Olympic Lockdown

July 20^th marked the start of Beijing in Olympic Lockdown Mode. For approximately the next two months, the city will turn blue in the face while attempting to hold in its proverbial gut while showcasing itself to the world as a sleek, modern, clean, and efficient capital city ready to assume its place among the world’s great powers. If all goes according to plan, the air will be clean, the traffic negotiable, athletes will make their venues on time without gridlock, there will be no protests or demonstrations, undesirable elements will be keep out of the city, tourists will gasp in wonder from hotels without vacancies at the architectural marvels of the new city, and all will be green and harmonious. That, at least, is the idea. And the restrictions and bureaucratic hurdles imposed by the city with their all-or-nothing plan are what will make it all possible. Here I’ll address two Au Yun Hui problems and their “solutions” as dealt with by the powers that be.

Item number one on the list, a two part quandary: improve air quality from pea-soup pollution (wuran) levels to something close to breathable, and reduce traffic (duche) from snarled congestion to somewhat tolerable.

Solution:

• Highly polluting factories in Beijing were forced to shut down earlier this month, while cement and steel plants and chemical factories in the surrounding provinces have been told to scale back production some 30% by July 20^th.
• Antiquated heavy industrial trucks (some dating back to the ‘60’s and ‘70’s) which could otherwise only ply the roads at night were banned from entering Beijing on the 1^st of July.
• All construction projects in the city (which kick up incredible amounts of dust in addition to other undesirables) were halted on the 20^th. Several new billion dollar lines on the city’s metro system were opened on the 20^th to help ease the burden on the public transport system.
• Depending on odd and even license plate numbers, half the cars (not including taxis) are banned each day from the city’s roads, with a fine of ¥100 fine imposed for violations.
• An Olympic lane on the major thoroughfares will allow official Olympic vehicles to bypass regular traffic, allowing athletes to make their game times but cutting down available lanes for other traffic by 1/3 or ½, depending on the road.

Item number two: Keep out undesirables and ensure a safe Olympics.

Solution:

• A crackdown on visas for foreigners ensuring that those already in the country legitimately must jump through diplomatic hoops to remain with no guarantee that they will be able to do so.
• Security checkpoints set up on roads leading into the city with police boarding buses and inspecting private vehicles entering Beijing and performing metal and ID checks on both Chinese and foreigners, with special emphasis on ethnic Tibetans and Uighers (profilingwhat?) who might, theoretically, have something of an agenda to pursue in Beijing.
• A battery of surface-to-air missiles set up not far from the “bird’s nest” National Stadium.
• One particularly irritating measure for local students has all universities (including my own ) closed to everyone but students and employees of those universities. Gone be the days of riding through BLCU for a car-free shortcut to the Wudaokou subway station.

The measures taken have inspired some to warn of a “Fortress Beijing” mentality overtaking the host city which could prove to be security overkill. Furthermore, in addition to the installation of some 265,000 security cameras (Da Ge is watching), restrictions on foreign media have ensured that should anything “embarrassing” occur, the only people who will cover it will be Beijing friendly or censored. While I try to avoid touching on political issues here, Op-Ed pieces like this one in the Washington Post complaining of heavy-handedness and stage management on the part of the central government are hard to argue with.

And indeed, stage management has been the operative phrase for this coming Olympic Games. The environmental cover-up (it is nothing less) may prove successful but when the Olympics are come and gone, factories will once again kick into overdrive, cars will return in swarms to the streets. Significant protests may be avoided, but in the end, domestic grievances will remain unsolved. And while the whole country holds its breath for two months, perhaps the happiest people will be found after the Games have passed and millions of Beijingers will breathe a sigh of relief that they can finally return to life as normal, sans ma fan.

Words to Know

Àoyùnhuì Olympic Games 奥运会

Wūrǎn Pollution 污染

Dǔchē Traffic Jam 堵车

Wǔdàokǒ (Area in Haidian District, Beijing) 五道口

Dàgē Big Brother 大哥

Màfàn Hassle, troublesome, bother 麻烦