Three days ago, on March 24, the longest torch relay in history began when the torch was ignited in Athens, Greece. On the 30th, it will leave Greece and head to Beijing, beginning its marathon journey of 85,100 miles on continents. One of the highlights of the trip will be an attempt to carry it to the top of Mount Everest, an event that the Chinese government will assuredly claim to be a success1.
The Chinese will have poured close to $40 billion into making the 2008 Olympic Games a showcase for the world. The facilities are incredibly expensive, and at the same time, spectacular in their own right2. The two facilities that people in the United States may be most acquainted with (and ones which I will be in) are the Beijing National Aquatic Center (i.e., the Water Cube or [H2O]3) and the Beijing National Stadium (i.e., the Bird's Nest), both of which are pictured, with the Water Cube in the foreground.
In addition, Beijing is trying to update their outdated mass transit system before the games arrive. The subway system will be newly renovated and the cab drivers will (supposedly) all know some English3 4. The Beijing airport, already the 9th largest airport in the world in terms of passenger traffic, is building another terminal, set to open this month. As a side note construction for a new "super-airport" is set to begin in 2010, replacing Beijing Capital International Airport. It will be capable of 70-100 million passengers per year. For comparison purposes, Atlanta, the world's busiest airport, has almost 90 million passengers per year5.
As I address the first of the negatives, I will start by saying that China is doing everything in their power to address this. Beijing is one of the most polluted cities in the world, as you can see by the picture of the smog in Tiananmen Square. China has been enforcing government regulations in order to reduce the output of pollution, and may institute similar practices during the actual games. The Chinese have even gone so far as to perform atmospheric tests by releasing chemicals to see if they can control the weather so it doesn't rain on their Olympic party6.In going to China, one of our concerns is not so much the pollution for us (we're not going to be there that long), but the fact that some of the long-distance events such as triathlon may be postponed, which wouldn't work out for our rather tight schedule7.
Another negative is the current situation regarding Tibet (and Taiwan). I won't go into any details, simply because I don't know many of the details, but suffice it to say that China has some strained relationships with some of its neighbors. The region of Tibet is part of China, but the Chinese government has practiced a sort of cultural genocide against the Tibetan nation. As a result, there have been many protests, some of which happen during the torch relay. That is bad PR for the Chinese to the rest of the world, though Chinese censorship makes it so that the Chinese people never know about it. On the other hand, China believes that it owns the island of Taiwan, which has declared sovereignty, but it is only formally recognized by about 30 countries (not including the United States)8.
China has other issues, many dealing with human rights and the interminable question of how well prepared Beijing will be for the Olympics. The present day political clime asks the question of how well protected the Games will be from a terrorist attack. Analysts expect two million visitors from around the world to be present for China's exposition to the world9. How will that hold up?
References:
1. Wikipedia: 2008 Olympic Torch Relay
2. Olympic Games the Chinese Way
3. Wikipedia: 2008 Summer Olympics
4. 90,000 Beijing Taxi Drivers to Learn English
5. Wikipedia: Beijing Capital International Airport
6. Beijing to Shoot Down Olympic Rain
7. Endurance Athletes Worry About Pollution in Beijing
8. CIA World Factbook: Taiwan
9. China, Air Travel, and the 2008 Beijing Olympics
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