Beijing 2008: China getting all uptight about the coming Olympics; maybe they should chill out a bit...

FEARS of a "no fun Olympics" are growing as security restrictions increase and become more bizarre with less than 20 days to go until the opening ceremony.

Beijing police have been visiting bar owners in the popular Sanlitun area and asking them to sign pledges agreeing to not serve black people or Mongolians and ban activities including dancing.

Bar owners said that police have been clamping down on black people and Mongolians, who are sometimes implicated in drug dealing and prostitution, as part of an Olympic clean-up campaign that they and locals fear will make for a secure but sterile Games.

Maggies, Beijing's most notorious expatriate bar, referred to as the "Mongolian embassy" because of its popularity with Mongolian prostitutes and Western men, was shut suddenly about two months ago after a reported murder.

The gay bar Destination has also been ordered to shut down its dance bar until further notice.

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See also: "Welcome to Beijing", China's Olympic song...

And this: Beijing's Olympic glamour: One World, One Dream?

And this: Yu Pingju the nut-seller defies mighty Beijing..