Progress

2008 Olympic Site Displaying “PROGRESS”

BEIJING, CHINA - If you want to measure a city’s readiness for a monumental event by spelling the word “progress,” it might be spelled P-R-O-G-R in Beijing. Or, more appropriately, you could probably spell O-L-Y-M-P. As Summer Olympic anticipation spreads from the South (Major Countdown Clock at Tiananmen Square) to the North (Olympic Village) of Beijing, the city readies itself for the onslaught of hundreds of thousands of tourists during the Games, set to open on August 8th.

As I recently walked the streets of Beijing during the end of China’s most festive and important holiday, the Chinese New Year, it was easy to spot signs of development. The subway system, which is undergoing transformation at this moment, functioned very smoothly. There was also ongoing construction throughout the city, most notably around the Olympic Village.

Beijing is often described by tourists as “dirty” and this is an image that the city is clearly looking to dispel. The streets are as pristine as a major urban city can get. And they did not “get” that way by mistake. In this regard, the city’s current approach might be best embodied by a city sanitation worker I saw one frigid day.

Despite the wind and ten-degree cold, in true Chinese fashion, he was on his bike. He used a long stick to pick up a piece of trash as he crossed a busy intersection and calmly continued his route. He’s doing his part to clean up the small stuff and city officials have their plan for the bigger issues, like air pollution and smog.

Rumors abound that the government may attempt to control the weather in the weeks leading up to the Games. Supposedly, their plan involves shooting fireworks with rock salt into the sky. The iodide in the rock salt causes a chemical reaction in the clouds and forces rain, which cleans the streets and reduces smog. Of course, this is all for not if the stadiums and other facilities are not ready.

The unfinished construction at the Olympic Village was a bit unsettling. And this is likely the reason for recent stories that the city is behind in its preparations. The box office, which surely cannot be the finished product, looks like something a high school team might use for its game-day sales.

Bulldozers and construction cranes, scattered bricks along with piles of dirt, are commonly and randomly found around the Village next to nearly-completed visions of what is to be. The stadiums and facilities appear to be near completion, but the areas surrounding these places are raw and unfinished.

Beijing National Stadium (capacity: 91,000), the mainstay of the village, is nearly completed. It will host the opening ceremony and act as the main track and field stadium, among other events. Its nickname is similar to that of the late “Vet” on autumn Sundays as it is also nicknamed “The Bird’s Nest.” This is not because of the football team that plays there, but its peculiar, ornate webbed construction pattern. At first glance, it appears to be to home to an enormous bird or spider. But upon closer view, the venue reveals itself to be a magnificent structure, catching the eye with its cocoon-like architecture and silvery grandness.

The subway is in a similar transition state as that of the Olympic Village. While the line numbers are a bit confusing (1, 2, 5, 10, and 13), the pieces that are in working order look wonderful, and I found getting around being very inexpensive (2 RMB = $0.28!) and efficient. The works in progress range from minor (ticket counters) to more important (two lines are under construction, one of which connects all lines to the airport).

In many other cities, there may be a sense of panic at the sight of the work that needs to be done, but if there is one thing that the Chinese are used to, it is accomplishing tasks quickly. For the last 30 years, China has grown more rapidly than any other country on the planet, at a clip of almost 10% per year. They have looked rapid expansion in the face and asked for more. Now, it’s become a way of life.

So, in many ways, this is an ideal place to have a formidable construction and development task ahead. Not only has the economy been growing like gangbusters, but there is only one political party. And if the Communist Party wants something done, there is no such thing as red tape or political wrangling. From speaking with a local resident, the motto seems to be, “If it can be dreamt, planned and approved by the Communist Party, it will get done.”

As one might expect, I did not see any negative media attention regarding the Olympics on any Chinese media. Instead, the English language CCTV (China Central Television) regales its viewers with stories of volunteers embracing the Olympics and the positive impacts the Olympics are having on women. While these stories likely hold truth, there is no counterbalance talking about the construction and pollution concerns.

The saturation continues when you travel on the subway. As is the case in many cities, each subway car has several television monitors, as do the underground platforms. These monitors are very useful in keeping travelers notified of when the next train will arrive. But in between postings, the monitors act as Olympic tutorials, displaying the rules and regulations for various events such as trampoline, table tennis, boxing, and floor gymnastics. I found some of the pieces to be informative (I had no idea there was a trampoline event), but, on the whole, it’s overkill. “All Olympics, all the time” with the media at the helm seems to be the Communist Party’s tact to distract the public away from privileges we take for granted like freedom of the press, religion, and speech.

And who controls the media? Another local resident told me, “The (Communist) Party finds its lighting rod every few years, when it has to drum up support and distract the public from more controversial issues. Before, it was the (1999) bombing of the embassy in Kosovo, and now it’s the Olympics.”

China’s approach to these Games may be unorthodox, but the job will get done. How it gets done, what happens in the meantime and your perception of it, will dictate how you spell PROGRESS this coming August.