Beijing fails to boogey

The Opening Ceremony looked pretty good last night from what I saw on TV, but in Beijing the atmosphere had all the liveliness of a sloth and a tortoise beating each other to death. After a BBQ lunch a group of us went to Chao Yang Park to watch the Opening Ceremony live. Upon arriving at 6pm or so, there was only a small crowd, loads of volunteers with nothing to do, and a huge screen, that was not on. We were then informed it would not be on at all.

So we went to Ritan Park. Same thing. My flatmate went to Wangfujing, near Tiananmen Square, where he said there were a number of big screens, but only one or two on. And those that were on did not have any sound.

The Opening Ceremony is the biggest party in the world. If the government here couldn't loosen up a little for that, what are they going to loosen up for?