Beijing in little Canberra

Olympic torche relay - Beijing visits Canberra



it's 5.45 am Thursday 30th April and I've just arrived by bicycle at Reconcilliation Place on the foreshore of Lake Burely Griffin, Canberra. Why? I ask myself the same question - normally I'm not interested in the Olympic Torch relay, but by some strange alignment of the stars, I enrolled in a drumming course, and as a result have landed a place in the gamalan orchestra which is to perform as part of the proceedings for the Torch Relay. Our show time is sunrise, and the idea is that myself, along with about 10 other people, play the beautiful lilting gamelan instruments from Indonesia as the sun rises and hot air baloons fill with air and eventually take to the sky. The Olympic Torch relay however has been plagued with controversy in its travels, towards Bei Jing, owing to clashes between Tibet based human rights activists and Chinese authorities/supporters. And, despite the peaceful ness of the scene I had described above, today was no different. As a local Canberran, I have to say the display of nationalism witnessed today was quite foreign, and to be honest, somewhat scary. By 6 am already the Torch Relay site at Reconcilliation Place was teeming primarily with China supporters, all equipped with giant Red chinese flags, and other Chinese "merchandise" you could say. It was strange. Apparently bus loads of young Chinese people from around Australia had been sponsored to visit Canberra for the Torche Relay - rather a strange idea I must say. The usual quiet and tranquil sunrise over the lake which is typical for the Nation's Capital during April was interrupted today. From the Gamalan stage, I looked around and almost everywhere I looked there was a sea of giant red flags from China. Crowds much larger than I am used to seeing, all brandishing their national symbols, were chanting "china china china", and ensuring that China be seen as a nation with very loyal followers.