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China and the Olympics
My name is James Oswald and I’m a 26 year old student from Adelaide but currently studying in China. I’ve been living here since November 2007, learning Chinese and trying to cross the cultural gap between the West and China - with mixed success. I’m one in a family of six. My interests include reading, music and socialising. Kurt Vonnegut is one of my heroes.
China and the Olympics
by James Oswald
The year 2008 has been a big year for China. There was the cold snap, the incident in Tibet, the earthquake in Wenchuan, Sichuan, and the flooding. At the end of all this was the Beijing Olympic Games. Possibly the most spectacular Olympics ever held. I’m not quite sure about the truth of that, I missed most of the opening ceremony and all of the closing ceremony (partly to do with lack of interest, mostly to do with the lack of a television) – but I heard a lot of good reports. In this article I’m going to look not at the Olympic Games in itself, as spectacular as it may or may not have been – instead I will look at the effect it has had on China and the Chinese people. Being in China during this period of time has given me an interesting perspective on the Chinese people as they reach out to the world that until recently has seen the world’s most populous country as a big unknown.
The Chinese people are fantastic hosts. On several occasions I’ve been invited to dinner to my friends’ houses, and the experience really is unforgettable. It was at first quite overwhelming, all the family together curious to meet their foreign guest, throwing questions at me, making sure I was comfortable and had a drink, and just generally being lively and curious and interested. The part of the Olympic opening ceremony I saw (and all of what I heard) was just like this, an overwhelming display of China to the world, showing the world what a great host they can be. The Olympic slogan “Beijing Welcomes You” is a perfect example of where the focus lay – on the fact that the Chinese people want to welcome you as a guest to their country, and as such want to show you everything that makes China a great place, from it’s long history and cultural tradition to it’s unique customs and friendly people. Of course, some of their customs are a little too unique for foreigners, and the measures they went to adjust these for the benefit of their foreign guests are really quite amazing – I’ll discuss this point in greater detail a little later on.
Another interesting point is that I did not encounter one Chinese person who was against, or even apathetic about, the Olympics. Every single person (and there are a few) was one hundred percent wholly backing the Olympics. It would be hard not to, it was all over the newspapers, every television channel frequently had Olympic related commercials, and there was even a dedicated channel just for the Olympics (CCTV 5 – the watermark had been the standard CCTV symbol followed by the Olympic rings since I got here last November).
Also, and even as I type I can see one out my window, banners were hung in the street – I haven’t yet worked out who puts them up – carrying the slogan ‘Welcome the Olympics, Be Cultured, Create a New Style’. Having lived in Australia during the 2000 Olympics, I clearly remember that the extent of advertising and support for the Olympics never reached quite as far as it did in China. The ‘Be Cultured’ part of the slogan refers to the behavioural adjustment campaign encouraged by the government to make Beijing more ‘foreigner friendly’. For those of you who are unaware of this, Beijingers were encouraged not to spit in public, to line up, and the men urged to wear shirts for the duration of the Olympics. For a year before the games there was a ‘queuing’ day, the 11th of every month, to encourage people to line up and wait their turn.
Would other cultures so willingly change their behavioural patterns just to appear more inviting to others? My money is on a big resounding ‘no’. Chinese learners of English are frequently taught by their teachers not to act in certain ways when around foreigners or to ask foreigners certain questions quite customary for them to ask, but seen as possibly invasive in our culture. These questions include (but aren’t limited to) asking your age, your marital status and your financial situation. Why is it that Chinese people are urged to change their cultural habits for the benefit of foreigners? Why do a large body of foreigners living in China feel they need to change China to suit them, rather than vice versa? Moving along…
The games impacted other aspects of daily life too. I moved cities around the time that the games started and was interested to see the differences between the effects on the two cities. In my original city, around early July, almost all the street market stalls were suddenly shut down. This was done to ‘create a culture of hygiene’. It was literally as though someone came during the night and moved them all away, out of sight. Even the large and popular night markets were shut down. It was quite a sad thing for me; some of the best and cheapest snacks came from those stalls. Being a foreigner I guess it’s not strange that it seemed so sudden – the stall operators were probably notified about it in advance. A friend of mine who had a stall selling bread had to move his operation to selling t-shirts on a street corner – his income was drastically affected by this.
It was also interesting to notice the significant increase in police presence in the city. Mostly they were regulating the traffic, making sure people stopped at red lights and didn’t beep their horn so much. In my current city, it was even stranger. I arrived during the games, and at that time all the karaoke bars were closed (basically the only night activity in small towns), and all the local markets save for a few of the more ‘high-end’ supermarkets were closed to foreigners. There was literally a man sitting out the front of the market, with a red band on his right arm, telling you to go away. Even the locals were only allowed in after showing their ID cards. The only explanation I was ever given was – the Olympics. It wasn’t like that in the first city, but then that city is a lot further from Beijing. It’s interesting to see the level of control taken to ensure a successful Olympics. From my sources in Beijing, I heard that the measures taken were more extreme, not just in pollution control and behavioural adjustment, but even all the Hutongs were repainted (the quaint little courtyard style housing found in the famous Gulou district) the construction of buildings hurried and the street vendors were moved on. Also, although while the games were on the level of pollution in Beijing was significantly lower, it has quite suddenly returned to normal.
Hosting the games was a great challenged faced by China, a nation that is constantly in the global spotlight. China rose to the occasion and put on a show designed both to introduce the world to her long and rich history, as well as to celebrate her opening up and finding her place in the world. The measures taken to ensure the success of this event, such an important one for China and her people, were nothing short of remarkable. And as an added bonus, the English will be scratching their heads for years trying to put something together to rival the show put on this year.
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Incredibly
"you can see the owner and his wife fixing their front door..."..."you'll note the power is connected...everywhere in the street."
Wow, and Katrina was 2005? I bet the Chinese can't match that speed.
Flood Street
I just had an idea for anyone who's actually interested in what it's like in the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans. Well, as it was about six months ago.
Go into Google Maps and enter "Lower Ninth Ward, New Orleans". Then go to Street View.
You'll probably touch down in Caffin Avenue, which was right at the centre of the worst flooding.
As you move along, looking left and right, you'll see lots of buildings still wrecked from the floods. Mostly these are behind cyclone wire.
Many of these are earmarked for demolition.
As you move along the street, going down side streets or whatever, you'll also notice many, indeed most, of the buildings are being restored or being restored.
Try the intersection of, say, Caffin Avenue and N Claiborne Avenue. New buildings.
Go west along Claiborne till you get to the very aptly named Flood Street.
Turn south into Flood Street. And you'll see it.
Spanking new cottages and houses going up amongst wire-fenced-in older style houses scheduled for demolition.
The gardens and sidewalks look pretty scrappy. And piles of junk and building rubble appear here and there.
But this was the worst affected part of New Orleans. The poorest neighbourhoods in the city. And that was six months ago.
On the corner of Flood and N Villere Street, over on the south side of the intersection, you'll see houses under reconstruction. A trailer home beside a white stucco fronted cottage with French windwos.
Across the street, you'll see three homes together, two with Winnebagos parked outside. And a place with the silver pick-up parked outside.
You'll see that all three of those homes are being rebuilt. If you go south past the truck and look back at the house, you'll see the owner has nearly re-built the house.
Now look back across the street at 1370 Flood Street. You'll see carpenters tools, a wooden saw-horse, a paint bucket and other tools on the lawn of the red-brick cottage. That guy and his neighbour are clearly rebuilding.
The neighbour's house, the cream brick with the roof extension at back, has a boarded up front window. But you'll note the power is connected. As it is everywhere in the street.
Take it for a walk. Some houses left wrecked, boarded up and due to be demolished. Others occupied and being re-built.
Turn west from Flood Street onto Urquart Street. At 5524 Urquart Street there's a little green weatherboard duplex.
You can actually see the guys working on the house. That's the house with the battered old Cadillac El Dorado parked outside.
Check out his neighbour next door, the white double fronted cottage with the white station wagon on the drive. Neat as a pin.
Incredibly, if you move past that house a bit, you can see the owner and his wife fixing their front door on the porch.
Anyway, take the whole neighbourhood for a walk if you like. See for yourself.
No miracles. And a lot of homes deserted. But it is the Lower Ninth after all. Katrina's ground zero.
Yet it's clear, whether for better or worse, it's being rebuilt.
Culture vultures especially welcome
Bill Avent: "And how's the cleanup after Katrina going?"
Actually, it seems to be going pretty good. In 2006, Louisiana voters recently overwhelmingly adopted an amendment to the state's constitution to dedicate all revenues from off shore drilling to restore Louisiana's eroding coast line.
Congress has allocated $7 billion to bolster New Orleans' flood protection.
New Orleans itself is especially bustling. If you're down that way this spring, there heaps to do and see. I'm not sure if you like art, Bill, but I'd really recommend the following exhibitions on in New Orleans right now;
There's lots of literary events underway right now, too, including a series of lectures on the works of Tennessee Williams.
Or perhaps you like jazz, classical music or opera or something?
Come on down! They even do sports. But if you just want to wander around looking at stuff, I'd recommend this great bicycle tour.
And don't worry. There aren't really any alligators eating babies in the Lower Ninth.
That was just a rumour deliberately spread around by hate mongers who wouldn't know New Orleans from Pyongyang.
Wenchuan
How's the cleanup after the earthquake in Wenchuan, Sichuan, going?
Would the forty-four billion dollars US wasted on the Olympics helped any with that I wonder?
Who did the Olympics kill?
And how's the cleanup after Katrina going?
Would the umpteen trillion dollars US wasted on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have helped any with that, I wonder?
Survey questions
I found this in Crikey's tips and rumours (about a Sweeney phone poll. quite interesting:
As has been mentioned before, the quantities of monies used in buying gold medals compared with with other potentially valuable investments is far from a question for China alone.
All in a day's work?
In case anyone's wondering about the author, Jimmy's a mate of mine with a kindred penchant for Absynthe and a quirky sense of humour. I had no idea till recently of his talent with the pen.
He's probably not aware of the clearance of Hyde Park during APEC to create pleasant scenery for the arrival of the Chinese motorcade at the Sheraton.
When you read what was happening at local levels (and why haven't we seen more MSM reporting of this sort of thing?) you can imagine the ire of the Politeaureau at the banner hanging from CCTV headquarters
Now I wonder how much else of daily Chinese life was sanitised for Western viewing. Is everyone still present and accounted for?