Welcome to the Olympic tickets black market! This informal institution is located on the square at Beitucheng station (the intersection of subway lines 10 and 8 next to the Olympic Green). This is where offer meets demand and causes some tickets to be sold at exorbitant prices, while others at face value. And all of this despite more than clear rules (see photo to the left) and constant oversight by the police present in large numbers just next to the square.

Although I have more than enough tickets myself (and am not planning to sell any) something attracts me to walk though the mass of people there this evening. There are so many! Probably ca. 500 people all in all. Some sellers are just quietly sitting there with tickets in their hands, while others are gesticulating wildly surrounded by hordes of potential buyers. Only some (probably more desperate) sellers actually approach me, others just show the tickets and wait for me to engage them. Some of them look outright criminal, including some of the foreigners selling, others more innocent - mothers with their children. Some test questions reveal how the invisible hand is allocating: "synchronized swimming?" - "won't even bother to bargain below 3300RMB" (for a tickets that cost maybe 200-500 max. originally); "football final?" - "1000RMB"...

The atmosphere is special here - Agitated, positive but also tense. Maybe also because the police can raid the whole thing any moment (picture to the right taken the day before). Several hundred have already been arrested, with 10-15 days prison for locals and deportation for foreigners (good luck on that next visa...) plus hefty fines. Risky business. But probably because of its inevitability the authorities tolerate a lot of activity - but do impose the laws not to give a wrong impression of lawlessness. That night I leave Beitucheng without more tickets but with another interesting impression of the Olympics.