Members given inside information on loos and lifts
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-03-05 07:29

There are two places in their hotels that CPPCC members should stay away from if they need a break from journalists - the toilet and the elevator.

Case in point: Outside a toilet in Beijing's Huarun Hotel yesterday, more than reporters staked out. From there, they could keep an eye on all closed doors of the two meeting rooms where CPPCC held their discussions.

They also stood a good chance of getting hold of political advisors when a meeting was in session, because everyone had to go to the toilet sooner or later.

The pack had placed their bets on the toilet because their quarries were well experienced in "catch-me-if-you-can" with reporters.

Yesterday's discussions of the arts and culture section of the CPPCC included celebrities such as film directors Zhang Yimou and Feng Xiaogang, and singers Han Hong and Song Zuying.

The venue proved no respite from the brutal nature of the entertainment industry, where reporters flocked to people of the moment and ignored yesterday's news.

When it was director Feng's turn to visit the toilet, he got out of the meeting room and peered around cautiously. With no reporters in sight, he looked relaxed and headed for his destination 10 m away.

Feng's eyes widened when the journalists pounced on him at the doorway. He had to speak for 20 minutes before retreating to the meeting room, his toilet break denied. Chain smoker that he is, he did not stop for even one puff.

The film director's encounter struck a sharp contrast with Huang Hong, who was a favorite comedian of many Chinese before falling behind his colleague Zhao Benshan in popularity at the turn of the century.

Huang found no difficulty in visiting the toilet. The reporters parted to let him through. Some even looked away.

Billionaire Stanley Ho Hung-sun, a CPPCC member from Macao, is surrounded by reporters at his hotel yesterday. Huo Yan

Rumors were that director Zhang used a secret backdoor of the hotel, to successfully avoid meeting the swarm of reporters waiting for him at the hotel's gate in the chilly wind since 6 am yesterday.

Hotel managers swore that "every customer uses the same gate", and the famed director probably did not show up at the toilet until the end of the meeting.

It turned out that Zhang asked to be absent from yesterday's session.

Hurdler Liu Xiang and tennis player Yan Zi also disappointed reporters waiting for them at the 21st Century Hotel, because they were away at international contests. Instead, the media turned to Jiang Xiaoyu, executive vice-president of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad.

There were more than 50 reporters waiting for the Olympic official beside the elevator, which was near the door of the meeting room. When Jiang got in the lift, all of them squeezed for a space too.

The ruckus set off the elevator alarm and it did not budge until 10 minutes later, when the reporters got their questions answered.

Arriving at the lobby minutes later, the lift opened to another group of 15 reporters, where an exhausted but smiling Jiang greeted them.

(China Daily 03/05/2008 page6)