LaoWai-The Bridge between Cultures
Beijing This Month
Beijing in Action
Big Red Book Back Olympic Bid ...
12,008Foreigners Sign for Beijing
By Kevin Hayhoe
Foreign Students at Beijing`s Language and Culture University , aided by classmates and other volunteers, have since March collected an impressive 12,008 foreigners`signatures in support of the city`s Olympic bid – 10,000 more than their original target of 2,008 . In an exercise called Foreigners`Support Beijing`s Bid”, the names were collected from fellow overseas students, other foreigners living and working in the capital , and visitors from more than 100 countries.
To achieve the huge figure, the students set up an exhausting round of “signing sessions” at numerous locations, including theGreat Wall`s Badaling Pass, the Forbidden City , temples, shopping centres and anywhere else where foreigners might congregate . Six of the students even trekked the Silk Road in search of foreigners , triumphantly returning with the signatures of about 700 . All signatures were penned in a total of a big large red album .
The climax to the students`efforts was at the Summer Palace on the last Sunday in June . There , the “concertina” pages of the huge album – measuring about 130 metres – was stretched aross the palace`s bridge as a methaphor for Sino-western relations.
Soon after , the albums were being presented to Beijing`s bid committee, BOBICO, hope being they would then be flown to Moscow for presentation to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as final proof of foreigners`support for Beijing`s bid. On July 13, Moscow will be the venue for the IOC meeting at which the host city for the 2008 Olympics will be choosen.
One of the most surprising and pleasing things about the foreign students`campaign was that it attracted signatures of support from citizens of France and Canada, cities from both of which (Paris and Toronto) are competing with Beijing, Osaka and Istanbul for the honor of hosting the Games .
A late-campaign count of nationalities appending their signatures showed 273 French and 230 Canadian . More than 2,000 visitors from the United States also happily signed their names, closely followed by Germans and Koreans . There were more than 1,000 signatures from Britons, and almost 250 from Australia.
Driving force behind the campaign was German student Guido Roesler who , with fellow Palow Matulenicz , initially badgered just a few friends to sign their names in an attempt to “ beobjective in their support for Beijing bid, and to show the Chinese that westerners living here cared about one of China`s biggest concerns-proof of its ability to successfully host an Olympic Games”.
Roesler told Beijing Beijing This Month :” we believe that 99 percent of foreigners living in Beijing consider the city to be capable of staging an Olympics.They have witnessed its tremendous sussecc in development , some things are almost an a daily basis . Streets are being extende and widened, and trees are being planted everywhere.”
It was soon decided that 2,008 foreign signatures would have more impact on the IOC , so the signing campaign quickly gathered pace. Growing media interest led to further expansion of the campaign hence the new target of an extra 10,000-12,008 in all. Such was foreigner`and locals enthusiasm for the campaign that Roesler and Matulewicz were soon joined by a small battailion of volunteers both from their own university and elsewhere.
Complimenting the volunteers, Roesler told Beijing This Month :” Every little helped , because collecting signatures can be time-consuming . Before people are willing to sign , you have to explain , what it is all about. But if Beijing does not get good news on July 13 , I personally will not be too disheartened , because this campaign was also foreigners`support for China as a nation . And that continues.” He had special praise for fellow student Song Hua, a Chinese who majored in French, who with five classmates collected the Silk Road signatures .” along with that, she laboured long and hard to help our campaign,”he said”
I also much admired a young girl from the suburbs who left home before five in the morning to bring us some signatures at our signing session at the Great Wall. She had to get a train to Beijing , than the subway , then find her way to us.That was dedication and we were all very moved.”
Malian volunteer John Pauj said: “Imagine someone saying they were going to get more than 12,000 signatures to support Beijing`s bid. You would say `no way`, but we`ve done it. This achievement will surely make a different “. Sichuan born Yhu Lu , Wu Li from Hebei Province , were among Chinese Volunteers. They agreed : “ We were very surprised and moved that foreigners were doing this . Theirs was a good seed, and the Chinese will thank them for it.”
Austrian cunterpart Oliver Trianto , in beijing for three years , said he had seen the city improve a great deal on many fronts “. Within seven years it will accomplished all it goals,” he predicted . British student John Hooper added :” Most Chinese really want the 2008 Games to be in Beijing . They are really enthusiastic , which is in nice contrast one usually finds in England.”
Foreigners`Support for China`s Football Squad
During the feverish days when high hopes for China`s success in the World Cup were sweeping through every Beijing street and hutong , German student Guido Roesler was busily handing out coutless postcard-styled match schedules to local football fans to express laowais´support for the Chinese squad.
On the front of the postcard was a five-color football, with catching Chinese characters saying „Cheer on China „. His action was immediately welcomed by workers in the jianguomen area in particular, where he and several friends gave out most of the schedules .
Roesler is the initiator of a long-term project , to build a „bridge of understanding „ between different cultures , and in so doing uses the Chinese term laowai as part of the „brand name“ for events he organizes .“Lao“ is the word used before the surename of an intimate , and wai means foreigner .
Last year Roesler and teams of friends and other volunteers collected 12,008 signatures from foreigners in support of Beijing´s Olympic bid . And during the Chinese Spring Festival , he and supportes posted New Year cards to Beijingers on behalf of foreigners.
As part of his laowai program , Roesler also plans to introduce another event this autumn on the subject of enviromental protection.
The official Publication of Bobico
See you in Beijing 2008 , July 2001
Foreigners`Signing Campaign Boosts Beijing`s Bid
LaoWai la Lao Wai qianming wei shenao
The Great Wall at Badaling was the May 13 gathering place for a virtual regiment of foreigners bent on expressing their support for Beijing`s 2008 bid. representing many countries , they had earlier organized a signature campaign called “ Foreigners Support Beijing`s Bid “ on a 30-metre scroll which already
contained the names of more than 3,000 foreigners from 60 countries , including Germany , the US , Russia, France, Turkey, Britain, Japan, and South Korea.
Some signatories also wrote messages of good luck in their own language. Organizers hope to achieve 12,008 signatures by taking the scroll, which also bears the Olympic five-ring logo and Beijing`s taiji bid logo, to different parts of the capital where there are large concentrations of people .
According to Guido Roesler , a student from Germany at Beijing Language and Culture University , the campaign has two aims: to show foreigners` support for Beijing`s Olympic bid, and to convince Chinese people that foreigners really do hope for Beijing`s bid success as well as caring about the country and its people. Foreigners also try to convey to Chinese citizens that they try hard to fully understand the country . Guido said : “ we believe that ninety-nine percent of foreigners living in Beijing consider Beijing to be capable of staging an Olympics , and that they enjoy their stay here .” He noted , that all foreigners in Beijing had witnessed the country`s tremendous development and progress, and seen positive changes with each passing day, including the large number of trees being planted and Beijing`s “greening”. Thus, he said , foreigners`support for Beijing is objective and their judgements without bias .”We sincerely hope that Beijing will win the bid .”During the interview , it was disclosed that Guido had personally paid the expenses of the campaign`s detailed work , including dining and transportation fees and the bills for materials connected with the signature scroll. At Badaling, 300 more foreigners added their signatures to the scroll.
