Rolling with the Olympics

When I say rolling, I'm inferring two things. The first is that I've moved yet again. The second is that I've been rolling with the punches of the Beijing gov't for months now, dealing with visa crap and community police and passport inspections etc etc etc. When people ask me if I'm excited about the Olympics, I'm inwardly spitting and outwardly feigning, for to curse the Olympics I may as well be cursing Mao himself. But the truth is that the Olympics is causing more strain than gain, and the hype is creating a number of mini economy bubbles which are doomed to collapse when people realize it's all artificial (the best example is housing; even with record-amounts of new housing coming into the market, prices have continued to increase more than 10% year-on-year since 2005).

The Olympics is being seen as a supersolution to all of the problems in Beijing, but it seems that few people see how superficial this view truly is.

Example 1: pollution. Because of the Olympics, Beijing has implemented a number of measures to curb air pollution in order to appease the IOC and the international community. Many people are impressed with the swiftness and effectiveness of these measures. But easy-come, easy-go, or in this case, easy-go, easy-come. Most of them are only bandage solutions, temporary measures that will be called off after the event. Starting tomorrow, Beijing will implement the half-car road rule; on even days, only cars with even licence plate numbers will be able to drive; and odd on odd days. Since roughly one third of the air pollution in Beijing is caused by cars, this should eliminate about 1/6th of the air pollution (using very rough math). As well, many industrial facilities in the Beijing region and within regions where wind carries pollutants to Beijing are being temporarily shut down. To top that off, outdoors construction is on halt. To speak truthfully, I've noticed the difference, and I'm sure many others have too. But that means it'll hit even harder when these rules are up and the smog returns. The Olympics is not causing major environmental policy changes that will have long-lasting effects, only temporary. The only long-term solution Beijing has implemented is opening the new subway line 10 (which conveniently is 5min from my apartment and takes me from the East to the Northwest in 40min when once it would take me 1hr20min).

Example 2: English. There is much reason for people in China to learn to speak English. It's the international language of business, and the language of Hollywood. As such, most students begin English classes here in middle school, and continue to study through high school and university, at which point many students are required to write the CET-4 English test. But yet, their system is so ... Chinese. People here learn to pass tests. They are great at passing tests. But when that knowledge must be taken outside of a row of desks and applied to the real world, many falter. I meet dozens of people who have learned English for over 10 years and can barely speak beyond a self-introduction. And it's not just a matter of ability, but also confidence, and the lack of an environment in which to practice. But, with the Olympics coming, millions have been given a new purpose to study English: an actual chance to encounter a native English speaker and put their years of study to use. But if they have not realized this by themselves, they needn't fear since there has been flood of slogans and advertisements expressing the importance of learning English in order to serve the anticipated influx of foreigners in August. At my school, I have met dozens of students who are blinded by optimism, seemingly willing to spend 3-4times the average monthly income of a Beijinger on English lessons they plan to use to 'volunteer'. Only in China, I say. You could not possibly convince tens of thousands of people to volunteer for the Olympics in a democratic country. But the big-brother mentality still clings here, and aside from some major progression in many fields, people are still willing to take commands and work for the greater good. And spend hard-earned money for the chance to speak with foreigners because they've been told to make us feel welcome. And what's worse is the taxi drivers. Taxis are the most convenient and practical means for foreigners to get around Beijing. They are cheap (when using foreign currency) and can take you to the very door of where you're going. That is, if you can tell them where you're going. I take taxis every day (I'm not that lazy though, I also ride the bus and subway often, just depends on where I'm going), and in 1.5yrs here I've only met one taxi driver whose English was good enough to be able to respond to me in English. The rest may say greet you with a "hello", only to dissappoint you when they raise their eyebrows at hearing 'left' and 'right', and will simply NOT understand the English names of major venues such as The Worker's Stadium (in Chinese, gongren tiyu guan, not much similarity). This despite a major push for all taxi drivers to speak English that started two years ago and has lost nearly all of its momentum since taxi drivers tend to be poorly-educated, and aside from a once-in-a-while encounter with a foreigner have no chance at all to practice their English skills. And many foreigners who live here can speak enough Chinese to get by in a taxi. But in August it won't be so easy. And don't even pretend to try to feign interest in attempting to look at the idea of boarding a bus, since there are no maps and only the Chinese name of each stop is listed. On the plus side, the subways here are very easy to navigate and all English signage is correct.

Example 3: business opportunities. Everyone seems to think that the Olympics are going to open major international business opportunities for everyone. I hate to break it to them, but those opportunities have been available for a long time now and can be thanked for the sustained 10+% annual growth of the economy here. The Olympics is not going to harvest half-a-million businessmen, but rather half-a-million sports enthusiasts and travelers. No doubt that among those there will be entrepreneurs, but the numbers don't tend towards a euphoric super-business state that will magically rise from the semi-constructed buildings that dot the city. That would require policy change, since doing business in China can be quite complicated and generally requires connections.

So the hype for the Olympics is at an all-time high, but I'm keeping level since I just know there will be consequences.