August 8th Comes and Goes - What's Left?

August 8th, 2008 is a day this generation of Chinese people will never forget. Aside from being the most auspicious date thinkable in Chinese culture (the number 8 is considered good luck), for China, the commencement of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics are in fact the closure to a race against time.

China has been preparing tirelessly since it won the bid for host country back on July 2001. It has been anxious to show the world it is worthy of international recognition and admiration, not only economically, but more importantly, socially.

The increasing tension on its human rights record, Darfur, Tibet, Taiwan, all have politicized the Olympics whether they wanted it or not.

Still, China strives to showcase itself as a progressive, avant-garde nation, one who pushes the limits, is pleasing to the West, yet maintains its autonomy and culture untouched. Not an easy task. Everybody here in Beijing can tell you that. Just look at the arquitecture alone. The buildings themselves speak to that.

The Chinese government has carried through an extensive promotional campaign for the games, going far beyond mere advertising. The Olympics became a highly sensitive issue for the Chinese. It’s personal now. They have not only highlighted China’s debut on the world stage, but it has all the while served to instill national pride. The Chinese government has made sure it happens this way. How? Like good capitalists get things done – with money, with investment.

New facilities, infrastructure and transportation systems; there are now 7 new subway lines and 80 new stations in place, doubling the subway’s capacity in less than a year. New, bigger, more elegant and efficient buses and bus stations were built. The drivers and workers inside of these were also given English lessons with handy Olympic-friendly phrases. They were given “etiquette” lessons to, for example, tune down the volume on the ubiquitous spitting soundtrack, or to quote one example.

The transformation Beijing and China have undergone is unparalleled in history. How Beijing grows, how it changes its mind, errs, retraces itself, in matter of months, European cities did in the course of centuries. Beijing has a new face, everyday. Twenty years ago it was a bit more than a backward dusty town, repressed and uninspiring, not even a rough draft of what one day it would become.

Today it thrives and shines – though only on good days, when the pollution doesn’t swallow the futuristic panorama of mind-bending sky rises and cutting-edge technology stadiums.

In total, 37 venues will be used to host the events including 12 newly constructed. Among these is the famed Beijing National Stadium, nicknamed the Bird’s Nest, a colossal metal knot which will host the opening and closing ceremonies. Shining beside is the “Water Cube”, the National Aquatics Center, a rectangular collection of Teflon-like translucent plastic bubbles, inspired in nature’s most efficient way of filling 3-D space. These are but a few samples of what Beijing has turned in to for these long-awaited Olympics.

They have been the most expensive games to date. The government once expressed how it hoped for the “greatest Olympics ever.” They are still mobilizing massive amounts of time, energy and money into making it so.

But with the Tibetan uprisings back in May, the Olympic torch fiasco, and the recent attack from East Turkestan Muslim militias in Xinjiang, China’s westernmost region, they are now mostly waiting to have “an incident-free Olympics.”

Though a lot has not gone as expected, still, August 8th and on promises too much. We have waited for so long, so much of so many people is at work and at stake, it is sure these games will be everything but disappointing.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/25/sports/olympics/25china.html?ex=1377403200&en=2599606bfa0f90ad&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink