BEIJING - The difference is noticeable as soon as one arrives at Beijing
International Airport ahead of the Summer Olympic Games which kick off on
Friday.
Just a year ago, baggage carts were situated inconveniently, cabbies accosted
passengers at the arrival halls with calls of "Taxi? Taxi?" and the terminals'
pick-up and drop-off areas were clogged with vehicles.
Now, carts are within easy reach, taxi drivers wait for passengers at taxi
stands and there's a calmer, less helter-skelter atmosphere.
"It's a lot more orderly," said Jia Hai, a native of northeastern
Chinese city of Qiqihar, who flew into Beijing recently for business.
These seemingly small changes are part of an eight-year campaign to transform
not only the "hardware", but "software" of China's capital. It is the
government's attempt to show the world the new face of China, as a modern and
civilized country. The 2008 Olympics are the first time a Chinese city has
played host to the world's largest sporting event.
Ever since it won the bid in 2001, Beijing has been preparing. Massive
construction projects - not just of Olympic venues, but buildings throughout
the city - have given the capital a distinctly different look and feel.
Besides completing 31 Olympic venues, Beijing has built the world's largest
airport, added two new subway lines and an airport rail link. Throughout the
city, many old siheyuan or courtyard-houses have been demolished to make
way for multi-storey shopping malls, restaurants or upscale office or apartment
buildings.
Roads in the city center and suburbs are almost unrecognizable, with freshly
painted lanes and millions of pots of plants and flowers adorning them. The
atmosphere in residential neighborhoods has also changed.
Harder to find are elderly ladies sitting on stools outside their courtyard
homes in Beijing's narrow tree-lined alleys or hutongs, many of which
have been razed. Now, old neighborhoods are are often covered with block after
block of treeless plazas, new office buildings or commercial towers.
Street hawkers selling everything from Tibetan jewelry to freshly made jianbing
- eggs and green onions wrapped in a thin pancake - are gone. So, too, are the
wagons peddling sweet potatoes and peanut cakes.
Bars, restaurants and night clubs near some Olympic venues have been ordered to
shut down or to close earlier than usual. Prostitutes no longer stand at street
corners, and are even absent at the north side of Ritan Park, where they once
flourished.
Government measures taken to ensure Beijing makes a good impression on the half
a million expected visitors have made the city a quieter version of its former
lively self.
"We can't put tables outside during the Olympic period or we'll be fined," said
a waitress at the popular Western restaurant Grandma's Kitchen in central
Beijing.
Even personal habits, such as throat-clearing and spitting are less common than
before, thanks to a barrage of government campaigns meant to polish up
Beijingers' manners before the arrival of their guests.
Traffic now runs quite smoothly, but only after the city imposed automobile
restrictions in mid-July, effectively pulling one-third of the city's estimated
3.3 million motor vehicles off the roads on any given day. A 20-kilometer drive
into the city on the Fifth Ring Road during rush hour on Friday evening took
only 25 minutes, compared to at least an hour in the past.
Even cab drivers, who generally have plenty to complain about, have mellowed
out. "The city looks prettier," one cabbie told Asia Times Online. Alexandru
Patatics, a tourist from Romania, remarked: "I'm surprised we haven't seen any
beggars."
That's because police have sent them away, along with the homeless who used to
live under bridges and underpasses. Protesters and many migrant workers have
also been shooed away as the authorities strive for a spic and span city.
"They locked me up in a detention center for five days," said Wang Xia, a woman
from southwest China's Sichuan province, who clandestinely sells bottled water
from a bicycle outside the Forbidden City.
She hides the bottled water in a black plastic bag and covers the bike basket
with a wooden board. Still, that didn't prevent police from catching her
recently, confiscating all the water and money she had on her.
"The Olympics are good, but it doesn't bring me any benefits," said Wang.
Like most of China's poorest, many of whom can't afford a TV or newspaper
subscription, she has no idea who China's famous athletes are, and would be
hard pressed to identify basketball star Yao Ming or champion hurdler Liu
Xiang.
Clearly, the changes in Beijing have not come without a price.
While officials such as President Hu Jintao have praised China's athletes, the
government has not acknowledged the sacrifices made by hundreds of thousands of
Beijing residents who were relocated to the outskirts of the city to make way
for construction carried out in the name of beautifying the city.
Most willingly, albeit grudgingly, took the non-negotiable and
less-than-market-price compensation the government and property developers paid
them. Those who refused to move were forcibly evicted. Some who protested were
jailed.
Many of the evictions did not involve making land available for Olympic venues.
Instead, neighborhoods profited district governments who sold them to property
developers or developed the land themselves.
Other Beijingers are struggling to eke out a living amid work stoppage orders,
driving restrictions and the suspension of some small businesses.
Hotels, travel agencies and businesses involved in foreign trade are also
feeling the Olympic pinch as visa restrictions for foreigners have caused a
drop in tourist numbers and kept foreign businessmen from entering the country.
The "go along, get along" attitude of Beijingers and the Chinese government's
strict authority have enabled the government to enact the monumental changes
and sweeping measures ahead of the Games, analysts said.
"It's certainly possible in North Korea, but very few countries [can pull this
off]," said Joseph Cheng, a political science professor specializing on China
at the City University of Hong Kong.
"As a Chinese saying goes, 'Beijingers are people who live just beneath the
foot of the Son of Heaven [emperor]'. They tend to be more patriotic and
proud," said Cheng.
Forty-year-old pedicab driver Zheng Hai used to live in a hutong just
north of Ritan Park in central Beijing. Now, he and his family had to move more
than an hour away to the suburbs because the 300,000 yuan (US$44,776)
compensation was not enough to buy an apartment in the city proper.
Zheng still goes to his old neighborhood every day, looking for customers.
He expects the government will soon suspend his one-man operation because the
rickety carriages he and others peddle are considered an eyesore by officials,
even though they are great for squeezing by cars and navigating congested
streets. He earns no more than 80 yuan ($11) a day.
"I'll just look for some other kind of work. It will only be for a month," said
Zheng.
Losing a month's salary is never easy, but Zheng's attitude is not unusual in
Beijingers.
Zheng will not be able to afford tickets to the Olympic competitions, but said
he will watch the Games on TV. He hopes Chinese hurdler Liu Xiang will defend
the gold medal he won four years ago in Athens. "I'm really proud as a Beijing
native," Zheng said.
Most people in China seem positive about the Olympics.
"Everyone who is in China can detect this tremendous support for the Olympic
Games ... This is a milestone marking China's achievements, so there is
tremendous enthusiasm. There's no doubt about it," said Cheng.
Many Beijingers feel they have benefited from the changes - including the new
subway lines, the property boom and the beautification of their previously
dusty streets. Beijing officials say the Olympics have provided millions of
jobs.
Still, some circumstances are beyond the Chinese government's control. While
the weather is not stifling, it's been more than 30 degrees Celsius and humid
in the past week. Worse, the pollution doesn't seem to be going away, although
skies did clear enough for clouds to be visible Friday.
"It's beautiful, but very hot and we can't see the blue sky," said French
tourist Jean-Thomas Giraud, pointing to the typically thick layer of haze that
shrouds Beijing.
The government last week announced emergency measures, including banning
another 10% of vehicles in Beijing and restricting drivers in neighboring
Tianjin municipality and Hebei province. The government also suspended
operations at more than 200 factories.
Meanwhile, despite the raft of public awareness campaigns, some old habits die
hard.
People can still be seen scrambling to get on subway cars without lining up or
letting passengers alight with any semblance of order. Others continue to go to
the bathroom in public. A little girl last week squatted down near a tree
outside a newly built commercial building in the central part of the city to
urinate. Her mother watched approvingly.
Cindy Sui is a freelance journalist from Taipei.
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