China’s Olympic Efforts—Grand Opening or Grand Finale?

By Allison Chang

hang Yi laces up his fiery-red running sneakers bedazzled in golden Chinese characters and an Adidas logo, as he prepares for a long run through the largest public square in the world—Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The smog-infested sky maintains its milky white color even in the early hours of the morning, when the air is known to be the freshest. Yi starts off at the South Gate entrance, which is blanketed by a massive hanging tapestry that reads—“Take part, contribute and enjoy yourself by welcoming the Olympics, being civilized and behaving better.” Similar behavioral banners stand as giant landmarks all across the city, reminding Beijing citizens to behave better by spitting and cursing less. In the heart of Tiananmen Square, the countdown clock looms in the distance with glowing letters: “66 days, 6 hours, 8 minutes, 53 seconds.” Yi only has a couple of more months left to train for the 42.195km marathon event!

He runs by the massive construction site of the Bird’s Nest. The beautiful architectural monstrosity is a testimony to China’s love for “biomimicry”; a pseudo term that references large massive buildings modeled after nature. The Olympic stadium is shaped like a bird’s nest with intertwining metal girders that resemble gentle chopsticks—and is symbolic of China’s political volatility and complex nature. In just a couple of months, China will attempt to

unravel the bird’s nest of political and environmental problems to show to the world that buried deep within the nest, are the golden eggs of this country’s true beauty.

However, one must remember—these golden eggs were ‘Made in China,’ and may just be another attempt to market a positive image to the world. China has spent nearly $40 billion on its Olympic endeavors—a number that steadily increases as more environmental and model-behavior campaigns such as “No Car Day” and “Don’t-Cut-in-Line Day” are being pumped into the Chinese public. God forbid China looks bad in front of its global friends—or rather, Mao Zedong forbids!

Unfortunately, China’s flashy marketing attempts can’t cover up the myriad of challenges concerning its image. Human rights activists are using the Olympics as a PR mechanism to draw negative attention to China and its relations to major international issues. For example, protesters in Europe have made the Olympic Torch’s journey a rough one—at one point, the torch was forced to travel within the protected confines of a bus so as not to be extinguished by anti-China protesters. In France, the torchbearers’ protective measures became short-lived when a man succeeded in dousing out the flame. Currently, activists in San Francisco eagerly await the torch’s arrival and have been seen climbing up the treacherous poles of the Golden Gate Bridge with large banners that read “Free Tibet!”

China’s Olympic woes are endless. Its connection to the Darfur genocide has clearly destroyed China’s hopes for hosting a somewhat glamorous Olympics with Steven Spielberg’s withdrawal as the official “Artistic Director.” This Hollywood director isn’t the only one that has fled the Olympic stage. Huge corporate sponsorships such as General

Electric and Coca-Cola have withdrawn their aid to the “Genocide Olympics” in order to protect their corporate images. Human rights activists hope that these withdrawals will pressure China into ceasing the flow of funds into Sudan—thus influencing the muddled country into making peace with the UN. However, it seems that these attempts may remain futile in regards to Darfur’s outcome. Because when it comes down to the facts—China is not directly responsible for Darfur. China is, however, directly responsible for the turmoil in Tibet.

The opposition between the Tibetans and the Chinese are evident with the most recent riot in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, which caused 10 civilian deaths. There is speculation on whether the riot was sparked by violence from the Chinese police onto Tibetan protesters, or if it’s the other way around—if in fact these “peaceful demonstrations” had escalated into terrorist-like attacks on the civilians. Depending on the source, there are dual standpoints as to what is actually going on in Tibet. It is inevitable, however, that Tibet’s

confusing and chaotic scene will ultimately tarnish China’s reputation, if it hasn’t done so already.

Aside from political matters, even more pressure mounts as China works hard to improve its environmental policies on the “Smog Olympics.” The People’s Republic of China (PRC) has mandated the conversion of coal-fired furnaces to natural gas. Millions—yes, millions—of trees have been planted in Beijing to block the winds that blow dust into the northern and western parts of the city. Beijing factories and plants are being forced to shutdown or relocate to the suburbs. Older taxicabs have been replaced with 80,000 newer models that produce less pollution. Despite all of these attempts, few improvements in the Beijing air can be seen—which raises a huge concern for Olympians. Ethiopia’s star athlete Haile Gebrselassie, the world’s current record holder in the marathon, withdrew from the Beijing Olympics due to the pollution’s potential threat to his health. This may be a good sign for other marathon runners, but it isn’t a good sign for China—their promise to host the “Green Olympics” falls extremely short.

The vicious cycle of continuous efforts for a grand ceremony and the internal break-down of China’s public policies, will be extremely scrutinized by global eyes as the world community continues to incorporate China into mainstream media—pointing out every single blemish along the way as the Olympics draw nearer. It was only seven years ago when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) bid on Beijing for the 2008 Olympics. In 2001, success for China seemed highly possible—but today, China’s once aspiring dream to celebrate its “coming-out” party with the world could possibly burn into Olympic flames.

Zhang Yi continues to run around Tiananmen Square. He circles around the seemingly endless courtyard, and coughs a little along the way, searching for the end in sight. ✖AC