Thursday, August 21, 2008

For my country, I would wear a Diaper!

The movable-type printing performance seen during the Opening Ceremony of Beijing Olympics
(Photo credit: Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

During dinner with a few friends from China, I was shocked to hear that 897 soldiers operating the huge scroll that formed the centrepiece of Olympic Opening Ceremony had to wear diapers while they stay hidden under the structure. For up to seven hours!! In the hot and suffocating summer heat!

The performers who crouched under 40-pound boxes went into the models underground at 2 pm, and after getting in there they could not come out. They had to wait until they finished their performance and they were not allowed toilet breaks. Gosh.


All the performers had to get into position before spectators began entering the 91,000-seat Bird’s Nest Olympic stadium. The performers had to prepare in advance. And every performer had to stay in a fixed place at a fixed time.

My 95-year-old father-in-law refused to wear a diaper, despite being bed-ridden. He feels that it is shameful for an adult to wear one. It's for babies, he said.

In China, babies rarely wear diapers. They wear pants with slits baring butts and wee-wees for all to see.

Suffering and sacrifice were required to make the opening ceremony a success. 15,000 people were involved. The lengths to which Beijing went, trying to create a perfect start to the Olympic Games!

My Chinese friends think that the sacrifices were necessary. They would be grateful for an opportunity to participate in this historic event. It is viewed as an honor. All the tears, the sweat, and even blood that is shed, is worth it!

Hear them! Singapore is in trouble! I doubt we could get such patriotic citizens amongst us!


34 comments:

  1. Wow! I don't know if ppl over here would be willing to do the same...:) And I didn't know babies in China don't wear diapies...hehhe

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  2. Nice post.

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  3. My Bug Life,
    I for one would not do it. This is wayang (drama).

    You can see the cute kiddies in their butt baring pants in every street. Don't the butts get chilled? hehe...

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  4. What?!?! 7 hours under the structure, and wearing diapers? That's a huge sacrifice. Hats off to them!

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  5. Doreen,
    Yes, have to respect them for that!

    One lady dancer was paralysis from waist downwards during a rehearsal for this opening. I also heard lots of stuff that we would not think of doing but they did. :P

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  6. I definitely would not do that for my country...hell, I wouldn't even serve in the military. Guess those people really wanted to be part of the Olympics at any cost.

    On another note, the first diaper I ever saw in China was on a dog.

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  7. Matthew,
    It's a dream come true for the Chinese to host it in China, a century's wait! So it is considered an honor to be able to participate in it.

    I only saw diapers in their supermarkets.

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  8. hmm... ask me again when i get to use my medisave in a Msian hospital!

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  9. LOL!! Don tell me that's Jaymes again? ;)

    I didn't know abt babies wearing pants with slit in China! Got picture too he he, good thing this is just for babies! Off for dinner soon, thanks for stopping by my blog today! :)

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  10. Thanks for this post. I didn't know that the performers had to make such sacrifices. I believe to them it was a great privilege to participate in this possibly once in a lifetime event.

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  11. I would wear a diaper for my country. I think that I would, because it would be a dirty diaper :)

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  12. OMG ! terrible, nobody would do that here in our western world ! Thanks for letting us know. There must have been a lot of sweat and tears !

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  13. wow! i didnt know that! but it was really awesome. it was something that proved how loyal they are to the country.

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  14. I heard today that there are also thousands of volunteers to help visitors. It's not quite at the same level of sacrifice as wearing diapers, bit it's something else admirable. I doubt you'll find thousands of people willing to work for nothing in London, I'm afraid. I hope I may be wrong.

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  15. Now that's a stunning fact about the Olympics!! here's from someone who uses a toilet whenever she sees one, lol
    I went through the diapers' procedure only once, ECL: I have an only son. Somehow I forgot to mention it to you, dear!!

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  16. ECL,
    I understand that not only babies but toddlers also wear pants with slits open. The wearing of pants confines mainly to male babies and toddlers and female babies are exempted.

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  17. Because they made the sacrifice The opening ceremonies at the Beijing Olympics will be the most memorable for a long time to come. I'm betting the closing ceremonies will be even greater.

    I doubt a western country would do the same.

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  18. yes, my friend who hosted me in guangzhou last yr pointed that slit-ty affairs in kids' pants to me. Quite disturbing altho it's a norm to the locals. lol.

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  19. How the hell u know abt this man? Yah I don't hink sg men will ever wear diapers for Sg haha :P

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  20. For all we know, this might just give choreographers of the Youth Olympics ideas :X

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  21. I'll tell you I was amazed at that performance during the ceremony, now even more so.

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  22. really amaze at what they have to go through

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  23. Wow, that is interesting information. The heat and diaper smell would've made me faint inside the box. I guess I'm not as patriotic either.

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  24. Even the chicks who are tasked to guide the presenters on stage for award presentation were hand picked from donno how many thousandssssss. *Salute*

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  25. I hope they got paid lots of money...I'm pretty sure these people were impressed: http://www.asianweek.com/2008/08/15/spanish-olympians-more-controversial-photos-uncovered/

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  26. I enjoyed the Olympic Opening Ceremony so much but i never knew that the soldiers had to wear diaper!! *_*

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  27. I tell you. I WON'T! For Malaysia? I won't! Won't won't won't! Anyway, I don't think Malaysia is ever capable of holding an event of such scale.

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  28. Most of the China Chinese I met are patriotic in nature. They would criticize their country but unit the second they hear a foreigner say something disrespectful. The western people somehow view this as brainwash. Typical of them, 'when in doubt, put a negative spin on it' must be their motto sometimes.

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