moganshan administration bureau travel office and noticed a metal signboard leaning against the wall. Above an image of the mountain in a swirling sea of mist were the words in English: “The Model Unit for the Tour of Theme of Expo 2010 in the Yangtze River Delta.” Moganshan is 100 miles west of Shanghai, but we are to be included in the great Expo. I wonder how much that cost. Forgive the cynicism, but I have some experience in these matters. I copy-edited and helped design some of the first bidding materials that the mayor of Shanghai took to the Expo committee in Paris in 1999. My guess is that the Moganshan travel company was told it was in the running to be an Expo Model Unit. Benefits include a listing in Expo publications produced by the news office (which has exclusive rights to publicity, so don’t worry about any competing publications or media) and a share in a small booth at the back of the main pavilion somewhere near the fire exit. Oh, and one fine metal signboard in Chinglish for display outside your office for posterity. And all for a small fee, discounted by half to show how much we want you to be part of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Yet this, or indeed any sales spiel, would have been redundant, because the travel company will have been ordered by someone higher up the chain, with certain vested interests and favours to return, to be a good little Model Unit and sign up. That’s just a guess, mind you.