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No, really. You do not. This isn’t just a swimming pool in Sichuan province, it’s a sea of people.
Website Beijing Cream points out that crowded Chinese swimming pools are famous (infamous?), and if you’d like to see more, there are numerous photos online.
This particular video was recently uploaded to Chinese video site Youku, where it garnered over 800,000 views. That might be more than the people in the pool!
Crowded Chinese swimming pool [BejingCream@YouTube via Bejing Cream]
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Amateurs. Everyone knows the Zombie Survival Guide is the real survivalists’ bible. World War Z is for schmucks 😛
Although I agree slightly, I don’t think World War Z is a book for schmucks 🙂
The journalist here completely got this wrong as some kind of slight to china… prejudice much?
This is not a normal “swimming pool” this is obviously a crowd gathered for a race… and the crowd happens to be on one particular side of the swimming pool. If you look beyond there is another portion of the pool with plenty of room for each swimmer.
Why this is obvious:
1. Everyone’s head is facing the same direction… just look
2. There is an announcer (no you don’t need to understand chinese to tell that, just listen)
3. the pool is sectioned off and there is a race happening
4. Compare footage to any other race you’ve ever seen with people crowding to look at the event
Recommended potential new title for the story:
a.) “Races in any another country are just as packed as anywhere else”
b.) “And the winner is…”
c.) “Journalists everywhere turn viral videos they didn’t understand into compelling stories to push strange agenda”
btw, check the link of “there are numerous photos online.” and you see the same type of crowds in any major city’s pools in summer time. Go look for old time photos of Coney Island NYC and you will see even bigger crowds there from the turn of last century and on Zzz
Also I particularly like this one:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ke-V3hghehM/UAAC3ctupmI/AAAAAAAAL94/5ZE8ahSY4Mg/s400/chinese%2Bswimming%2Bpool%2Bvan.jpg
Indeed.. the ropes are there to contain the people in one spot rather than a “starting line” designation..
I don’t care what they are watching or facing…go straight to 1:01 on that video where they pan back.
That is CROWDED.
Am I the only one that could see the hilarity ensue if one dropped a Snickers bar in the middle of that?
You’re assuming all Chinese people are starving to the point where they would fight over a wet snickers? Jeez guy.
As funny as the CaddyShack reference is, the reality of it is that the pools in many of these places are already much worse than a singular bar of “poo” floating around.. in one report on a Beijing based public pool, the water was tested to reveal that it contained over 90% fecal matter… 90%.
I don’t believe that for a second. 90% would look like a mud bath. It would be obvious.
Pools over here aren’t too great either. You only need one person to go swimming with a stomach bug and everyone who uses the pool will get it.
People have died from accidentally swallowing pool water in China and many hospitalised.. it sounds unbelievable… but knowing what I know about China (having spent a great deal of time there) and from what my friends and associates, who have lived there for many years, it is not that unbelievable to me.
Here’s an English article, this is not the first or only article I’ve seen.. it’s just the most readily available I have to share at this time:
http://www.amusingplanet.com/2012/08/chinese-swimming-pools-most-crowded-and.html
So yes.. My bad.. it is urea and fecal matter was 90% of the mix, not just fecal matter.
When I was there, I couldn’t even handle catching the train. I did it once, and then used a taxi every single time I had to go anywhere, so I have no idea why those people want to go swimming. It doesn’t look fun does it?
Nice post man. I believe it too, I just didn’t believe that it was 90% poop.
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