A few good posts over on Paul Midler’s The China Game blog over the last couple days. In the first, he reproduces a letter from a reader drawing an important distinction between China’s financial and “real” economies, and how exposed each is to external forces:

One point that I think needs to be borne in mind is the difference between the financial economy and the real economy. In China’s case, the financial economy is not integrated into the global economy (you can’t move large sums in to invest or repatriate or invest-out large sums without bureaucratic approval and good reasons), which is one reason people say Western financial conditions have limited impact on China. This is why many large financial firms are clamoring to get into China, not only because it’s a promising new market but because it represents diversification in the way few overseas markets do these days. As far as the real economy of imports and exports etc. goes, I think there’s little doubt that China is significantly integrated into the global trading system, for good and for ill.

In another post, Midler highlights a welcome introduction to the (English-language) China blogosphere, Pomfret’s China written by John Pomfret of the Washington Post, formerly that paper’s China bureau chief and the author of Chinese Lessons, which is a great read. He’s only starting, and like most blogs that have mentioned T!b3t in the past several weeks, it’s already attracted swarms of comments that are as valuable for their insight into the massive support the crackdown has received in China (and by native Chinese abroad) as they are disposable for the quality of their reasoning.

Finally, there is an interesting post from today on a Chinese drug firm that may have accidentally disqualified the Greek weightlifting team from performing in the Olympics by supplying it with “tainted” health supplements:

A surprise inspection of the Greek team by the World Anti-Doping Agency revealed that 11 of the team’s athletes had unapproved substances in their systems. The Chinese firm has already apologized for providing the bad product, saying: “We send [sic] you L-tyrosine mixed with something else that it [sic] only for research purposes.”

Much of the media coverage of this past weekend’s Major League Baseball exposition games (Dodgers/Padres) in Beijing has focused on how far the game has to come in China (yes thank you, NYTimes, Chinese people were befuddled by the lyrics to “Take Me Out to the Ballgame”). But after the experience, what I’ve taken away is that it’s China that has a long way to go if it wants to be ready for the games, and I’m not talking about baseball, I’m talking about the Olympics.

Upon arriving (half an hour early I might add) at the Wukesong Olympic baseball field my companions and I were sent to the end of a line that stretched from the “stadium” gate (it’s a temporary structure) to the road. Eventually we got to the head of the queue where we watched gate staff fiddle with temperamental Ticketmaster scanners before ushering us to a metal detector. Certainly annoying, given that we missed the US Ambassador’s opening pitch - which I heard didn’t even cross home plate. Then again, long lines are no rarity in China, security is essential, and I told myself it was our own fault for failing to show up earlier.

But there was no room for “self-criticisms” in the food and beverage situation. Other than two stands provided by Tim’s Texas BBQ, there was absolutely nothing to eat or drink (if there were vendors walking the stands, I didn’t see a single one). And as early as the fourth inning people were returning to their seats with reports that all food had been sold out. No ‘dogs. No chips. Not even a bag of sunflower seeds.

What a wasted opportunity to make some cash. After all, the money to be made at these events isn’t just in the ticket, but in the concessions, not to mention the advertisements on the cups and plates holding said concessions. Last year’s Midi festival got it right with ample eats: lamb chuan’rs, corn on the cob, shawarma, 5 kuai draft beers, a panoply of foreign and domestic delights, all properly abundant and overpriced. These MLB exhibition games, by contrast, were a demonstration that the Chinese have a lot to learn about how to profit off the spectacle (and spectators) of professional sports.

I’m not sure who is to blame for all of this. Blaming “China” doesn’t seem fair. Perhaps it was the people who operate the venue, perhaps it was Major League Baseball itself. But it does make you wonder, if an exposition game of an unknown sport with a non-sell-out crowd can’t go off without a hitch, what are things going to be like during the Olympics? The Olympic Games are a special event, and surely most people will recognize that long lines and other frustrations are a part of the experience. Hunger and thirst, however, shouldn’t be.

If this was a taste of what’s to come, I’ll probably just watch the Olympics from the comfort of my apartment.

Highlights from the last week of China business news: The Olympics countdown begins, and spin doctors get out their toolkits; the central bank warns of more rate hikes to keep inflation in check, even as trading accounts proliferate.

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I wrote before about an open letter to the Chinese government, written by an obscure but politically conscientious basketball player, circulating in the locker room of the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers, who are now about to enter the Finals. You will recall that the letter, which condemns China’s investment in Sudan given the crisis in Darfur, was signed by all players on the team save superstar Lebron James (right), who is a member of the 2008 Olympic team and enthusiastic enough about his support from Chinese fans to be taking Mandarin lessons, and role player Damon Jones, who, it must be noted, has an endorsement contract with Chinese shoe brand Li Ning.

For James, it appears that leaving his John Hancock off the letter has landed him in hot water with certain members of the media in the US. Jonathan Zimmerman of the Christian Science Monitor took him to task (calling him “cowardly”), and Charles P. Pierce of Slate has followed suit, comparing his unwillingness to take a stand with that of Michael Jordan:

Of course, Jordan wrote the book on how to become a wildly popular and successful athlete without demonstrating even the sliver of a public conscience. More to the point, he created a new template for risk-free stardom, whereby involvement in the unruly hurly-burly of the real world is something that a star is not expected to do. Do the public-service ads for the safe issues, but go no deeper into the forces that create those issues in the first place.

And that’s the real pity. The Darfur letter was, you should pardon the expression, a slam dunk. Had James signed it, nothing would have happened to him. Were Coke and Microsoft going to cancel his contracts while he was putting up a transcendent playoff performance? Not bloody likely, and that goes double for Nike, which is as heavily invested in China as it is in James himself. The NBA wouldn’t have dared say anything, not with the league slow-dancing with the Chinese government itself. And does any person with the moral compass that God gave the common gopher really care what the International Olympic Committee says about anything any more?

So now that a new cycle of discussion on the subject has begun - this time including a public rebuke of a highly visible star - my wonder is whether the Chinese internet will pick up on the story (the press certainly won’t), and what posters on message boards and blogs will have to say about it. If you find anything, please do let us know.

In Chinese: LeBron James = 勒布朗-詹姆斯; Sudan = 苏丹

Related: Imagethief: Did the “Genocide Olympics” influence China?

Many readers may be blissfully unaware of the ongoing NBA playoffs in the US, but I suspect many more in China are watching them along with me, and now I have an excuse to write something on a somewhat related note, so bear with me.

We’ve written before in this space about calls to boycott the 2008 Olympics for reasons tied to either human rights in China or involvement with unsavory regimes like that of Sudan. At the time, it was since-defeated French presidential candidate Francois Bayrou proposing a boycott of the Games. Now, an article in the New York Times’ sports section (reached through the always interesting Freakonomics Blog) tells us of Ira Newble, a basketball player previously known to me only as an obscure bench-warmer (read: not a very good player) for the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers. Newble is trying to enlist support from his fellow pro athletes to talk up ditching Beijing next summer. Like Bayrou, Newble was moved by the Darfur situation, and the perception that “China holds the key” to improving it. From the article:

The result is a letter, signed by Newble and most of his teammates and released last week, that takes aim at China, which supplies the Sudanese government with money and weapons. China, in turn, is a major importer of Sudan’s oil.

The letter reads in part, “We, as basketball players in the N.B.A. and as potential athletes in the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, cannot look on with indifference to the massive human suffering and destruction that continue in the Darfur region of Sudan.” It concludes with a plea to the Chinese government “to use all available diplomatic resources and economic pressure to end the agony of Darfur, and to secure access for U.N. peace support personnel.”

Predictably, “most of his teammates” does not include star Cavalier LeBron James, who is a marketing phenomenon in China and is said to be learning Mandarin in his spare time (scroll down). I’d be interested to see if this attracts the attention of Sudan-born Chicago Bull Luol Deng (who, by the way, has been a breakout star in these playoffs).

But as we’ve said before, the chances of any movement to boycott Beijing 2008’s success are fat indeed. What interests me, though, is how far word of this spreads, given the NBA’s popularity in China, and whether anything gets mentioned about it on a Chinese blog or fan site. If you see anything at all about this on the Chinese internet, let us know! (For easy searching, Newble’s Chinese name is 艾拉-纽贝.)

Don’t hold your breath, but French presidential candidate Francois Bayrou has called for a boycott on the Beijing Olympic Games in protest of China’s support for Sudan. They must be shaking with revulsion down at the Great Hall of the People.

Of course, this idea is surely going nowhere. But it’s worth considering: could the world change China’s mind about Sudan by threatening not to attend the Olympics?

If the threat were credible and included lots of countries from the Americas and Europe, then we might see China abandon its oil deals in Sudan and let sanctions reign.

But ignoring the fact, for the moment, that Coca-Cola and its ilk would never allow the US to deny them a chance to sponsor the biggest event in China since the Mongol invasion (save that nasty demonstration stuff 18 years ago - hardly a marketing opportunity), let’s consider whether a boycott could ever have its intended effect.

Twenty-seven African countries, plus Iraq, boycotted the 1976 Montreal Games because New Zealand was included - they were unhappy at how the New Zealand rugby union team was still playing internationals against Apartheid South Africa. While a powerful statement, it is hard to argue that this stand led to the end of South Africa’s racist regime. Incidentally, China and Taiwan both stayed home that year, each one protesting the other’s invitation.

When Jimmy Carter announced a boycott of the 1980 Moscow Games, in protest of the USSR’s invasion of Afghanistan, he managed to get some 64 countries to follow along, causing a disruption but not a cessation of the Games. The Soviets won a record 80 gold medals due to the lack of competition. Oh, and they kept their troops in Afghanistan, too.

Four years later in Los Angeles, the Reds wanted revenge and so refused to allow any Eastern Bloc athletes to compete in the “anti-communist” environment of Hollywood, USA. They were joined by the Cubans, but their efforts were watered down by China’s decision to break ideological ranks and return to the Olympics after a 32-year absence. This resulted in the weakest Olympic boycott of them all.

It is pretty clear that a real boycott led by France against the Beijing Olympics would ultimately fail. But it would be interesting in the reactions it provoked. For example, would George Clooney and other concerned celebrities call for the US to join the boycott?

Personally, I think such actions would only hurt the athletes involved, who have been training and waiting for their moment in the sun. Besides, if the US had boycotted the 1936 Berlin Olympics on account of politics, there would have been no Jesse Owens story. And that is what the Games are supposed to be about.

Feeling the heat of India’s rise as an alternative destination for outsourced manufacturing, China is fighting back by taking a leaf from a book of the late, great British Empire. “That’s just not cricket,” you might say, and you’d be wrong. The better interpretation is “that it’s not just cricket”.

Despite having no pitches, no equipment and no players (aside from a handful of expats running around a park in Pudong every Sunday), China is taking up cricket, and it has ambitious plans.

The Chinese Cricket Association (CCA) wants to have 20,000 players and 2,000 coaches by 2015. Media reports are even more optimistic, citing ambitions of achieving Test status by 2020 (only 10 countries currently have test status), qualifying for the 2019 World Cup, or ultimately beating India in a Test match.

Perhaps it is this last motivation that is proving the most compelling to the people behind the cricket craze (or is that craziness?). What better way to put its upstart neighbor in its place than by beating it at its own game?