In recent days Beijingers have spent more time discussing the weather and its capricious nature in August than the weather-obsessed inhabitants of the British Isles. Many have been gripped by superstitious fear that nature will unleash its irrational wrath on the Beijing Olympic Games’ parade and spoil the host’s dazzling opening ceremony. Will it rain? Or will it storm?
Even worse — some forecasts have predicted hailstorms for the momentous evening. evening of Aug. 8. The Olympics opening ceremony will begin at 8:00 p.m. on August 8, 2008 — a configuration of the auspicious number eight that is supposed to bring good luck because the word for eight in Chinese sounds like the word “fa” (prosperity). But some doubt whether the nation’s luck will hold. “They (organisers) engineered spring flowers to blossom in August but I don’t know whether they will be able to stop a thunderstorm,” says Sherry Guo, a property manager. But if “extreme weather conditions” indeed occur on opening night, said Wang Jianjie, head of the capital meteorological office, “contingency plans” are in place. A regiment of what the locals call the “weather imperial guards” would stand by, ready to fire rockets containing silver iodide at offending clouds.
