Posts
Olympic fever is rising.
The clock is counting down (quite literally - as you can see) and the full implications of the upcoming Olympics are hitting the news.
Readers keep writing to ask if I will be in Beijing for the Olympic games later this year. The answer is simple: No.
Let’s start with the fact that I do not watch sports, so why bother going.
But it’s not just sports, I hear you say, it is a spectacle!
Well, yes. Try getting a hotel room when the rest of the world has booked one online. And those coming are happy to pay top dollar. Prices increase drastically as demand rises. Backpackers don’t like that. While the Olympics are about competition, that is not something I am interested in competing in.
Transport will be a logistic nightmare. Even now, I have been on trains where specially trained Rail Staff pushed lines of people into subway carriages already stuffed to the gills. These guys literally went to the back of the line and pushed waiting passengers with their shoulders. I stood waiting for a train, watching this happen on another platform. Suddenly, the people around me became a solid block that was forced into a carriage. I was literally lifted off the ground and gravitated into the carriage. People inside winced in terrible pain. Had I not been wearing a pack on by back and another on my chest I would have suffered serious injury.
Taxis on the other hand are generally a pleasure. The drivers tend to be courteous, the taxis are clean, and the metre talks to you in English when activated. There are exceptions; not all taxis are wonderful. I am considering sharing such stories with you, my friends, on another occasion.
Fancy looking stores bearing the “Beijing 2008” Olympic logo can be found all over Beijing and to a lesser extent elsewhere in China.
But Olympic implications are broad and visible everywhere. The streets are being cleaned up. Construction is going on everywhere. Ancient suburbs are being ripped down for highways and new, uniform apartment buildings. A few weeks ago, Beijing opened the largest airport in the world. I have just been reading about it. Built to look like a dragon, it apparently took 50,000 people 4 years to build on an area previously occupied by 10 villages.
Be proud: El Al airlines will be one of the first airlines to make permanent use of it.
All this belies much greater motivations. China has been a sleeping beauty, its isolated economy gently waking up over the last 20 years. Today it has well and truly woken, and is having a ravenous breakfast. The Chinese economy is growing at incredible speed. Everything today seems to be made in China. “Product of ROC” can even be found printed on Kiddush cups and saucers in Jerusalem. (Funnily enough, I have not found export quality goods for sale in China, only garbage products for local consumption. Everything I have bought locally has a life span of ten minutes. Maybe I have not been looking in the right places).
The Olympics are an incredible opportunity for China to advertise itself economically. Think of it like a huge trade fair. Billions are being spent on infrastructure. The country wants to put on a friendly face, to attract foreign investment. The economy is booming, affluence is increasing. In Beijing, I heard that 1000 new cars hit the streets every day. I can attest to sitting on highways that feel like car parks. To feed all this, China is buying up energy resources from all over the world.
Is all this change extending outside Beijing? I have only seen enthusiasm for the Olympics at major tourist sites, where those coming for the Olympics are probably expected to visit on a whistlestop tour.
And, as always, the Olympics are affected by other weightier issues that I will intentionally refrain from discussing here. Anyone wishing to immerse themselves in this side of things need only start by looking at the general media.
The Olympics are a showcase, an economic opportunity, an introduction to international acceptance. And fair enough - after all, that's part of the point, isn't it?
Readers keep writing to ask if I will be in Beijing for the Olympic games later this year. The answer is simple: No.
Let’s start with the fact that I do not watch sports, so why bother going.
But it’s not just sports, I hear you say, it is a spectacle!
Well, yes. Try getting a hotel room when the rest of the world has booked one online. And those coming are happy to pay top dollar. Prices increase drastically as demand rises. Backpackers don’t like that. While the Olympics are about competition, that is not something I am interested in competing in.
Transport will be a logistic nightmare. Even now, I have been on trains where specially trained Rail Staff pushed lines of people into subway carriages already stuffed to the gills. These guys literally went to the back of the line and pushed waiting passengers with their shoulders. I stood waiting for a train, watching this happen on another platform. Suddenly, the people around me became a solid block that was forced into a carriage. I was literally lifted off the ground and gravitated into the carriage. People inside winced in terrible pain. Had I not been wearing a pack on by back and another on my chest I would have suffered serious injury.
Taxis on the other hand are generally a pleasure. The drivers tend to be courteous, the taxis are clean, and the metre talks to you in English when activated. There are exceptions; not all taxis are wonderful. I am considering sharing such stories with you, my friends, on another occasion.
Fancy looking stores bearing the “Beijing 2008” Olympic logo can be found all over Beijing and to a lesser extent elsewhere in China.
But Olympic implications are broad and visible everywhere. The streets are being cleaned up. Construction is going on everywhere. Ancient suburbs are being ripped down for highways and new, uniform apartment buildings. A few weeks ago, Beijing opened the largest airport in the world. I have just been reading about it. Built to look like a dragon, it apparently took 50,000 people 4 years to build on an area previously occupied by 10 villages.
Be proud: El Al airlines will be one of the first airlines to make permanent use of it.
All this belies much greater motivations. China has been a sleeping beauty, its isolated economy gently waking up over the last 20 years. Today it has well and truly woken, and is having a ravenous breakfast. The Chinese economy is growing at incredible speed. Everything today seems to be made in China. “Product of ROC” can even be found printed on Kiddush cups and saucers in Jerusalem. (Funnily enough, I have not found export quality goods for sale in China, only garbage products for local consumption. Everything I have bought locally has a life span of ten minutes. Maybe I have not been looking in the right places).
The Olympics are an incredible opportunity for China to advertise itself economically. Think of it like a huge trade fair. Billions are being spent on infrastructure. The country wants to put on a friendly face, to attract foreign investment. The economy is booming, affluence is increasing. In Beijing, I heard that 1000 new cars hit the streets every day. I can attest to sitting on highways that feel like car parks. To feed all this, China is buying up energy resources from all over the world.
Is all this change extending outside Beijing? I have only seen enthusiasm for the Olympics at major tourist sites, where those coming for the Olympics are probably expected to visit on a whistlestop tour.
And, as always, the Olympics are affected by other weightier issues that I will intentionally refrain from discussing here. Anyone wishing to immerse themselves in this side of things need only start by looking at the general media.
The Olympics are a showcase, an economic opportunity, an introduction to international acceptance. And fair enough - after all, that's part of the point, isn't it?
The casual tourist is usually happy that because of the Olympics, more people speak a bit of English. But those with their ears and eyes open will feel the rumbling underneath of a stirring dragon.
No comments:
Post a Comment