Based on the fact that I received only 3 replies to the August quiz, I'm starting to think you guys don't like me. Anyway, here's the response breakdown:
Mama - Aug 2nd 12:04, 12:07, and 12:40pm consecutively: "Training for protecting Lance Armstrong from jumping on him chinese/China visitors on future 'Tour de China' " Great idea Mom, except you wouldn't catch Lance dead within miles of Beijing. Want proof? Check my reasoning here.
"Pedestrian traffic regulators for big public event" Warmer, not but quite there yet...
"Last one: Protection on the violent clash between different group of
civil Chinese society." You would certainly think so given the riot gear and number of personnel, but the government would definitely mop up any "violent" groups of society before they could ever get a street fight started. Would have been interesting to see though, would definitely break the world record for biggest street brawl ever.
Carl - Aug 2nd 11:10am "To stop the annoying ass sound of vuvuvuelas blowing / an rallies for any World Cup teams other than good old China (which didn't qualify IIRC)." Now THAT would have been awesome, I can see headlines already "Chinese Government Deals with Vuvuzela Wielding Spectators - Permanently" alas, that is not the case here.
Since the above responses didn't cut it, you already know who got it right. Now, because it is Lissa, you will attempt to sue me for playing favorites, preventing you from receiving your properly-deserved Chinese souvenir, and moral damages incurred from the above two points. Well, I could respond to your accusations, or you can simply read Lissa's answer to the quiz... and be amazed.
Lissa Aug 4, 1:18am:
"I just looked at the picture now...Let's see. You know I don't know much (anything) about world events. And I am sure not going to try to find out because if I searched "latest news" on China, I'd get thousands of articles talking about different things."
"So I looked at the picture. Guy wearing a green jersey and people holding green hornets (or to better call it, vuvuzelas). Drawing back to my memories of Brazil and the times when there would be classical games like Palmeiras vs Corinthians, I would deduce that the police is getting itself ready in case there are any stupid fans trying to kill each other over soccer or, since we are talking about China, in case there are just too many people to walk to and fro the stadium. As for latest news, I won't say World Cup just happened a few weeks ago cause there were no jerseys like that green one and I know they wouldn't cheer for Nigeria... but they did build the Workers Stadium for the Olympics and I believe that the green team plays there. Plus, you told me you wanted to go visit it right? It would help if you told me when you took the picture."
I did not tell her when the photo was taken, but she adds some more:
"oh.. and for more thinking: You said they weren't armed, so that would be appropriate for fighting soccer riots. I just hope they don't go College Park style and bring horses too :P" Thankfully, no horses. That would have likely caused casualties to number in the tens of thousands.
So far, all of the above has been precisely correct. Toss in some research, and you have bomb-proof case.
"From a 2009 article:'Beijing's match with Hangzhou is a 64,000-seat sell-out at The Workers' Stadium, and riots have been reported at some fans' failure to secure tickets. Ironic considering Chinese league games average attendance is around 16,000 in stadiums usually capable of holding many times that number."
Pop Quiz Winner: There you have it folks, Lissa wins the race by a mile: the armed police were geared up for a Beijing Guoan football match. More photos for you to feast on:
The Worker's Stadium is where Beijing Guoan plays, its named after the country's premier political party. Prior to the Olympics, this was the biggest stadium in Beijing.
The need for crowd control...is pretty evident.
Vuvuzela sales in full swing.
Beijing's cops weren't messing around today.
