Report from The
Shanghai Olympics
By Shawn Doria
Herald Olympics Correspondent

The Olympics are less than 30 days away, and preparations for the monumental event page are reaching their zenith. Around Beijing, one can see the various aspects of China’s enormous effort to promote the event, as well as feel the impact on the lives of citizens of Beijing.

In matters of security, for instance, areas around the Olympic stadium have been closed for a final round of inspection. Entrances to the stadium and many buildings around it are blocked by large gates, guarded closely by security guards and the police. Although I have heard about China’s plan of utilizing unmanned drones to patrol the skies over the Olympics, I have yet to see those things flying over my head while my taxi passed by the stadium.

Those who enter the area around the stadium are told to apply for special passes, placing a lot of pressure on people who work near the Bird’s Nest, as the central area is called. Many businesses are preparing to shut down throughout the Olympics so that their employees don’t have to go through the trouble of getting checked by security every day, an experience similar to getting past the airport security in today’s America.

Flowers and Trees

A "Green Olympics" is one of China’s biggest goals, and the result can be seen in environmental efforts around the Olympic stadium. New trees and flowers have been planted along the roads and sidewalks. Cleaning crews sweep the streets every day. New trash and recycling cans, and big signs promoting the use of them, have been placed on sidewalks.

The scenery around the streets of Beijing went through big changes in the last year, including the removal of large advertisement signs and billboards in front of stores and shopping centers, which were replaced by signs of equal size that attempt to show how organized Beijing’s shopping districts are.

However, after talking to some locals as well as some of my relatives and friends, I learned that these changes were only made recently, and will likely revert back after the Olympics are over. It will be interesting to observe if there are still people watering the flowers everyday after the Olympics are over, or if there are any flowers left.

Tourism

Chinese, being the clever businessmen they are, would not let this golden opportunity for tourism go to waste. A stroll through Beijing’s shopping district reveals many newly-opened stores, offering the latest brand of shoes to the newest cell phone, many of them in foreign brands.

At a large computer mall in Zhong Guan Cun, "the Silicon Valley of China." I was amazed by each store’s enthusiasm in promoting their product to the customers. Salespeople would go out of their way to present you with their latest and "cheapest" product; some would even try to physically drag you into their stores. In some cases store workers outnumbered the customers two to one. Had I not come with someone familiar with these sales tactics, I would have surely spent several hundred dollars.

China is well known for bootlegged products. Gone this summer, however, are the armies of sketchy-looking shops on the side of the streets, replaced by newly planted trees and flowers. Old Beijing residents, however, know that these stores are just harder to find. Following a friend, I walked through the kitchen of an old apartment in a residential area; there stood a large DVD shop in all its bootlegged glory, ready to return to the streets after the international event is over.