CNN’s Beijing correspondent John Vause marvels at the ways in which Olympic preparation, wrecking balls and etiquette training are changing his city
Mrs Wang, who runs my corner grocery store, seems happy enough. Together, we count 12 cranes working within a few city blocks. Through broken English and Chinese, she tells me it is a sight to make a Beijinger proud. She believes the construction represents progress, that China’s economy is ticking over nicely, and even more so, getting ready to show the world just how far it has come – far enough to host the Olympics. China only re-entered the Olympic ‘family’ at the Los Angeles Games in 1984 and now, 23 years later, there are dizzy ambitions of staging ‘the most excellent games ever,’ as one government agency wrote. How will they do it? That does not seem to be a question asked by many.
Talk to any taxi driver, and they will complain bitterly about Beijing’s traffic, but they seem convinced that the government will have that solved by August 2008. Mrs Wang is equally convinced. ‘The government will take care of it,’ she says without a second thought. And the reality is she is probably right. The communist leaders in Beijing are so determined to make the Olympics a success, there is talk they will not rein in the stock market before then, fearing a backlash from millions of disgruntled shareholders.
And here there are no pesky home owners’ rights to worry about when it comes to redeveloping sites. The government and developers simply order the construction crews to move in.
Just talk to Mr and Mrs Suun, who live a few blocks from me in an old apartment block in the shadow of the construction of the architecturally dazzling new headquarters for CCTV. The two giant L-shaped buildings linked at the top might look like two giant hockey sticks leaning against each other to the uneducated or unappreciative. To put it simply, the Suuns are just in the way. They claim that they have been forced out, harassed by strange, unidentified men and had their electricity cut. And while the CCTV tower will cost about $750m – the Suuns say they have been offered just a few hundred US dollars to be gone.
‘There’s no such thing as human rights in China,’ says Mr Suun. And when we aired their story, Chinese censors worked overtime, blocking out the report for Chinese viewers (CNN, like all other international news broadcasters, is on a 14-second delay in China).
And there is concern that in the rush to rebuild this city, it is losing its soul along the way. Ben Wood, an American architect who has saved some of the historic districts of Shanghai, is scathing when it comes to Beijing. He believes that the city is beyond redemption – the wrecking ball has gone too far
‘From an urban design point of view, they are beyond the pale,’ he says. ‘In other words, they have gone over the edge. They are not going to go back now and make the streets more humane.’
Whatever has been happening in Beijing, good or bad, it has been happening for a bargain price. Migrant workers from the countryside, desperate for jobs, are paid about $120 a month, which will ensure that Beijing’s Olympic venues are built for just a fraction of what they would cost in Atlanta or Sydney.
It seems that every part of the city is being re-built – tens ofbillions of dollars have been spent on everything from Olympic venues to an expanded subway system, new airport terminal, roads, roads and more roads. And all this construction is not only on schedule, but last year officials ordered the slowing of construction at Olympic sites because of concerns they would be completed long before the 2008 Games (and incur hefty maintenance costs).
Construction is not the only way the city is preparing for the Games. The government has even appointed an ‘etiquette tsar,’ Ms Zhang Huigang, to try and improve the manners of the locals (although when CNN arranged to interview her, she stood us up).
American volunteers have been working with local officials to unravel the ‘Chinglish’ around the city – that special blend of English and Chinese that results in translations on menus such as ‘Pee Soup’ and signs in bathrooms that advise ‘Please Slip Carefully’. All of this is to present to the world a polite, well-spoken, modern city of glass and steel – with Chinese characters
But the real goal of any Olympics should be how they will improve the lives of those who live in the host city. When I ask Mrs Wang what benefit the Games will bring to her, she seems a little confused, eventually smiling and saying, ‘The Olympics will be glorious.’
