In 1787, in order to mask the awful conditions in the Ukraine and Crimea from the Russian Empress Catherine II, Prince Grigori Aleksandrovich Potemkin allegedly constructed whole villages of cardboard. From this event we get the term "Potemkin Village", something so blatantly contrived in order to mask something much darker underneath. Communist countries are especially adept at the art of the Potemkin Village.
However, Prince Potemkin has nothing on Hu Jintao and his cohorts. Beijing 2008 is the greatest masterpiece of Potemkin village-making. Its practically a Potemkin City...something not even Kim Jong Il could have dreamed of.
So much so that if I could, I would propose that the term be re-made. Potemkin has been eclipsed. The term should now be a Jintao City.
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