Fool's Mountain: Blogging for China

My wife and I, along with a German, an Aussie, a TCK (third culture kid), and an American watched the Opening Ceremonies on a giant screen in one of Tianjin’s biggest parks. There were thousands of people there, and very few foreigners. We’ve posted pictures, video, and blogged the experience, particularly the crowd’s reactions to different things (Watching the Opening Ceremony with a few thousand Tianjiners!).

We also took in two football matches, experiencing the new Olympic venue and China’s legions of volunteers (impressive!): Olympic soccer in Tianjin!

Here’s a short video of the biggest reactions from the crowd we were in to the most popular parts of the Opening Ceremony:

We’ve written our impressions as the foreign guests, and I’m curious how the readers would respond, particularly what they think of Tianjiners reactions during the ceremonies. Are they typical? Representative of most of China? If not, how do you think they are different? I personally was surprised that people weren’t more enthusiastic (for example, hardly anyone sang the national anthem). But I don’t know if that’s a reflection of Tianjiners, or just a reflection of my poor understanding of China.