China deserves plaudits

Published : Aug 09, 2008 00:00 IST

The National Aquatics Centre, better known as Water Cube, in Beijing. The 2008 Olympics has turned out to be the most expensive in history. Costs are running at some $43 billion.-AP The National Aquatics Centre, better known as Water Cube, in Beijing. The 2008 Olympics has turned out to be the most expensive in history. Costs are running at some $43 billion.
The National Aquatics Centre, better known as Water Cube, in Beijing. The 2008 Olympics has turned out to be the most expensive in history. Costs are running at some $43 billion.-AP The National Aquatics Centre, better known as Water Cube, in Beijing. The 2008 Olympics has turned out to be the most expensive in history. Costs are running at some $43 billion.
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The National Aquatics Centre, better known as Water Cube, in Beijing. The 2008 Olympics has turned out to be the most expensive in history. Costs are running at some $43 billion.-AP The National Aquatics Centre, better known as Water Cube, in Beijing. The 2008 Olympics has turned out to be the most expensive in history. Costs are running at some $43 billion.

In the lead-up to August 8, 2008, the Olympics became a catalyst for sweeping changes. Beijing was transformed architecturally, historically, even temperamentally. “New Beijing, New Olympics” was the motto as the city had a frenetic makeover, writes Pallavi Aiyar.

The scope and intensity of the celebrations in the Chinese capital on July 13, 2001, as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced its decision to award the 2008 Games to Beijing, set the tone for the China Olympics story that has developed over the next seven years.

Beijing went on a high with Olympic excitement and sporting pride. Dozens of gigantic clocks counting down the days and hours to the Games were put up at major street corners, ensuring that the city was always on “Olympics time.” Banners and hoardings congratulating China and assuring the international community that “Beijingers are friends to all the world” dotted the city’s fast-changing skyline.

In the lead-up to August 8, 2008 (number 8 is considered lucky in Chinese since its pronunciation ba is a homonym for wealth), the Olympics became a catalyst for sweeping changes. Beijing was transformed architecturally, historically, even temperamentally. “New Beijing, New Olympics” was the motto as the city had a frenetic makeover.

China had lost a bid to host the 2000 Olympics following the voicing of seeming human rights concerns. So, the decision to award the 2008 Olympics to Beijing was seen and promoted by the authorities as a sort of vindication.

The Olympics will now provide a dramatic stage for China, and the international community, to signal oneness. China could showcase its monumental modernisation drive and flag its metamorphosis from the “sick man of Asia” to the muscular economic power it has become.

Thus, although the Olympics might be a sporting event, for China the Games is about far more than track and field and diving competitions. It is as much about prestige and international acceptance. Domestically, the event presents the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) an opportunity to highlight its successes in the midst of far-reaching social and economic changes.

Since the time of the Roman Empire, large sporting events have served an important ritualistic and political function, helping create a sense of common belonging and pride among citizens of a given territory. In China, too, the Olympics is being used to provide a nationalist glue.

The 2008 Olympics has turned out to be the most expensive in history. Costs are running at some $43 billion. This is nearly three times that of the 2004 Games in Athens, which were estimated at $15 billion.

An amazing level of resources have been poured in to ensure that Beijing’s Olympic clothes dazzle and wow. A slew of iconic buildings including the 90,000-seater “Bird’s Nest” National Stadium, an impossibly complicated engineering marvel of wrought steel mesh, have been erected.

Subway lines and expressways running to hundreds of kilometres have been built and opened. A Norman Foster-designed third terminal at the Beijing International Airport, spanning the size of 170 football fields, is ready in time to welcome athletes and visitors.

Everywhere there is evidence of out-sized preparations. An astonishing 40 million potted plants are being placed across the city as part of an Olympics beautification project. Hundreds of public toilets have been transformed. According to Beijing’s municipal authorities, over $10 million a year was spent annually between 2005 and 2008 on building these luxurious lavatories.

But the changes are not just physical. Attempts have been made to transform Beijingers themselves into smiling citizens. They have been orientated to welcome “foreign friends” to their city in the English language.

Since 2002, “Olympics English” classes were on in many neighbourhoods. Armies of senior citizens spent the last several years receiving English lessons on weekends. Police officers and taxi drivers were told to master at least 200 English phrases each. Neighbourhood committees have been teaching their members to mind their Ps and Qs and create “courteous communities.” A group calling itself the Capital Committee to Promote Culture and Ideological Progress distributed 50,000 packs of tissues —with a warning that those who spit in public would be fined $7.

In order to solve the twin problems of gridlocked traffic and smog, the capital has imposed measures including an even-odd registration number rule for private vehicles. There is a moratorium on all construction and on some kinds of industrial activity.

The manner in which China has gone about preparing itself for the Games indicates the Chinese government’s greatest strength: its ability to deploy top-down mobilisation of resources to execute grand projects.

Simultaneously, however, the Olympics has generated some anxieties and challenges for Beijing. The manner in which the CCP is able to deal with it all will be tested to the hilt now.

Given the international spotlight that the Olympics always brings to any host country, the Games has served to bring together a range of China’s critics, too. They range from those who are seemingly unhappy with Beijing’s domestic policies, to those critical of its dealings with regimes like the one in Sudan. A whole assortment of human rights activists, environmentalists and “free speech” advocates have jumped on to the bandwagon to try and cause pin-pricks to the government.

The months leading up to the Games have thus not been easy for Beijing. In February, Hollywood’s Steven Spielberg pulled out as artistic director for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, citing his dissatisfaction with China’s economic relationship with the Sudanese government.

The troubles in Tibet earlier this year cast somewhat of a shadow. The Olympic Torch had a somewhat tortuous but steady journey as it wended its way around the world. In London, Paris and San Francisco, some groups attempted to obstruct it.

To add to it all, despite the billions of dollars allocated to ensuring the promised “Green Olympics,” the capital’s air showed scant signs of improvement. Marathon world-record holder Haile Gebrselassie pulled out of the Beijing marathon citing concerns about air quality. The usually diplomatic IOC warned that some events might have to be rescheduled at the last moment depending on the pollution levels.

Beijing has been able to ride out most of the challenges, successfully overcoming even the outlandish talk of a boycott. The Games are likely to be well attended by foreign dignitaries. Among others, French President Nicolas Sarkozy has decided to come.

The Beijing Olympics could well turn out to be the most fraught Games in recent times. It may also give the Olympics motto of “faster, higher, stronger” a new dimension: “costlier, grander and under greater scrutiny.” What the long-term effects of the Olympics for China will be is still a wide open question. What are clear and certain are the grand passions the Olympics has excited on all sides of the political spectrum even before the Opening Ceremony.

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