China's Olympic trials

BEIJING — "Beijing Welcomes the World."

That slogan is everywhere in Beijing, but as the 2008 games draw near, the eight-tooth smile that Olympic hostesses have been taught is beginning to look a little strained.

Fearful of terrorist attacks and of embarrassing protests, the authorities are draping a security blanket over Beijing so thick that many residents fear it will stifle the games.

"They are not taking any chances, whatever the impact on ordinary people, either local or foreign," said Gilbert van Kerckhove, a longtime Beijing resident who is advising the city on Olympic issues. "They are totally paranoid; there is no other word for it."

In preparation for the Aug. 8-24 Summer Olympics, long billed as China's coming-out party, the government tightened visa rules to restrict the number of incoming foreigners, snarled international broadcasters' plans to televise the games, cleared almost all Beijing's itinerant vendors off the streets and closed one of the city's most popular English-language magazines, among other steps apparently designed to ensure control of the event.

The actions attracted the attention of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which organizes the games. "We have asked the Chinese to try to find the right balance between security and operations, and I have confidence that they will do so," the IOC president, Jacques Rogge, said in June.

"Very disappointing"

The Chinese government typically has tightened controls around important events, but the Olympics were supposed to be different, attracting up to 500,000 foreigners, and heralding China's arrival on the world scene.

"It is very disappointing. There has been a lot of exhilaration about the Olympics. We thought tourists would be coming, restaurants would be booked, people would be making a lot of money," said Jen Lin-liu, an American food writer and owner of a cooking school in Beijing.

The violent protests in Tibet in March also led to heightened security in China, and May's magnitude-7.9 earthquake in Sichuan province that killed at least 80,000 people scared off tourists who might have combined a panda-sighting trip to western China with their Olympic travels.

The number of overseas visitors to Beijing in May was down 14.2 percent from May 2007.

"We are not full at the moment, and we have rooms to fill," said Anthony Ha, general manager of the new Marriott Courtyard Beijing Northeast.

China has spent a reported $40 billion on new infrastructure and stunning venues, hoping to impress visitors with a modern city when the games begin next month. But the lack of reservations could shake the city's hotel industry, which has more than doubled its four- and five-star hotel offerings to 160 since Beijing was awarded the Olympics seven years ago.

Ha declined to reveal his hotel's occupancy rate, but he expressed concern over a recent report from the Beijing Tourism Bureau that showed five-star hotels were 77 percent booked, and four-stars were at 44 percent.

"That's worrisome," Ha said. Hotel operators in Beijing were "hoping to hit 90 percent daily. It's a huge thing."

In addition to lower booking rates at hotels, Chinese and foreign companies have canceled meetings and business trips because of problems getting visas. The Chinese foreign ministry has virtually eliminated the multiple-entry visas that used to allow foreign businesspeople based in Hong Kong to commute to the mainland.

"It is not just a short-term irritant, but it might have a long-term effect on foreign investment in China, if people start talking about moving businesses into Vietnam or elsewhere in Southeast Asia," said Richard Vuylsteke, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong.

The Chinese also stopped granting an "investor visa," a six-month visa widely used by English teachers and freelancers. The government is requiring foreigners who wish to work in China to have advanced degrees or expert certificates. A requirement that English teachers be at least 25 and have two years of teaching experience, in addition to their degrees, has diminished the largest pool of English teachers: recent college graduates.

Adding to the visa problems is the perception that Beijing's 5,892 hotels are fully booked or exorbitantly priced to keep tourists away.

Not enough tickets

As in most Olympic host cities, Beijing hotels jacked up rates for the games. Four-star hotels charge about $320 a room per night, three times the rate of a year ago. Room rates are dropping as bookings fail to match the optimistic predictions.

Some 1,100 Chinese families that hoped to offer rooms in their homes for rent to foreigners during the Olympics are finding few takers.

One head of household, Zhou Yong, blamed difficulties in getting tickets: "Some of my Korean friends told me that they can hardly get Olympic tickets. They told me that if I can help buy the tickets, lots of people will come."

Beijing allotted only 25 percent of the 7.1 million Olympics events tickets to foreign buyers, half the percentage of the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece.

Without guaranteed tickets, some tourists are deciding to stay home.

Television broadcasters, meanwhile, are seeking assurances they will be able to broadcast live from such locations as Tiananmen Square and elsewhere.

It is unclear, broadcasters said, whether Beijing will give way.

Government controls extend to the smallest detail. Chinese sports fans have been provided an official cheer, designed by the ruling Communist Party's Office of Spiritual Civilization Development and Guidance, involving raised thumbs, clapping, fist punching and the chant "Go Olympics, go China."

Foreign visitors will be permitted to choose their own cheers, but they will have to abide by the rules published recently on the Web site of the Beijing Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games. These include a warning that "any illegal gatherings, parades, and protests and refusal to comply are subject to administrative punishment or criminal prosecution."

To guard against threats to the Olympics, Beijing said it had mobilized a 100,000-member anti-terrorism force headed by the elite Snow Wolf Commando Unit, and ground-to-air missiles have been positioned under camouflage netting near one Olympic venue.

There are also reports of bar areas in Beijing being forced to close early during the games, with a few around town dubbing these the "Killjoy Games."

Compiled from The Christian Science Monitor, the Los Angeles Times, McClatchy Newspapers and The Associated Press