They decided a little later. They arrived at 9 o'clock when the competition was going to start at half-past 9.
These people had privileges in Beijing, and it was easy for them to get tickets to academic competitions that no one watched.
For competitions like this, the huge stadium was merely filled with about one or two hundred people.
Although the competition was going to start in thirty minutes, the stadium was only filled with about one to two hundred people.
Besides the spectators, the rest of the people there were all reporters. They were standing there with their cameras aimed at the stage, waiting to live-stream the competition. For the platforms that did not support the live stream, the reporters would record the competition and would then turn it into a news report.