Living in the City

According to the Wall Street Journal's China blog, foreigners must take note of certain guidelines when they intend to visit China for the Beijing Olympics. "On Monday, the organizers of the Beijing Olympics issued “legal guidance” covering 57 issues relevant to foreigners planning to attend this summer’s Games (see WSJ story here ). Some excerpts from these rules, presented in the original Q&A format: No. 22: Is it possible to sleep out in the city? In order to protect the urban public hygiene and a civilized appearance, it is prohibited to sleep in public places, including airports, train stations, piers, pedestrian crossings (both sky bridges and underground passages) and grassy areas. No. 32: Is China entirely open to foreign tourists? China is not currently fully open to foreigners, foreigners who have not obtained permits should not enter areas that are not open to the outside. No. 36: How are the business hours of entertainment venues regulated? Entertainmen...

Apparently so... The Philippine Daily Inquirer , our local broadsheet carried a news item which talked about a Chinese man dying of exhaustion after playing online games . The news further says that the man from Guangzhou, China , about 30 years old was dead on arrival from the internet cafe where he had been playing for 3 days -- - straight. So all of us beware. Gggaaaasssspppp.