It's a Zhongguoren eat Zhongguoren World Out There...

...Especially when it comes to getting Olympics tickets.
Phase 4 of Olympic ticket sales began on Friday. Officially, Phase 4 is the only phase during which tickets can be bought in person at the venue at which an event is taking place. Unofficially, this means half of China mobs every venue in town in a massive and desperate dogfight to get their hands on a limited number of remaining tickets. The full story can be read here: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/olympics/2008-07/26/content_6879093.htm
EDIT: Here's an American version of the story - kind of interesting to compare. http://www.nbcolympics.com/destinationbeijing/news/newsid=155905.html#ticket+sale+starts+stampede+beijing

After a couple of failed attempts at obtaining tickets through other means, my group of friends decided to take on the Chinese to see if we couldn't come out with something that day. Since there were 30,000 people at the Bird's Nest (where tickets for the most popular sports were being sold), we decided to split up into two groups and go for soccer (my friends were dedicated enough to get up early and skip class to stake out a spot in line) and beach volleyball (which is not very popular at all in China, so we were able to go a bit later), at their respective venues. We got to the Beach Volleyball Park soon after Chinese class to find people huddled around a gate. We found out eventually that there had been a couple of thousand people there at 9 am who they were still processing, and not letting anyone else in until those were done. Finally, after about an hour and a half later, the word came that they were opening a gate.

I have never been in a mob like that ever in my life, and I pray that I never will be again. I'm not completely sure my feet were touching the ground and I nearly lost an arm as the PRC Police attempted to use the force of their bodies to mold a screaming (I forget the Chinese phrase for "Open the Gate!" but it was being chanted) amorphous pack of a couple of hundred people into a single file line (seriously, in China!? Not sure who ever thought that was going to be successfully maintained...) through a gate. Try to imagine 12 different Chinese men making at least 14 different points of contact with your rib cage in the 95 degree smelteringly humid heat (I'd say roughtly 110 when accounting for the body heat index). Good grief.

Waiting outside the gate. Smushed. Though this is before the main mob incident occurred.

However, we finally got some all day beach volleyball tickets for - this is the best part - 50 yuan. That's a grand total of $7.35, folks. Gotta love Chinese pricing. And since we were allowed to buy two tickets each, we each traded with our friends who had gone to the Worker's Stadium (and had an even more intense crowd experience), so we can hopefully all go to one of each.

But finally victorious...and definitely an experience in and of itself.