Will The Real Representative Please Stand Up?

Yesterday was the day of the Olympic Torch run in London. My plan was to document it in Chinatown and at the O2 arena (although I was too late to get a ticket). I woke up and the forecast for snow was real, all 4 inches of it. It is April.

I arrived in Chinatown at 11.15am and asked some police about which way the runner would be coming. I made my way down with it snowing down Gerrard Street and made it to the corner of Gerrad and Wardour, where the torchbearer would turn and move on to Shaftsbury Avenue. I got a good spot and even got there before a broadcast Cameraman and a Photographer for AP got there. So I shared the space. We waited while it snowed lightly. It tailed off magically towards the time but there were masses on police in fluorescent jackets everywhere, it was difficult for us to get a clear line of sight despite having nearly the best seat in the street. When the torch bearer came down the street, we were all surprised and dismayed to see about 30 Beijing Olympic representatives surrounding the runner and then another 50 British police surrounding them. As far as I witnessed, there was only one guy with a Free Tibet banner present who earlier seem to get into a minor scuffle with some elderly Chinese people. When the time came, we barely got a shot of the runner or the torch! I did ok but the AP Photographer was complaining. The torch was guarded more heavily than the American President on a jog in Central Park. I said a quick hello to the broadcast Cameraman and said we might see each other at the dome.

At the O2 ‘arena’ area where the torchbearer was to come down lined people, a few ‘Free Tibet’ protesters where present. But more, much more, were to arrive. I did a few shots before another 200 protestors arrived. There seem to be an equal number of Olympic supporters as well a protesters though the protesters made more noise and waved more flags, so they seemed to dominate the landscape. Chants of, ‘CHINA OUT OF TIBET!’ and other chants were frequent. There were many Tibetans as well as non Tibetans protesting. Non-protestors waved little Beijing Olympic flags and makeshift periscopes that were handed out. Banners of disdain for the Chinese government where present, often citing human rights abuses and murder.

While shooting, many protestors were eager to get attention waving banners in my view and stopping so I would get a good shot of their slogans. I guess they presumed I was press and had no idea I was shooting footage for a documentary that is trying to address the issue of China for a balanced perspective. It’s been a while since I was in the midst of a protest and certainly not one where I felt personally involved. I did feel though tried not to; feel personally attacked by the anti China sentiment as if it were about Chinese people. I felt misunderstood and attacked. And I am a British Born Chinese. I wonder how the Chinese felt who actually were from China? But I reminded myself I was just there to document. So I did.

On the way home I spoke to a Chinese student (from China) and asked her what she though of the protests and she replied, ‘I don’t think they represent the people of Tibet’. I gave her my card in hopes she may be aid me in interviews with overseas Chinese. I wondered on my way home with sore hands and an aching back, if what she said was representative of the Chinese in China…

Stills from footage shot of the day:

In Chinatown:









Later in Greenwich:








- J