Beijing Has Much Work to Finish Before the Olympics

Beijing Has Much Work to Finish Before the Olympics
"We've seen the future after waiting year in, year out. We are all wet with sweat..."
With these lyrics a large crowd launched into a hearty rendition of the theme "We Are Ready" in Tiananmen Square on Wednesday evening, celebrating the one-year countdown to the Beijing Olympics. The people of China can barely contain their excitement as they watch their long dream come true, a full one hundred years after the Tianjin Youth Daily declared that China should host the Olympics in an editorial in 1908.

But Beijing is not the only Chinese city excited about an upcoming affair. People in cities across the country have been hard at work preparing for a wide assortment of international events.

Shanghai, the economic capital of China, is but one example. Recently Xi Jinping, secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China, and Han Zheng, mayor of Shanghai, cut a ribbon at a ceremony to start the 1,000 day countdown to the 2010 World Expo, slated to open May 1 of that year in Shanghai. A public relations tour is visiting a dozen nearby cities until Sept. 9, promoting the approaching expo.

Five Chinese cities -- Shanghai, Wuhan, Hangzhou, Tianjin and Chengdu -- are busy putting the finishing touches on facilities to host the FIFA Women's World Cup soccer tournament for three weeks from Sept. 10. Other cities are preparing for more international events: Hong Kong will host the 2009 East Asian Games, Harbin the 2009 Winter Universiade, Guangzhou the 2010 Asian Games, and Shenzhen the 2011 Summer Universiade.

Guangzhou's mayor Zhang Guangning recently declared an ambitious plan to transform his city into a modern eco-friendly urban area by building 1,900 km of new roads and 250 km of new subway lines.

It's easy to understand why China is devoting so much effort to hosting international events. China apparently believes it can earn triple rewards this way -- more revenues from tourism, direct and indirect development including infrastructure construction, and heightened civic spirit. The Beijing Olympics, for example, could turn out to be the most commercially successful games ever, as the organizing committee has already earned US$1.5 billion from sponsors and licensees. That's triple the amount collected by the Athens Olympics. Some say the World Expo could be just the boost Shanghai needs to realize its dream of becoming a global financial hub.

But the real question is whether these events can turn China into a responsible member of the international community. The final analysis isn't in yet, but currently skeptics are prevailing. To cite an example, with a year left before the Olympics, China has been cracking down on the freedom of the press and restricting human rights, according to international groups such as Reporters Sans Frontieres.

When China was chosen to host the Olympics in 2001, Beijing promised to clean up its filthy city air to WHO standards. But the pollution in downtown Beijing in June reached its worst level in seven years, running counter to international trends. And despite extensive government campaigns, many Chinese people haven't been able to give up some bad habits, including public spitting, littering and aggressive driving.

Interestingly, China has reportedly been studying the 1988 Seoul Olympics for ideas, on the grounds that the Seoul games were held under a military dictatorship and the event helped trigger South Korea's economic growth. But what China should pay more attention to is the fact that the 1988 Olympics served as the momentum for South Korea's move towards true democracy and acceptance of international norms of civilization. In that sense, China still has a long way to go before it can successfully host the Beijing Olympics and assorted other international events.