MinkHollow Studio - Games

Beijing 2008 is a new game, written completely in Java, about the Summer Games in 2008 and their cost in human lives. This is the second java-based game concerning Tibet that MinkHollow has been connected with. It gives a sarcastic look at the Skeet shooting event.

Download the ZIP file Beijing.zip and uncompress it in any directory you choose. Run the game by double clicking on beijing.bat. You must have a relatively recent version of Java installed for this to work properly.

.............. OR ............

Download the JAR file beijing.jar and just double click on it to play.

Source files can be had!
The main file is beijing.java.
The music player is Player.java, and that also needs AudioCommon.java .
Finally you need Transparency.java which sets transparency to the white parts of the sprites.

This is a 'serious game' intended to influence opinion and transmit a message to the players. It is in the spitit of Harpooned and Sept 12 .

Our other Tibet-related game is Tibet.
Background - (The following is a summary quote from Wikipedia)
The 2008 Summer Olympics will be celebrated from August 8, 2008, to August 24, 2008, with the opening ceremony commencing at 08:08:08 pm CST at the Beijing National Stadium in Beijing. Some events will be held outside Beijing, namely soccer (in Qinhuangdao, Shanghai, Shenyang and Tianjin), equestrian (in Hong Kong) and sailing (in Qingdao).

The Olympic games were awarded to Beijing after an exhaustive ballot of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on July 13, 2001. The official logo of the games, titled "Dancing Beijing," features a stylized calligraphic character j?ng (?, meaning capital), referencing the host city. The mascots of Beijing 2008 are the five Fuwa, each representing one color of the Olympic rings. The Olympic slogan, 'One World, One Dream', calls upon the world to unite in the Olympic spirit. Athletes will compete in 302 events in 28 sports, just one event more than was on the schedule of the Athens games of 2004.

The Chinese government has promoted the games to highlight China's emergence on the world stage amidst concerns about environmental issues and human rights violations, particularly in Tibet. There have also been growing concerns of major nations boycotting the Olympics in protest of China's actions in Tibet.

On 24 March 2008, the Olympic Flame was ignited at Olympia, Greece, site of the Ancient Olympics. The Olympic torch was re-lit at an elaborate ceremony on 31 March in Beijing that included President Hu Jintao, signaling the start of a round-the-world torch relay. It allowed the government a brief respite before the relay sets off on a problematic, month-long world tour that has seen wide-scale protests to China's human rights abuses and recent crackdown in Tibet. On April 6, 2008 the relay in London saw several attempts to put out the flame. The following day, the flame was extinguished in Paris as a result of opposition to Chinese rule in Tibet. As a result of these disruptions the American leg in San Francisco on the 9th April was altered without prior warning to avoid such scenes, although there were still demonstrations along the original route.

Concerns over the games include the potential for boycotts from pro-Tibetan organizations such as Students for a Free Tibet as well as from organizations such as Amnesty International upset with China's involvement in the crisis in Darfur. China has also been battling problems with air pollution both in the city of Beijing and in neighboring areas, which the Beijing Organizing Committee (BOCOG) says it hopes to remedy before the games. The head of Interpol warned China on April 25, 2008 that there is a "real possibility" that the Beijing Olympics will be targeted by terrorist groups, as well as potentially violent disruption from pro-Tibet protestors.

The Geneva-based group, Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions has claimed that 1.5 million Beijing residents will be displaced from their homes for the Olympics event. Beijing's Olympic organizing committee and China's Foreign Ministry have put the number at 6,037. Some sources say that as of May 2005, 300,000 residents have been evicted in preparation for the games and that police in Beijing placed many people under arrest for protesting against the evictions. While other sources can be found to say that nearly 15,000 people have been relocated.

Numerous human rights violations have taken place in China because of the Olympics, according to an Amnesty International report. In 2006, Beijing implemented a detention without trial scheme called "Re-education Through Labour" which targets people who have committed minor offenses and are forced to work long hours and can be detained for 4 years.[94] Activist Hu Jia was detained in December 2007 for voicing concern over human rights abuses by the Beijing Police. He was charged for “inciting subversion of state power” and was sentenced for 3.5 years in prison.

The Beijing municipal authority has declared that more than 70 local laws and decrees would be made before the 2008 Summer Olympics which would banish local people who don't have hukou (residency permits) of Beijing. It would also banish vagrants, beggars, and people with mental illness from the city. The municipal authority also made it clear that it would strengthen border control, call for a "special holiday", or forcible shutout, to make Beijing citizens stay at home during the Olympics. It also seeks to strengthen controls over Chinese and foreign NGOs and forbid any protests during the games. The government has also strengthened its laws relating to prosecution of those deemed to be disseminating material not beneficial to the state.

While no state has indicated they will boycott the 2008 games, some groups are initiating independent campaigns to do so and other notable groups have called for protests. It has been reported that Chinese intelligence services were monitoring the activities of foreigners suspected of plotting demonstrations during the Olympics. In addition to monitoring NGOs that are concerned with domestic Chinese issues, the Chinese intelligence is also monitoring possible terrorism-related activities and anti-American demonstrations.

Pro-Tibetan independence groups, such as Students for a Free Tibet, have initiated a campaign to protest the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics. The group plans to protest for Tibetan independence and objects to the Chinese government's use of the Tibetan antelope (chiru) as one of its five mascots. The Tibetan People's Movement has also demanded representation of Tibet with its own national flag. Hollywood actor Richard Gere in his position as the chairman of the International Campaign for Tibet called for the boycott of the games to put pressure on China to make Tibet independent. There have also been plans by Tibetans to organise their own version of the Olympics in May at the headquarters of Tibetan government-in-exile, because Tibet doesn't get representation.

The press freedom organisation Reporters Without Borders has advocated a boycott expressing concerns over violations of free speech and human rights in China. It hopes that international pressure and petition can effect the release of prisoners of conscience, and hold China to promises made to the IOC, regarding improvements in human rights. Reporters Without Borders journalists interrupted the speech of China organizing committee chief during the Olympic torch lighting ceremony in Greece March 24, 2008. Three of them breached a cordon of 1,000 police at the ancient Olympia stadium and ran behind Liu Qi, head of the Beijing Games committee, as he made a speech. One protestor tried to snatch the microphone as another unrolled a black flag showing the Olympic rings as handcuffs. The trio, from a French human rights group, were dragged away by police. Nearly 50 Tibetan exiles in India began a global torch relay March 25, 2008 with a symbolic "Olympic" flame that will end in Tibet on August 8, 2008, the day of the Summer Games' opening ceremonies in Beijing.

Activists working to address the ongoing violence in Darfur, Sudan, have called for pressure to be exerted on China because of their financial and diplomatic support for Omar al-Bashir, who is responsible for the Sudanese government's proxy militias. These advocates, which include actress Mia Farrow, NBA athlete Ira Newble, and Sudan researcher Eric Reeves, have organized a global advocacy campaign called Olympic Dream for Darfur. Some have begun to refer to the Beijing Olympics as the "Genocide Olympics" as noted in The China Post as a way of connecting Beijing's close political and economic ties to the Sudanese regime. The Chinese government, in turn, has criticised the activists for "politicising" the Olympics and outlined its plans to help the Sudanese economy.

Since China has close economic and military ties with Burma, it is seen as a major lever against the repressive regime in Myanmar. Many have also criticized China's opposition of sanctions against Burma's military rulers, who used force against anti-government protesters in 2007. The Olympics are considered a way to motivate China to take a firm stance against human rights violations in Burma.

On September 28, 2007, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu urged China to intervene in the ongoing protests in Burma. Tutu said that if China did not take a stance against the military rulers in Myanmar he would "join a campaign to boycott the Beijing Olympics". His call has been taken up by the U.S. Campaign for Burma.

Boycotts
COMMENT- Boycotts of sponsors will be much more effective than athlete boycotts. Call and write the sponsors and the broadcasters and tell them that you will not be buying their products if they continue to fund the Chinese Olympics.



Calls for sustained pressure and possible boycotts of the Olympics have come from former French presidential candidate François Bayrou, actor and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Mia Farrow, Genocide Intervention Network Representative Ronan Farrow,[114] author and Sudan scholar Eric Reeves and the The Washington Post editorial board. Filmmaker Steven Spielberg, founder of the Los Angeles' University of Southern California's Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education, sent a letter to Hu Jintao on April 2, 2007 to discuss and possibly end China's involvement in the conflict. In February 2008, Spielberg announced he was stepping down from his role as an artistic advisor in protest of the Chinese government's refusal to pressure Sudan to stop the "continuing human suffering" in the Darfur region. He noted: "Sudan's government bears the bulk of the responsibility for these on-going crimes, but the international community, and particularly China, should be doing more." Additionally, a group of 106 lawmakers in the United States have circulated a letter calling for the US to boycott the coming Olympics because of China's support of the Sudanese regime and the forced relocation of 300,000 Chinese poor to make room for the games. Congresswoman Maxine Waters introduced a similar resolution in early August 2000.

The British Olympic Association (BOA) will require that before leaving for China, British Olympic team members sign an agreement, stating that they "are not to comment on any politically sensitive issues." However, BOA spokesman Graham Newsom stated that the BOA didn't intend to censor athletes, and referred to a rule in the International Olympic Committee charter which states, "No kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas."

On April 2, 2008, the Japanese government announced that its royal family will not participate in the opening ceremony, now the violent crackdown in Tibet has been the focus of international concern. These issues led the government to decide to reject the request.

On April 5, French newspaper Le Monde quoted a French minister as stating that the attendance of president Sarkozy at the opening ceremony is "conditional". Three conditions were set: "an end to violence against the population and the release of political prisoners, light to be shed on the events in Tibet and the opening of dialogue with the Dalai Lama."[124] However, Minister Rama Yade said that Le Monde misquoted her as listing conditions, and that the word "conditions" was never used. BBC News wrote that while Sarkozy was opposed to a full boycott, he would "not close the door to any possibility" as far as his own attendance is concerned.

Masahisa Tsujitani, a Japanese craftsman who makes shots used by many Olympic athletes announced April 14 he refuses to allow his wares to be used at the 2008 Olympics to protest against China's treatment of protesters in Tibet.

END QUOTE from Wikipedia


If you need more information then I can be reached at parker at minkhollow dot ca

FYI, I am a professor of Drama at the University of Calgary, and my home page can be found at http://www.ucalgary.ca/~jparker