Latest in early 2008， after finishing the celebrations at the beginning of the Year of the Rat (or is it the much more appealing mouse？ I did not then find out， the images in this year rather seem to indicate a mouse， the Chinese word for rat and mouse， at least according to my dictionary， is the same)， there is only one topic in China： the Olympic Games in August this year.
BeiJing has prepared for them； border security was reinforced， visas restricted， imports for our products as well became more complicated on a daily level， YouTube and Google Picasaweb (the photo albums) were no longer accessible. The latter affected me most， for on that website I was making my images from China accessible for my family， colleagues and friends.
Regarding safety， China prepared for not having to take any risks， at that time particularly， Muslim terror attacks were most feared. These aspects reflected in the German media.
From inside China， things looked different， people were just thrilled – Olympics at home！ Everyone spoke of how exciting this was， how perfect everything was prepared. “Are you going to BeiJing？” No， I did not intend to.
The torch relay begins， becomes politicized by merging the Olympic idea with the Tibet issue， people in China， my staff， customers， friends， neighbours and guests at the restaurant， react upset： “Why do you disturb this peaceful torch relay？” – “Why is even a disabled athlete in Paris getting assaulted？” – “What has Tibet to do with the Olympics， what do you know at all about Tibet？”
I did not know much， too little， I could not participate in debates but only accept the charges， representing the French， Americans and many others who have actively tried and succeeded at least in part to interfere with an internationally unifying event or the prelude to it.
My friends harassed me： “What does Germany want？ What does France want？ Tibet belongs to China since thousands of years， why is this now an issue in the Olympics？ Do you know what was going on during the British occupation of Tibet， how the upper-class has suppressed the people？ Why， if the Basque Country or Catalonia may not be independent， should China give Tibet to the Dalai Lama？”
I don’t know， I try to get informed， and become thoughtful. My football friends are very committed in their talks to me and let me know： Before the People’s Republic of China incorporated Tibet again into the state， it had been a feudal society since centuries， also later under the British Government， with a minor upper class， with serfs (i.
e. slaves) who had to serve the feudal lords (and the Dalai Lama). The serfs were deeply in debt with the feudal masters， they had no rights， not even for their own life or that of their children， they received no education.
“You know that Tibetans are now one of many recognised ethnic minorities？ They aren’t subject to the One-Child Policy， they do have right of access to all higher education institutions， get admission to universities and such under easier terms compared to us， the Han-Chinese.”
When the torch relay arrives in China， the debate falters and is replaced by euphoria – at last， the Olympics finally arrived at the people， not abroad， not only in the media. On 8 May， the torch shall pass through ShenZhen.
Just in the centre of the district NanShan more than one hundred thousand people are gathering along the road where the torch relay will be seen， however， 95 % of these people will see nothing.
On 9 May my flight back to Germany is booked. I arrange myself so that on 8 May I will not have any customer meetings. I want to watch the torch relay. But how and where？ I’m asking around， browse the Internet and find out eventually which route is taken. With 40 kilometres， this will be one of the longest parts of the global torch relay event.
Suspecting that everywhere there will be a terrible crowd， especially in the centres of the municipalities through which the relay is passing (each district in ShenZhen has indeed more inhabitants than Berlin！)， I wonder how I will most cleverly manage to be present and watch without driving into the centres. I choose a place that I know from my rides to the football pitch： Bin Hai Da Dao (滨海大道， in translation it means something like “Coastal Boulevard”) near the Hong Shu Lin mangrove reserve (红树林公园) at the coast. There are few residential areas nearby. So I go by bike and notice along the way that I was absolutely right： It is incredibly crowded everywhere， people stream toward NanShan centre with pendants， flags， painted faces， happy euphoric smiles， shouting all the time at each other： “中国加油， Zhong guo jia you” – “Push the throttle， China！” They laugh at me， talk to me， wave happily at the biking foreigner who is travelling the opposite way， away from the centre. “Poor fellow， there’s nothing going on where he’s heading for！ Doesn’t he want to watch the torch relay？” some might have thought， and how wrong they were！
I finally get to the place on the Coastal Boulevard that I have in mind， and sure enough， even here it is crowded， but you get to the curb， even close to the barriers， because no family with grandma， grandpa， mother and grandchildren can hike to here. They have to go either by car (but then four hours earlier！)， by bus or by bike as I did！ Otherwise this place is too far away outside the centre of the district NanShan. Many
I am standing amid enthusiastic fan-groups waving red flags on the Coastal Boulevard that is connecting NanShan to the centre.
others have also come by bike.
Here are young people， entire companies (by bus) who， as I gradually learn， know someone who will carry on the torch for 100 or 200 m.
In the morning it was already made clear that the torch relay would not start at the originally scheduled time， but only when the torch would have arrived at the summit of Mount Everest. For that reason， in many places in ShenZhen – especially near the start and finish areas of the relay， huge screens had been set up.
The arrival on the summit was broadcast live on Chinese television and at many places in ShenZhen. I watched this in my apartment before I left. It was very impressive. After this race to the top， I left for the place I had chosen， for by now the torch relay had started in ShenZhen， too.