China's Olympics

Contemporary Review, March, 2002 by Michael Collins

The city officials have promised a maximum transit time to events of 30 minutes for athletes. Given that the main stadium and the Olympic village will be on greenfield sites on the north-western edge of the city, this promise is likely to be delivered. But a huge programme of road- and subway-building has had to be mounted to ensure that city transportation functions effectively during the Games and allows the tens of thousands of expected visitors efficient access to their destinations from within and beyond the city. At present the city struggles to keep traffic moving at peak hours. Poorly planned intersections, anarchic behaviour by road users, shortage of buses, insufficient pedestrian subways, limited or non-existent signage (particularly to and within the subways), dangerous crossings, badly maintained pavements, and the lack of information in English make journeys across the city complicated, hazardous and slow. A great deal depends on the four new undergrounds and the light railway that are scheduled to open between now and 2007. The city has had great difficulty raising the capital to build them, and although the underground is planned to take 40 per cent of journeys, questions remain about the efficiency of surface transport provision, despite the massive planned increase in the number of buses and the comprehensive system of ring roads and expressways which is steadily being extended.

Media coverage and communications are also a key issue for the watching world. China obviously has an interest in the publicity generated by the Games and indeed has invested some political capital in opening the city to the scrutiny of the international media. President Zhang Jemin has had a meeting with Rupert Murdoch, head of the International News Corporation (owner of The Times in London, the Fox TV network in the US and numerous other newspapers in Britain, the US, and Australia). Naturally the close encounter between China, with its own political system, and the Western-dominated international media with its very different values and goals, poses some delicate questions and provokes some scepticism outside China. Murdoch's third wife is Chinese so he has some understanding of Chinese attitudes. Contracts for events coverage is a matter for the IOG, but ground rules both for policy and technical issues will have to be agreed well in advance. One question is the impact on the Chinese media of competitors on their home ground and the extent to which foreign coverage will be accessible within China. Cable TV is already accessible to 60 per cent of Beijing households. A watertight separation in the age-old Chinese style between CCTV, for example, and the US networks will not be feasible in a world where the overseas reports of foreign media can instantly be fed back into the country. Also Beijing will have to accommodate and service an unprecedented number of journalists. China's fixed and mobile telecommunications are currently the second-largest in the world. Excellent quality international IP telephone and a good range of data transmission services are readily available, too, although as two accidents last year have proved, the single internet cable link off Shanghai is vulnerable to accidental interference by fishing vessels. 3G mobile communications should be in commercial use by 2002. All this accounted for, the whole concept of Beijing's Olympic bid is greater than the sum of its parts. Through its hosti ng of the Games, Beijing is not simply offering to match the development of other cities and meet international standards developed by others. What Beijing is offering is a unique opportunity for renewal and development to the Olympic Movement itself.