The Phoenix Network:
 
 
 
About  |  Advertise
 
Comic Strips

Ready or not (mostly not)

Beijing says it's ready for the Olympics. Uh, really, Beijing?
By SARA FAITH ALTERMAN  |  August 8, 2008

080808_sfaIN
Photo by Sara Faith Alterman.

BEIJING — On television images and in photographs, Beijing looks ready for the surge of athletes, government officials, VIPs, and gazillion visitors who are about to cover this city like white on Olympic rice. The international media has fractiously scrutinized China’s capital for the past few years, allowing the Western world to look over Beijing’s shoulders as the city prepared to host the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. We watched as it put the finishing touches on state-of-the-art athletic facilities; fought air pollution; and equipped taxi drivers, hospitality workers, and public servants with the English skills they’ll need to communicate with the thousands of foreigners who will be flitting about Beijing during the month of August.

Except . . . not.

Beijing 2008: Special issue: China, Tibet, and the Olympics
I’ve been living in Beijing since the beginning of July, covering the mad month-long preamble to the Games. My experience has been the polar opposite of what I had read and seen in news stories about how the Chinese are ready and willing to accommodate the Olympic athletes, coaches, spectators, media, and volunteers. How silly of me. I should have known that a country that vehemently denied SARS and tried to poison our pets and children might be a little less than forthcoming about the asinine, algae-scented shitshow that is the 2008 Olympics.

Oh, Beijing. You’re like the ex-boyfriend that I wanted so badly to love, but just couldn’t bring myself to face in the morning, once the booze wore off. I wish I could break it off with you (and go home), but I’ve vowed to stick it out, so I’m trying to make the best of it. Really, I am. But you lied to me, Beijing, and that hurts. It hurts my heart, and it hurts my pride. And it hurts my tender lungs and sinus cavities, too.

Hack attack
I have literally seen the sun once since I have been here, and not because it’s been rainy, or cloudy, or because I sleep off my one-dollar-draft-beer hangovers until the following evening. The gray haze that hangs over the city like a burdened conscience is the result of years of pollutants being wafted to the sky, tits to the wind. Hacking up black mystery gunk has become an accepted part of my daily routine, and I’ve grown to actually find a cathartic satisfaction in hawking a chunky loog — though I’m not sure that Olympic athletes will find that as hilarious as I do. How any of the outdoor competitors will complete their events without developing a nasty case of emphysema in the process I’m not entirely sure. I can’t even walk three blocks without sputtering and wheezing like a dying engine.

Speaking of hacks, when I don’t want to walk, I hail a cab, which, in and of itself, is a choose-your-own-adventure tour de force of spectacular proportions. I’m not enough of an Americaphile asshole to have expected taxi drivers in China to speak my language, but I did, at the very least, expect them to know the geographic layout of their own city. Taxi rides, as it turns out, are total crapshoots. More often than not, I find myself desperately trying to summon the Mandarin words for “Take a left at the giant Mao statue,” or “No, sir, the Mexican/Mediterranean karaoke bar is on the Fourth Ring Road,” or even, “Please look out for the bicycle that’s about to wrap itself around your — OOF! — fender,” before resorting to a madcap routine of pointing and gesturing that usually only gets me within a 17-block radius of where I’m trying to go. This is after I’ve thrust into the hands of the confounded driver the address and directions, written in Chinese characters.

I suppose I’ve been spoiled by Boston cabbies, who know the city and its surrounding urban arteries like the back of their tobacco-stained hands, who could navigate the length of the McGrath/O’Brien Highway without taking their eyes off their newspaper. I’ve learned to choose my Beijing cabbie based on their license number: the six-digit key to a driver’s years of experience and an unofficial indicator of their street savvy. License numbers 150100 and below generally guarantee that the driver has ventured outside of his vehicular comfort zone at least once or twice. Higher than that, and it’s a good chance that the man or woman steering your rickety yellow vehicle down the highway got his or her driver’s license within the past few months — and quite possibly out of a cereal box.

1  |  2  |   next >
Related:
  • China, Tibet, and the Olympics
    Buddhist scholar Robert Thurman explains the Dalai Lama’s political wisdom, the myopia of the Chinese, and the essence of the Olympics
  • Beijing sting
    Exposed: A top-secret government memorandum, obtained this past week by the Phoenix, gives the games away
  • The reign of Spain
    Never mind the Olympics — the Spanish are the big winners of 2008. Are Obama and McCain aware of this new European powerhouse?
  • More more >
  Topics: Lifestyle Features , China , Beijing , China 2008 ,  More more >
  • Share:
  • RSS feed Rss
  • Email this article to a friend Email
  • Print this article Print
Comments
Re: Ready or not (mostly not)
Very amusing, Sarah, but you dropped some clues that you barely visited Beijing, and are mainly reporting stereotypes and Americaphile asshole dribble. I lived in Beijing for 5 weeks in March-April of this year, and walked, took taxis and the subway, rode the bus and my bicycle all over the city. There are no giant Mao status in Beijing (see discussion about removal of statues, New York Times, April 15, 1988). Your second clue was more subtle: There are no cereal boxes in China! (or very few -- that's our kinda food, girlfriend). There was one arresting image in your story: about you looking like a retarded pony. But the rest of your "observations" make me wonder where this anger is coming from -- are Americans afraid of China? Resentful; anxious about the future? So much that we vomit mean-spirited bile and say things like this (and I wish I were kidding): "I should have known that a country that vehemently denied SARS and tried to poison our pets and children might be a little less than forthcoming about the asinine, algae-scented shitshow that is the 2008 Olympics." You felt affronted that people wanted a picture with you. Yes, this happened to me, perhaps even once per day, but it was flattering and charming (see my photo by googling tourist-attraction-at-summer-palace). Permissions were always asked and there were big smiles all around. So what exactly was your problem? Is your problem that idea that we, Americans are supposed to be the ones who take pictures of ourselves with the natives -- we pose with giggling black kids in Ethiopia with flies in their eyes, or an ancient, wise toothless Tibetan? We are the lookers, the ones who get to be curious about the "other", not objectified in strangers' photo albums. Your article has one achievement: A new term for the attitude that Americans are superior and residents of other cultures inferior: "Americaphile asshole." It used to be "Ugly American" and "Boobus Americanus." Great to have a new phrase for the 21st century.
By HumanProject on 08/10/2008 at 11:52:12

ARTICLES BY SARA FAITH ALTERMAN
Share this entry with Delicious
  •   THE FEMININE CRITIQUE  |  December 24, 2008
    Women in politics came a long way in 2008, but the weight of double standards endures
  •   FURIOUS FOODIES  |  December 16, 2008
    Top Chef at midseason
  •   CHRISTIAN’S FOLLY  |  November 06, 2008
    His Own Worst Enemy
  •   THE GOOD NEWS  |  October 08, 2008
    David Alan Grier fills "TV's black hole" with Chocolate News
  •   READY OR NOT (MOSTLY NOT)  |  August 08, 2008
    Beijing says it's ready for the Olympics. Uh, really, Beijing?

 See all articles by: SARA FAITH ALTERMAN

MOST POPULAR
RSS Feed of for the most popular articles
 Most Viewed   Most Emailed 



Sunday, December 28, 2008  |  Sign In  |  Register
 
thePhoenix.com:
Phoenix Media/Communications Group:
TODAY'S FEATURED ADVERTISERS
Copyright © 2008 The Phoenix Media/Communications Group