PandaPassport.com – China Blog

So Steven Spielberg has quit his role as “artistic advisor” to the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Here’s the response from organizing officials:

We have taken note of media reports. Mr. Spielberg expressed his wish to make a contribution to the Beijing Olympic Games, and was given a certificate of appointment as one of the cultural and artistic consultants to the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad. We express our regret over his recent personal statement.

Preparations for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Beijing Olympic Games are moving along smoothly and we believe excellent ceremonies will be presented to the world.

The Chinese government has made unremitting efforts to resolve the Darfur issue, an obvious fact to the international community which holds unprejudiced opinions on this issue.

The Olympic Games is a sports event that belongs to the people of the world and the successful hosting of these Games is the common aspiration of citizens from every corner of the world.

Linking the Darfur issue to the Olympic Games will not help to resolve this issue and is not in line with the Olympic Spirit that separates sports from politics. Source

And what do regular Chinese people think about Spielberg dropping out? Well, I can’t say for sure. I have yet to hear this come up in water-cooler conversation. Everybody’s mostly talking about Edison Chen.

But if the movie page on youku.com tongiht is any indication, Chinese people are certainly not boycotting Spielberg in return. Indiana Jones movies are all the rage right now.

Here’s the trailer for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull:

And for anyone wondering how to say Indiana Jones in Chinese, here ya are:
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