China put on great show in Beijing, but with iron fist

The stars will be out in force: hundreds of martial-arts athletes, former Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page and British soccer star David Beckham as the baton is passed to the 2012 London Games. Beijing's grand displays already have London's organizers warning fans that their budget is half of China's.

China spent more than $40 billion for the Olympics, showing the world a modern nation and a gleaming city as Beijing opened its doors to hundreds of thousands of foreign visitors. It has reaped some of the best sports facilities in the world, new subways, a new airport, expanded roads and a trove of gold medals to lift national pride.

But despite the spectacular sets and unforgettable sports moments, Beijing's Games leave a mixed legacy.

They excelled at what people here dub "hardware" — the impressive infrastructure and smooth operation of the events. But when it came to "software" — creating an atmosphere of public participation and celebration — they fell short.

The government ran campaigns to wipe out spitting in public, banned smoking, shut down factories in surrounding provinces and cut the number of cars on the road in half to reduce pollution. Organizers encouraged residents to line up in an orderly fashion and even taught people how to cheer at stadiums.

Visitors praised the work of thousands of friendly, English-speaking volunteers and the city's newly clean streets. Officials in China predicted an improved image will drive up foreign investment and tourism.

"People have a taste of what Beijing can be," said Wen Bo, an environmental activist and Asia Society fellow in Beijing. "Every citizen really enjoys watching the Games. They are proud of the culture and all the things that China can present."

But on the downside, many conclude that China's overzealous focus on security dampened the atmosphere. Officials blocked any real public celebration. They failed to live up to promises to allow even preapproved protests, and closed the city to many citizens outside Beijing.

"When officials get relaxed, things go right," said Xiong Lei, a retired editor of the Xinhua news agency. "When they get nervous, things go wrong. They were too eager to get things perfect."

The Olympic face-lift pushed hundreds of thousands of people outside the city core. Nearly half a million households were relocated by state-initiated redevelopment projects since 1991, the year China decided to make its first, ultimately unsuccessful bid to host the Olympics.

China will win the gold-medal race, but suspicion that its champion gymnasts were underage will continue with an investigation into whether authorities were lying. If so, China would lose the medals, and — even worse — lose face.

The country also saw its biggest sports star, Liu Xiang, drop out of the Olympics just before his first hurdles race.

"Very successful," but ...

Overall, the Games have been "very successful," said Bryan Lang, an American tourist visiting Beijing to watch his eighth Olympics. But to him they were "not anywhere near in same league as Sydney, Los Angeles, Seoul or Atlanta."

"The fireworks and buildings are absolutely spectacular," he said. But walking around the first week, the Olympic Green "was a ghost town," he said.

Only people with tickets to events were allowed to enter the Olympic Green, where many of the monumental new venues are, such as the cutting-edge, $500 million Bird's Nest and the iconic $140 million Water Cube. Sponsors such as Coca-Cola also operated pavilions in the Green.

After complaints from sponsors, organizers finally allowed people to come through gates with special passes, which they had to obtain through local neighborhood committees that evaluated people on "civilized behavior."

Ellen Xie wasn't among them. After passing tests and interviews, she was accepted as a volunteer and took two weeks off from her hotel job to work as a receptionist in Olympic housing. But she wasn't allowed into the Olympic Green.

"It's a pity," she said. "We can't go take a look around."

Because people were not allowed to celebrate or protest in public places, they used the Internet to express themselves, said Wen, the environmental activist. "In real society, you don't see people becoming vocal. That's what China has lost, and that's very tragic."

Even though organizers said Olympic tickets were sold out, and many fans waited overnight in line for a ticket only to be turned away, blocks of seats remained empty throughout the Games.

Instead, most people watched on television, setting new records for viewership. The International Olympic Committee estimated that 842 million people in China tuned in, with a total of 1.2 billion viewers worldwide.

"Missed opportunity"

For a country that worked 18 years to host the Olympics, the event transcended sports to become a statement about how much China has developed.

Shawn Shen, an executive in Beijing who grew up in China and has also lived abroad, called that "a missed opportunity." China's hosting the event was "far from how good it could be."

It did not show a China that is fully open or global, he said.

"There's so much security and control, it's like some kind of invisible wall," Shen said. He took time off work to attend several matches. "There's no festival atmosphere or street celebration anywhere that I can see."

The killing of an American Aug. 9 in a random knife attack on Beijing's famous Drum Tower marred the first day of competition as China deployed tens of thousands of soldiers and police around the city and imposed draconian regulations on its citizens.

To clinch its bid for the Games, Beijing promised to improve human rights. But authorities quickly stifled every demonstration and did not approve any of the 77 applications for legal protests in three parks designated for such purposes. Instead, it arrested some of the applicants, including two women — ages 77 and 79 — for applying to protest a property dispute. The women were sentenced to a year of re-education in a labor camp.

"Our assessment all along has been that the preparations for the Games and the holding of the Games have actually contributed to a worsening of certain areas of human rights," said Sharon Hom, the executive director of the New York-based nonprofit group Human Rights in China.

That is a sharp contrast to other Games, where local people, athletes and media circulated freely and had genuine interaction, Shen said.

"Here in China," he said, "it's more of a show sponsored by the state."

Kristi Heim: kheim@seattletimes.com. Read her blog from China at www.seattletimes.com/Olympics.