Article Commentary - Six Months Later, after the Beijing Olympics

This article was written six months before the Beijing Olympics. The article critized the Olympics, and pointed out some things Beijing needed to work on before the Games could really be successful. Now, after the Olympics, many of these things said in the article have not come to pass. Let us look at this article in the light of post-Beijing Olympics 2008

Although I missed the opening ceremony on the 8th of August, I definitely did not miss the closing ceremony held at the 'Bird's Nest' stadium on the 24th of August. It truly was an awesome spectacle, the precision of the the performances, the dazzling fireworks, and all the other tiny details that were generally in place. This Beijing Games has not disappointed us, as it has been able to bring out the best - and maybe the worst about China. Certainly, the Games continued without any major disruptions, barring maybe a few protests. Generally, it was a well conceived and well-executed plan.

Beijing had promised much before the Games. I quote the article - "high quality, cultural, high-tech and green." In terms of technology, the Beijing Olympics was superior to the 2004 Games in Athens, as can be seen by advances in modern technology - in cameras, in lights, in venues. Beijing has attempted to make it 'green', in the sense of making Bejing less polluted, and more appealing. However, the world expects this to be only temporary, that Beijing will go back to being the Air Pollution capital of the world. This remains to be seen. However, since Beijing has succeeded in its primary goal of clearing the smog for the Olympics, there is no reason for Beijing to continue keeping its skies clear.

You can see in the article of several important incidents that Beijing has covered up to make their Summer Olympics perfect. Now, after the Games, we can see that Beijing has indeed tried their best to make the Games perfect, but in attempting to make the games perfect, they have made me really disappointed in them. For one, the lip-synching. Just because the girl with a great voice did not have as pretty a face to go with the voice, they chose a girl with a more attractive face to lip-synch to the original girl singing the song. In fact, this farce was so perfect that no one actually was able to tell until the news was leaked out. Another piece of shameful news that was leaked to the media was that some of the fireworks during the opening ceremony had been recorded. While this shows how much China wants to make their Games perfect, it also shows forth China's paranoia and insecurity.

This article has also said that one of the things that would help China to carry out a successful Olympic Games is to relax. Although China has not 'relaxed', both literally and metaphorically, it is still a common consensus that the 2008 Olympics has been well executed. However, China has had to resort to extreme measures to ensure that the Games remain successful, for example, pulling off 50% of the cars of the road to cut carbon emissions. China will nearly stop at nothing to ensure that the Games that it is so proud to host is perfect. This results in several ethical problems, a few of which are highlighted in the article.

This article has a relatively negative overtone to it. However, this article fails to take into account the major natural disaster that struck China before the Olympics as this article was written before it. I think that China has done quite well in handling this immense disaster, while at the same time preparing for one of the proudest moments in modern Chinese history - hosting the Olympics. This also shows the resilience of the Chinese people, that they are able to pick themselves up off the floor after one of the most devastating earthquakes ever in Sichuan, to host the Games and make this Olympics a successful one. Maybe one of their major motivations is nationalism, which is rampant in China. This would definitely cause the Chinese to be fired up and willing to sacrifice their all for their country

This article is indeed not very accurate in its assessment of China. Although the world can rightfully criticize China; for all her faults, she has her strengths, too.

All in all, while China has many areas to work on, they have still done well. However, as these issues are often ethical in nature, China has to work on its ethics, otherwise, in the long run, a lack of ethics may lead to China's inability to truly become a superpower. Not just an economic and military one, but one that is a center of culture and peace.

Article - Covering Up for A Perfect Olympics - February 08

Covering up for a 'perfect' Olympics

Section:	Asia Focus
By:	CHUA CHIN HON
Publication:	The Straits Times 02/02/2008
Page:	12
No. of words:	961

THE TALK IN BEIJING

Beijing's 'cover-up' of deaths shows its obsession with staging a flawless Games

BY CHUA CHIN HON
CHINA BUREAU CHIEF


BEIJING'S much cherished dream of staging a "perfect'' Olympics ended on Monday when officials finally acknowledged that six workers had died building some of the iconic stadiums for the 2008 Games.

The grudging admission came a week after a British newspaper, The Sunday Times, ran an expose alleging that the city had "systematically covered up the accidental deaths of at least 10 workers, and perhaps many more'' in its bid to finish all construction work in time for the opening ceremony on Aug 8.

At a press conference on Monday, Mr Ding Zhenkuan, deputy chief of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Work Safety, told reporters that the Times report was "not accurate''.

He later clarified that six workers had died since Olympics construction began in 2003.

Two of them died building the imposing "Bird's Nest'' stadium, the main Olympic venue that will host the opening and closing ceremonies, while four others lost their lives at undisclosed Games-related worksites.

Another four workers suffered injuries, though Mr Ding gave no details. Nor did he say why Beijing kept mum on the deaths until now.

Prior to Monday's revelation, Beijing officials had always insisted that the city's safety record for the Games' preparation was spotless.

Assuming there are no other unreported deaths, Beijing's safety record would still be better than that of the Athens Games in 2004, when at least 13 workers died at Olympic-related construction sites.

But this is clearly not good enough for Chinese officials, many of whom seem obsessed with the notion that the Beijing Olympics must be a flawless show from start to finish.

In theory, this spirit is a highly commendable one; a sign of the immense national pride that the authorities attach to the Games.

In practice, however, this usually translates to mean that every morsel of bad news about the Games or its preparations should be suppressed.

But it is precisely this obsession with a squeaky-clean Olympics free of bad news that will result in Beijing having to deal with more media exposes and bad press in the months ahead.

The reasons are obvious: many unresolved problems are in plain sight, and the reality on the ground is often far from the cheery version outlined by Beijing officials.

Peak-hour traffic continues to be a nightmare, the air quality can turn nasty from one day to the next without warning, and the police continue to exhibit a heavy-handed approach to dissenters.

No one expects Beijing to be perfect, of course. Yet, week in and week out, officials in Beijing prefer to trumpet their slogan about a "high quality, cultural, high-tech and green'' Olympics instead of giving straight answers on how they plan to better tackle these problems.

When new Beijing mayor Guo Jinlong formally took office last Saturday, for example, he merely made a bland speech, briefly introduced nine of his deputies and left without taking a question from the roomful of journalists.

The instinctive response from journalists and critics is to ask: What is Beijing trying to hide? What is the real story here?

The Sunday Times' expose on the workplace deaths is a classic example of this.

Indeed, anyone familiar with China's poor safety record, or who has visited the Beijing Olympic construction sites in recent years, would find it hard to believe the authorities' claim that no major accident has occurred there.

According to Mr Li Yizhong, head of China's State Administration of Work Safety, more than 100,000 Chinese died in accidents last year.

At the sprawling Games-related worksites such as the Olympic Green, the main venue for the 2008 Games, tens of thousands of workers can be seen working day and night, all through the oppressive summers and bitter winters.

The complex construction process of futuristic stadiums like the Bird's Nest, so nicknamed for its mind-boggling latticework of steel and concrete, often requires workers to rappel from or climb up steel beams over 50m above ground just to conduct welding or paint jobs.

On my numerous trips to the Olympic Green since July 2006, I've often wondered whether Beijing should hire a team of daredevil mountaineers to build the Bird's Nest instead of migrant workers from the poor countryside.

But construction safety issues are not unique to China or Beijing's Olympic preparations.

Nor are problems like air pollution and traffic congestion. Previous Olympic cities like Los Angeles and Athens have all gotten flak for these problems, but still managed to win over the critics in the end.

So, it's hard to imagine how talking candidly about the problems in Beijing or admitting to the unfortunate deaths at the Olympic stadiums would scare off potential visitors.

Surely, no one is naïve enough to believe that everything will be perfect during the Beijing Games.

Clamping down and dodging the inconvenient issues will only prompt journalists – there will be an estimated 30,000 in Beijing during the Games – to dig deeper for that juicy "exclusive". The army of casual visitors armed with camera phones and opinionated blogs are not to be underestimated either.

But unfortunately, signs are that officials here are still living in a bubble of their own as they fret endlessly over minor concerns.

With a straight face, a government media handler recently asked several journalists, including this writer, whether the foreign media would be upset and start writing negative reports about Beijing if they cannot find proper accommodation during the Games.

The baffled journalists politely told him that would not happen.

There are six more months to go before the 2008 Games. Hopefully, this is enough time to convince Chinese officials to do the one thing that would truly help make the upcoming Games an enjoyable one: relax.