Will the 2008 Beijing Olympics Be Safe?

“Welcome to Our Coming Out Party” is the motto China has adopted for its hosting of the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympic Games. The question looms, however, about whether the world will indeed accept this offer from a host whose preparation is hampered by unbridled optimism, large-scale transformation, frenzied schedules, and political corruption. In short, can China be trusted?

Given the recent food and medicine scares, where tainted exports were shipped to unsuspecting consumers, the world is skeptically looking-on. China is striving to overcome a reputation for government impropriety, isolated indifference, and poor product quality. And ever since the Moscow Olympics in 1980, has a host country been known for controlling its news media so tightly. So, China is using the Olympics to showcase its reform and convince the world of its economic, humane, and political progress.

China’s rapid economic progress in recent years is staggering as it struggles to position itself among the world’s top, developed countries. As a microcosm of the country’s rampant changes, Beijing is undergoing an overhaul – likely unprecedented for any city within world history – to prepare for these Games.

Since the International Olympic Committee (IOC) awarded the bid to Beijing in July, 2001, Beijing has adopted its own slogan: “The High-Tech, Green, and People’s Olympics” as an assurance to itself, at least, that these Games will be modern, ecology-focused, and welcoming. To that end, Beijing has been revamped via tapping a 60 billion dollar modernization budget. According to a May, 2007 BBC report, 50% of the world's steel, and 33% of the world's concrete are being used for this overhaul. Tens of thousands construction employees have been working seven-day weeks in past years. Numerous hutong neighborhoods, well-known for their history and quaintness, have been speedily razed – replaced by high-rise apartments, business offices, and Olympics buildings. The cityscape is webbed with construction cranes and scaffolding erected by contractors who have benefited from lucrative deals – sometimes brokered by corrupt Communist party politicians. The infrastructure is also getting a massive facelift with significant road, subway, rail, airport and water system improvements. This growth is unparalleled and astonishing – to the extent that the IOC has requested Beijing to “slow-down” its Olympic-based progress so that the stadiums, venues, and buildings will be in pristine condition next August.

This demolition and construction has taken its toll on the environment, and has deterred Beijing in progressing with its “green’ initiatives. This city, one of the most polluted in the world, is clouded by dust, exhaust, and soot. This poor air quality is chief among the concerns raised by athletes who have been preparing for this prestigious event for years. In fact, some are planning to arrive just in time for the competition – to minimize health risks and performance.

Over two million cars clog city streets each day, and this number is expected to top three million in 2008. As Beijing has promised to the IOC, several “clean air” projects have been initiated with more on the horizon. For starters, over one million vehicles are expected to be banned from the already congested roads during these Games. Thousands of inefficient and polluting taxis and buses have been decommissioned – to be replaced with newer, green-friendly vehicles. And hundreds of smoke-spewing factories have been moved to the suburbs, shut-down, or have been renovated Improved public transit systems will be heavily promoted – as a substitute for traveling by car. Lastly, Beijing will be adorning the landscape with an estimated 300 million newly-planted trees. "The goal is to beautify the environment and clarify the air," said supervisor, Zhabg Xuanxing in a March 2007 article in the “The Washington Post.”
Of most import, however, is Beijing’s “people-focus.” The city is expecting over two million Chinese and 550,000 foreigners to attend the Olympics. Foremost among most visitors’ concerns are food, lodging and safety – all difficult challenges for Beijing. The well-publicized food scandals have put the world on alert where foodstuffs tainted with industrial chemicals, waste by-products, and poisonous dyes were distributed. At first, the government denounced the publicized outcries as unwarranted. As reported in a NY Times article (July 2007) "China's food and drug situation has worsened over the last 10 years," said Wang Hai, one of the country's few prominent consumer advocates. “The main reason, I think, is that penalties are not stiff enough to stop wrongdoers from making bad products.”
Stung by these revelations, the Chinese government is now overhauling its food safety laws – as amendments to the “Food Hygiene Law” (1995) that only provided for minimum standards for the processing, storing, and selling of food. Further, bowing to pressure and to save face, China has recently closed down 180 food plants and identified 23,000 food safety violations. The government is now assuring the approximate 10,000 Olympic athletes, and several thousand officials and dignitaries that their food and water will indeed be closely monitored to ensure food preparation safety using such methods as inspections, video surveillance and equipping transport vehicles with global positioning system devices to track their routes. However, for the rest of the attendees, the quality is suspect. During the Olympics, it will be difficult to keep Beijing's food and water safe. As Zhou Qin who authored a book on food safety problems in China explained to Agence France-Presse in May, 2007, "They might be able to provide safe food for the athletes, but is uncertain whether they can do it for the rest of us."

Lodging, always a bane for the Olympic traveler due to demand far exceeding supply, poses its own set of hurdles for the Chinese government. The Beijing Foreign Affairs Office reports that 622 hotels and apartment building, equating to 103,000 rooms, are available for travelers. At the present, 572 have star ratings of one or more – clearly not a comforting ratio. Fortunately, renovations are underway at numerous hotels with new buildings being constructed in Beijing and in the environs.

Concerns about safety and welfare linger – with memories of the 2003 SARS outbreak still fresh. Wang Yu, director of Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), stated in a Xinhua news article, ”China is still inexperienced in providing public health services and disease prevention and control for major international events, which needs improving." For example, a major mission of Beijing health officials is to eradicate pests such as rats, lice, and fleas – all potential sources of dengue fever, yellow fever, and other diseases. Also, the Red Cross Society of China is training workers and volunteers about handling wide-scale health scenarios and emergency rescue procedures.

“One World, One Dream” is the simple, yet meaningful slogan adopted for the Beijing Olympic Games. China is intent on convincing all, via this debut on a world stage, of its readiness to join the ranks of western, developed countries. "I am totally convinced we will have a civilized Olympics," Beijing Communist Party chief Liu Qi told reporters at a July news conference.

"The world is watching and waiting, eager to see what Beijing and China has to offer and anticipating what it can achieve through hosting the Olympic Games," IOC Chairman Hein Verbruggen said in an April news conference.