Eight Days to 08/08/08: The good, the bad, and the usual weirdness

I haven’t read the book in years, so memory might fail, but I seem to recall a line (perhaps the opening line) from William Gibson’s novel Neuromancer: “The sky was the color of a tv set turned to a dead station.”

Such is Beijing.

Beijing has announced ‘special environmental measures’ that can be implemented on an ad hoc basis including the closing of 100 more factories, the extension of odd/even automobile restrictions in Tianjin and Hebei province, and a new numbering system in Beijing allowing only those cars whose number ends with the same digit as the date to cruise the streets.  The air was marginally better the past few days, with some rain and a decent breeze, but more and more it looks like, despite all the precautions taken and policies enforced, it will come down to whichever way the wind decides to blow–not exactly what you want to bet on if you’re planning a major international event broadcast live around the world.

Unfortunately, there are other PR disasters which loom darker than the Beijing sky.  After months of promising (kind of) unfettered internet access for journalists covering the Olympics, BOCOG got out the vaseline and royally screwed Jacques

July 31st, 2008

Sunday Ramblings…

Well after one week of odd/even traffic restrictions, I stood on the pedestrian overpass on Chao Nei Dajie and looked west.  On a good day, you can see Xiang Shan and the Western Hills.  Today you could see about 200 meters and then the street dissolved into a smog bank so thick it was positively science fiction. On the plus side, the streets have been much more civilized of late with half the cars removed. Traffic flows better and the number of heinous snarls replete with the useless and repetitive blaring of horns has been nicely minimized.  While I haven’t seen any noticeable improvement in air quality downtown, taking half the cars off of Beijing’s streets isn’t the worst idea in the world and for what it’s worth I’d be all for making these restrictions permanent. On the subject of traffic, and since nobody asked, making Nanluoguxiang and the streets around Qianhai, Houhai, and Xihai pedestrian-only would be a nice step in improving the quality of those neighborhoods and demonstrating the Beijing government’s progressive attitude to planning an urban space not beholden to the internal combustion engine. YJ won a lottery for Olympic baseball tickets an Olympic baseball ticket. 

July 27th, 2008

And the Lord spoke, and He said: “Park your car and shut yer mouth.”

And it has come down from on high…the Beijing municipal government today unveiled its long anticipated if not especially eagerly awaited Olympic traffic plan. Odd number. Even number. It won’t matter. What does matter is that we can forget about getting a cab on a weekday downtown. Just start walking now, you’ll get to where you’re going eventually.

June 20th, 2008

Dust in the wind…

I like sleeping with the windows open. Summer. Winter. Whatever. I guess I am a bit of a fresh air freak. Which begs the obvious question: Why oh why do I live in the perpetual haze and permanent dust storm that is the Chinese capital?

Last night was windy and this morning I awoke to a fine layer of dust and soot covering all surfaces of our apartment and my morning run was like jogging in a particle accelerator.

I came back and turned on the News Hour with Jim Lehrer which had…Ah! The curse of coincidence…a feature on China’s Olympic preparations.

I’ve been thinking a lot about expectations lately, and I’d be the first to admit that compared to five years ago the air in Beijing is–marginally–cleaner and more breathable. (I met my Dad once at the airport and he suggested that the plane might have had a fire. I shook my head and told him that, “No, it always smells like this.”) But the old coal smoke and industrial smog have been replaced by construction dust and the exhaust of conspicuous consumption. The athletes, fans, and journalists who hit town in two months won’t have the benchmark of

May 29th, 2008

When the guests go home: China after the Olympics

There’s a new essay at OpenDemocracy by Kerry Brown, author of the book Struggling Giant: China in the 21st Century. Brown argues that while the Olympics currently dominate both the headlines and the attention of Chinese government officials, the twin problems of corruption and inflation will remain once the spotlight has been turned off, the athletes go home, and the One World, One Dream banners start to come down. When August’s celebration ends and September’s hangover subsides, will the people’s attention once again return to rising food prices and a culture of endemic local corruption?

First off, as a historian, I’m not sure I completely agree with the historical parallels Brown uses in his essay if only because China will be a very different place in 2009 than it was in 1989, never mind 1949, but as politicians the world over are all too well aware, pocketbook issues need to be taken seriously, even in places where the vast majority of people are shut out of the political process.

The CCP’s legitimacy rests on its perceived competence at managing economic development. Discontent over spiking food prices coupled with growing frustration over corruption, especially at the local level, threaten the Party’s

March 13th, 2008
 
  Older Entries »