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August 9, 2008
Posted: 1213 GMT
BEIJING, China – Beijing has its fair share of expatriates, many of whom are Western school teachers dropping by for a few months or, at most, a year.  Not so for 27-year-old Elyse Ribbons, a Detroit local who's managed to avoid any itch after hitting her 7-year mark as a Beijinger. She arrived on the eve of Beijing's successful Olympics bid, fell in love with the city, and has since become proficient in Mandarin. "I was in Beijing when the Games were announced. It was such an exciting time, and one of the things that endeared the city to me," she remembers. "Seeing locals clean the city up, and watching everyone unite was amazing. In London (where she has also spent time) there's been no real spirit of the Olympics. But in Beijing, a switch was turned on way back in 2001 and everyone's worked together ever since." Ribbons combined her love affair with Beijing and her background in the arts by setting up the company Cheeky Monkey Productions, which produces documentaries, short videos and plays. Consequently, she's had numerous plays performed in the city, the most recent of which was banned. "Lethal English," about a female English language teacher who gets involved in a murder mystery involving corporate espionage and police corruption in Beijing, didn't go down too well with the authorities. "As a result, we were forced to run it in an underground punk club," she explains. "But it was tough as you can't inform the press and so you lose most of your potential audience straight off. The police found out about it eventually anyway, and it was shut down." The ban made her ponder one of the negative aspects of living in China - censorship - and she now spends more effort dealing with sensitive issues when writing her plays. "I now subtly introduce contentious aspects by using metaphors for things, and leave it up to the audience to figure it out," she says. "There are other negatives about living here. Personally, one of the things I do worry about long-term is my health. When I was home last, I had a medical check-up and the doctor asked if I was a smoker, which I'm not." But ultimately, this expat says the city has a lot more positives than negatives. "I really love this city, and hope to stay here. The food alone is worth it - it's absolutely superb," she says. She's also excited about her ongoing Beijing-themed work, which includes a documentary on a behind-the-scenes look at how the city's restaurants work, due out in autumn. And in winter, the public can expect her new play (as yet untitled) which takes Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew" and sets it in modern day Beijing. Posted by: CNN.com's David Challenger
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Receive updates from across the world on the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. "Olympics and the World" is a blog offering you the thoughts and observations from athletes, journalists around unique personalities preparing for the Olympics in China. Whether it's from the training field, the newsroom or the homes of everyday people, "Olympics and the World" provides you a global pulse as the Beijing Olympics approach. Special Report: Beijing 2008  Athletes
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