China's Olympics

Michael Collins

LATE on the evening of Friday 13 July, 2001, in Beijing a long, deep-throated roar greeted with tumultuous joy the announcement from Moscow that the Chinese capital had won the vote to host the 2008 Olympic Games. Instantly the sky was ablaze with the colours of an exuberant firework display and, soon after, top leaders headed by President Zhang Jemin and Premier Zhu Ronji, acknowledged the enthusiastic acclamation of an ecstatically joyful crowd gathered in front of the Millennium Monument. Soon Tiananmen Square was alive with a heaving, flag-waving throng, embracing each other, unfurling streamers, singing patriotic songs and dancing in delight.

Such was the climax to a tense evening of expectation, weeks of waiting and hoping against hope, and months and years of planning, organizing and promoting China's bid to stage the world's largest and most prestigious sporting event. Up to the last minute, many Chinese had pessimistically doubted of success, remembering the heart-wringing two-vote defeat of their 1993 bid for the Sydney games, and fearing that behind-the-scenes pressure from the United States would cause the International Olympic Committee once more to put China's bid to one side. Even after the televised pictures of the carefully stage-managed voting ceremony had shown Osaka with its eleven votes (certain to switch to Beijing) eliminated in the first round, some spectators looking at the huge outdoor monitors stared as if in disbelief when the IOC President, Juan Samaranch, announced the result. Then some (including the Vice-Mayor of Beijing, Liu Jingmin, who was present in Moscow as Executive President of the Bid Committee) were seen to she d tears of joy.

Why does this victory mean so much to China, and what does it mean for the future, once the tumult and the shouting die and the seven years of preparation in earnest begin? Clearly it fuels an enormous boost in prestige for the country, gives a further stimulus to its strongly growing economy and plants the seal on its policies of reform and opening up. These, first begun in 1978, have been pursued with growing strength and growing confidence since 1992, when China, under the capable leadership of Deng Xiao Ping, changed its constitution and ceased officially to be a Communist country, defining itself as a socialist society intent on creating a social market economy with Chinese characteristics. But even more than these immediate effects, the coming of the Olympic Games to Beijing realizes a goal which for more than a century Chinese people have increasingly yearned for; recognition, respect and acceptance as an equal by the rest of the world. From the Chinese point of view, the last two centuries' relationsh ips both with the West and with the neighbouring powers of Russia, Vietnam and, above all, Japan have until recently been a sorry tale of exploitation, humiliation and defeat. Indeed for nearly three hundred years (1644-1911) China was ruled by a foreign dynasty, the Manchus, in which almost until the end Chinese were excluded from leading positions. Although generally efficient and even enlightened by the standards of the day, the Manchus grossly mishandled relations with foreign powers, largely owing to the lack of any institutions to mediate the endemic conflicts between the leading families who controlled the country's military and economic resources. One after the other, China lost Nepal, Burma, Indochina, Korea, and for some time Taiwan (to Japan); Hong Kong, Macao and a number of ports were ceded long-term to foreign powers; and mineral rights fell under foreign control. Arguably, only jealousies among the major powers prevented annexation of the country. In the twentieth century, Mongolia had to be pa rtitioned with Russia (1931), and from 1931-45 a large part of the country was controlled by the invading Japanese, whose forces committed atrocities the memory of which to this day stirs hostility, anger and fear. During the Cold War, the Communist regime of New China (founded 1949) felt itself menaced by the US and its allies. To this day Taiwan remains separated from the mainland as a result of a civil war between Communists and Nationalists (1945-49) in which Western powers intervened on the side of the Nationalists. Beijing's winning the status of host city in a free international vote at the IOC is seen by the Chinese as a reversal of these historic trends, as proof of their acceptance as a world player, as acknowledgement of China's economic and technical progress, and as an acclamation of the world class standing of Chinese athletes in an increasing number of sports. Along with the country's accession to the World Trade Organization, the victory of Beijing's Olympic bid is taken as confirmation that t he policy of reform and opening up is the key to future security and success. Yet China's commitment to the Olympics is motivated not only by these important though incidental benefits but also by the long-standing and increasingly important role of sport in Chinese culture. Ancient relics that have been unearthed show that the Chinese have been practising physical exercise for thousands of years and have for many centuries treated physical exercise as a part of recreational, entertainment and keep fit activities. As far back as the Western Zhou dynasty (c. 1066-771 B.C.), archery and the lifting of bronze tripods were practised in forms that today would be accepted as sports. Part of a 3,000-year-old carving at a cliff in Chuang Yuan, Yunnan province, depicts running and pyramid acrobatics. Chariot-driving, wrestling, martial arts, games on ice, polo and football are all among the sports known in China from early times.

Today over 300 million people in China take part in some form of sport, and an ever widening range of sports are followed avidly. The emblem of the Beijing Olympics, resembling a five-pointed star in the colours of the Olympic rings, represents a person doing traditional shadow-boxing (tai chi). Embodying smoothness, harmony, vitality and mobility, the emblem represents the essence of the country's traditional sports culture.

China was first officially represented at the Olympics in Amsterdam in 1928 and entered its first athletes in Los Angeles in 1932. Chinese competitors faced a bitter struggle for many years because of lack of equipment and training facilities and it was not until 1984 that the pistol shooter Xu Haifeng won China's first gold medal, which was presented by Juan Antonio Samaranch himself. China won 15 golds at those Games, 16 at Barcelona in 1992 and 16 again at Atlanta in 1996. At the Sydney Olympics in 2000, Chinese athletes thrilled their country and deeply impressed the world by taking fourth place in the medals table with 28 golds; and they are making their mark in this year's Winter Olympics.

Even so, to make a successful bid Beijing faced a number of challenges. The city itself, after all, despite its international-style core and rapidly developing business district, is still largely a chaotic, poorly planned sprawl, choked with traffic jams and afflicted with one of the highest air pollution levels in China. Its development is well behind that of several comparable Asian cities, yet it is one of the most expensive. Although generously supplied with taxis (about 1:200 per head of population), most of the drivers speak little or no English (let alone other major languages) and many are unfamiliar with the city.

Service standards in hotels, restaurants and shops vary wildly from the charmingly courteous and efficient to the slow, uncomprehending and downright rude. Foreign-language media and entertainment are in short supply and even then expensive. It is still not safe to drink tap water. The famous tourist spots such as the Great Wall, Summer Palace and Forbidden City are frankly dull and their magnificent potential as showcases of Chinese culture and history have scarcely begun to be exploited. Because of these and other factors, Beijing is rated by diplomats as a hardship posting. To avoid a public relations disaster, the city will need to give even more attention to information and facilities for tourists and to training in English and customer care for staff in service occupations both at the Games venues and in the city. Disquietingly little is said in published sources about these cross-cultural and interpersonal concerns, which gives cause to wonder how well they are understood. (The writer has been told inf ormally that high officials are aware of these issues and are working to address them.)

Not least among the reasons for the city's successful bid, therefore, is the frank acknowledgement of its shortcomings by national and municipal leaders and the ample evidence they have already given of their determination and capacity to overcome them.

On 9 September, 2000, President Zhang Jemin wrote to Juan Antonio Samaranch: 'my colleagues and I fully support Beijing's Olympic bid'. China plans to create over the next seven years a venue which will exceed the world's highest expectations and have the potential to give the best Games ever. Mayor Liu Qi has promised world class transport, leading-edge technology and a beautiful clean environment. Given the constraints on capital, human resources, organizational capacity, infrastructure and learning ability which are to be expected in a still developing economy, that will be a stupendous achievement, especially in the light of the tremendous success of the Sydney Olympics.

As far back as 1990 Beijing successfully hosted its first comprehensive international sports event, the 11th Asian Games, and was narrowly unsuccessful in its bid for the 2000 Olympics in 1993. On 20 February, 2001, IOC technical representatives made a five-day inspection visit as the basis for a final report to the IOC. They professed themselves highly satisfied and much impressed both with the city's plans and resources and with the progress already made. Their report, published the following month, declared Beijing fully qualified to host the Games and added the highly significant comment that Beijing's bid offered 'unique advantages'. In autumn 2001 the city delighted Olympic officials, including the new IOC President Jacques Rogge, with the universally high standards achieved in its hosting of the Universiade (World Student Games). There remains, of course, a long agenda of work to be addressed and much still to be learnt. But as Mayor Liu Qi has put it: 'we regard the bid also as a learning process'. Th e Beijing Olympic Bid Committee (BOBICO) is fully cooperating with the IOC's knowledge transfer arrangements, through which lessons learnt from the previous Games are transmitted from the last host city to its successor. Based on economic growth that averaged 10.8 per cent in the 10 years to 2000 and is predicted to remain between 7 and 8 per cent for the next few years, Beijing has been able to meet the IOC's financial resources requirements comfortably, especially since the Government of China has made clear its willingness to underwrite the event. Indeed the Olympic bid can be seen as a pacemaker spurring the city's development along a track which has already been marked Out. Beijing is making rapid strides towards its development goals for environmental protection, transportation, telecommunications and tourism, as well as state-of-the-art sports facilities which will match the best ever used at the Olympics.

In pursuit of its goals to improve the living standards of its citizens and promote the city's sustainable development, Beijing has undertaken an environmental protection programme gigantic in scope and scale and accounting for $l2billion out of the total Games budget of $34billion. The city has already made great strides in line with international standards to improve the quality of its environment and in particular to reduce air pollution. Air quality is now at Level 3 on the international scale and, with the closure of many smokestack factories (already out of date and uncompetitive in the new economy), the city expects to reach Level 2, comparable to cities in developed countries, by 2007. The city plans to eliminate coal-burning boilers, prohibit any kind of burning in the open, and substantially increase the ratio of clean energy resources by promoting the use of natural gas and developing solar and geo-thermal energy. By 2007 Beijing will be using between four and five times as much natural gas as in 2 000. The city will also implement strict vehicle emission standards. Again by 2007, 70 per cent of taxis and 90 per cent of buses will be clean energy vehicles. Main ozone-depleting substances will be phased out by 2005. Water quality in reservoirs will also be improved and the forests in their catchment areas better protected. Major tree plantings in the form of three greenbelts are in progress to control soil erosion in the hinterland of the city by providing 50 per cent forest cover of the area. Along with wetlands and bird habitats, these will provide eco-shelters to give significant protection to bio-diversity. Nature reserves will cover at least 8 per cent of the total city area. The city will also complete the upgrading of its water treatment and sewerage systems. The newly completed Gaobeidian sewage plant was ready in time for inspection by the IOC technical team. Industrial solid and hazardous waste will be managed to modern standards and by 2007 almost all domestic waste will be segregated, treated or recycled. It should be possible to drink tap water within the city before long. Beijing is going beyond infrastructure projects to create a green city. Large-scale plantings of trees and grass will cover up to 40 per cent of the city proper. Environmentally friendly materials and techniques will be used in the design and construction of the Olympic venues, equipment and facilities themselves. Public education will be mounted to encourage participation in environmental and wildlife protection and eco-tourism will be developed. Tobacco advertising will be prohibited in public places and the mass media and the designation of no-smoking environments encouraged. Issues remain, on this and other aspects of Beijing's development programme, about responsibility, accountability and enforcement (traditionally less well managed in China), but the city, in association with the government, has publicly committed itself to measurable targets, and progress will fall under ever-closer international scrutiny as 2008 draws nearer.

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.

By hosting the Games, Beijing will be directly introducing the spirit of the Olympic Movement to one-fifth of the world's population (including 400 million young people) for the first time. Not only that, it will provide a demonstration of its own interpretation of the Olympic ideal. Its three major themes are Green Olympics, Humanism Olympics and Technology Olympics; harmony between man and nature, blending sport with culture and allying advanced technologies with excellence in human achievement. The IOC has been wrestling with the tension between commercialism and its own ideals for a number of years. It has seen a decline in market share as international sports competitions proliferate, athletes neglect the Olympics for better money elsewhere, television audiences become jaded and repeated drug scandals threaten the integrity of the whole event. Although the Games have been held in Asia before (in Tokyo in 1964 and Seoul in 1988) the world has become used to seeing them as solely a Western concept and a ve hicle for Western culture, subject to behind-the-scenes horse-trading between interested parties for commercial opportunity and geopolitical advantage. But from the start of the modern Olympics in 1896, the founder, Baron de Coubertin, made it clear that his ideal was a universal one. He denied the request of Greece that the Games should always be held in that country as part of its national heritage, saying 'the Games do not belong to any country or nationality. The Olympics belong to the whole world'.

Even so, Beijing's success has not gone uncriticized. There are doubts whether the city has the capacity to achieve its enormous programme of modernization, both in building the promised environment and infrastructure and in achieving the change in attitudes and competencies among its people that will transform the Games from yet another stage-managed show into an enduring bridge of friendship between the athletes of the world and their peoples. There are doubts also about how much the Games will really stimulate the economy (some say as little as 0.2 per cent per year) and, if it does, how far the benefits will spread beyond Beijing and a few cities in north China. Such criticisms may give insufficient weight, for example, to the importance of the environmental programme to the very survival of the city. The desert is only 150 km away and approaching at the rate of 2km per year. Premier Zhu Rongji is reported as saying that unless the desert is halted, Beijing will become unlivable in 35 years. Certainly the WTO will have a much greater effect on the economy than the Games. Both will be catalysts for change, but in what directions cannot be foreseen. By themselves, the Games will not bring about significant change in China. The WTO might well bring about major change, but because it will take many years to create a big enough middle class in this huge country, that will provide time for evolution and continuing stability. That, apparently, is the assumption made by those who have led the policy of reform and opening up and those, primarily the United States, who facilitated the country's clearance of the final hurdles to accession. Looking across the Straits, the People's Republic has invited Taiwan to cooperate in offering hospitality to the Olympics and the offer has been well received. Indeed it is possible that Taiwan might be invited to host some events. Supposedly that would be against IOC rules, but the holding of the equestrian events in Stockholm when Melbourne hosted the 1960 Olympics might provide a p recedent.

It would be unrealistic to expect the Games to carry the burden of developing a civil society within China but, in March, 2001, China signed (but has not yet ratified) the UN Convention on Civil and Political Rights that guarantees freedom of expression, a fair trial and protection against torture and arbitrary arrest. In 2000 China signed the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which also it has not yet ratified. In the eyes of many observers, this may be the very minimum, but even the Great Wall had to begin with the laying of the first stone. Conversely, it is unhelpful to portray the award of the Games as a recognition of China as a world power rather than simply as a world power in sport. Even by 2050 Chinese strategists see their country as only a middle-rank developed country. There will be much to be done by all parties to adjust to the emergence of China, but rather than overrate the impact of the Olympic Games in fields outside sport, it may be more realistic to adopt a p osture of watchful waiting, ready to cooperate and learn from each other in mutual respect, and willing warmly to applaud the athletes of the world as they assemble in Beijing under the five-ring banner to go 'higher, faster, stronger'.

Michael Collins, MA (Oxon), MPhil, lectures and teaches at Beijing Second Foreign Language University.

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