Chinese go into training for civilised Olympic cheering

IT'S SIMPLE, just follow these instructions. Step 1: Clap twotimes, while chanting, "Olympics". Step 2: Give the thumbs up with yourarms extended upward, all the while chanting "Let's go!" Step 3: Claptwo times chanting "China". Finally, step 4: Punch the air with yourfists, your arms extended, shouting "Let's go!" CLIFFORD COONAN reports from Beijing
Civilised cheering done according to strict and detailed instructionswill be the order of the day when the summer Olympics open in Beijing,say local officials.
The four-part Olympic cheer will be taught at schools, promoted on TV and detailed instructions spread in a poster campaign.
The "Let's Go" cheer is officially used to fire up the national team,but can be adapted to inspire other countries. The Beijing OlympicOrganising Committee (BOCOG) has taken on 30 cheering squads to showspectators how it is done in the stadiums, the Xinhua news agencyreports. The government has previously appointed hundreds ofschoolchildren to cheer on the various countries during the games.Individual schools have been ordered to adopt a specific country.
Unsurprisingly, the schools given Japan, China's long-standing regionalrival, have an opt-out clause where they get to cheer on China if thereis a head-to-head between athletes from both countries.
LiNing, head of the Beijing Etiquette Institute, said the cheer was inline with what she described as general international principles forcheering and very much in the spirit of the Olympic mantra "Citius,Altius, Fortius" (faster, higher, stronger), but still possessedcharacteristics of Chinese culture.
Crucially, the cheer gave plenty of scope for international variations.
So, for example, insert "Yingguo" for "England" at the end. "Jia you,Yingguo" or "Add oil, land of heroes" if you want to translate itdirectly.
The cheer is a joint invention of the CommunistParty's Office of Spiritual Civilisation Development and Guidance, theMinistry of Education, BOCOG and China Central Television, and waslaunched in the media centre of the national broadcaster.
Theaim of the chants is to allow spectators to cheer for athletes in asmooth, civilised manner. There will be training sessions for the800,000 students expected to attend the Games. "We want to engage inactivities to better promote civilised gestures in the stadiums, tocheer on the Olympics and to cheer on China. This gesture demonstratesto the world the charisma of the Chinese people and our enthusiasm,"said Guo Zhenxi of CCTV.
"It creates a great atmosphere in thestadium, for the athletes and heightens the interaction between theaudiences," said BOCOG's publicity chief Wang Hui.
However, reaction among online commentators to this most orderly form of adulation has been mixed.
"I've just learned the cheer," said Da Menya. "But I feel a little bit foolish. I wonder."
Shen Jiang Qike said the idea was good but wondered was it necessaryfor the normal, non-professional, spectator to also respond in such auniform way? "The enthusiasm is from our heart . . . Using diplomaticetiquette to express our enthusiasm will only make peopleuncomfortable," wrote Shen.
Another netizen, who gave his nameas Xiao Shang, said: "I am always amazed at the government's ability totake the fun out of anything. Incredible."