"EVEN The "Brown City" Business People Have LOST INTEREST"

The Commies are continuing to squelch DISSENT as "Games" near.
Citizens in Brown Town fear massive police crackdown.

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"For Hosts, Games Lose Some Luster"

"Many Beijing Residents Find Tribulations of Olympics Outweigh
Benefits"

By Maureen Fan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, July 2, 2008; A01

BEIJING -- It seemed like a great idea last year, starting a hotel-
reservation Web site for this summer's Olympic Games. Companies had
been calling travel agencies 17 months in advance to book rooms.

He Peiyuan, who used to work for just such an agency, calculated that
he could make more than $140,000 with his site, Beijing Hotel
Reservations. But so far, he said, all he's managed to earn from 448
customers is about $43,000.

"Chinese clients think the rooms are too expensive or the hotels
aren't conveniently located, and they're afraid of being cheated. The
foreign clients just hesitate to make a decision," said He, 24, who
has started to work at an art gallery for extra income.

The Aug. 8-24 Summer Olympics are supposed to mark a major celebration
for China, an extravaganza that has ordinary citizens bursting with
pride and excitement. Locals here are, by and large, proud to play
host. But many are also increasingly feeling burdened by or
disconnected from a billion-dollar spectacle for which expectations
have been set so high.

Tenants are upset that development has driven up the cost of living in
the city; drivers are bracing for major traffic congestion; and hotel
managers and travel agents are complaining that security restrictions
have held up business and tourist visas, keeping occupancy rates
unexpectedly low for the Olympic period.

"So many people expect the Olympics will help make China's economy
even more prosperous. But in China, the government operates
everything. As a result, the Olympics are not that efficient,
economically speaking," said Zhang Ming, a professor of international
relations at Renmin University.

In every Olympic host city, there is pre-Games grumbling. But this is
a city that had arguably yearned for the Games more than most, making
it all the more disappointing when the burdens of hosting the event
start to outweigh the benefits.

For the Chinese, the Olympics have long been seen as an opportunity to
strut and preen, a chance to demonstrate their country's ascendance in
the world as an economic and political heavyweight. When Beijing won
its bid in 2001, an estimated 200,000 overjoyed Chinese spontaneously
converged on Tiananmen Square to celebrate what state media called
"the triumph of the motherland."

Seven years later, the Beijing Games are likely to be the most
expensive Olympics ever, given the amount of new infrastructure and
corporate sponsorship that will benefit the city. But with just over a
month to go, enthusiasm among many has given way to indifference and,
in some cases, annoyance.

Authorities in Beijing, for instance, have said they will limit the
number of trucks in the capital during the Games to improve security
and curb traffic. The move means stores are likely to find themselves
short of supplies.

"I just got the key of my new apartment last weekend. I need to buy
tiles, paint, sinks, a toilet, kitchen appliances, a wood floor. But
several construction stores told me they got government notices
encouraging them to close during the Olympics," said Yin Jun, an
editor in a publishing house.

The government, meanwhile, is also trying to tighten security by
deploying automatic-weapon-toting guards to the airport and applying
greater scrutiny to mail coming through the capital. From June through
October, post offices here will not accept packages containing
liquids, chemicals, powders, electronic equipment, or even soap and
ointment, without special permission from the Public Security
Ministry.

"It's worse than I thought. There are so many new regulations on which
kinds of things cannot be mailed from or to Beijing," said Jian Yamin,
a chemical engineer.

"I want to buy a new cellphone, but I cannot use an express company to
deliver it since it's an electronic good," said Jian, who added that
development in the capital has driven up rent prices.

Even the authorities may have overestimated the level of interest in
the Games. The Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games
continues to predict the event will draw more than 1 million domestic
visitors and 500,000 foreigners, including 22,000 credentialed foreign
journalists. And yet tougher enforcement of rules governing visas and
residential permits has forced thousands of foreigners to leave China
and many Chinese migrant workers to leave the capital.

"If tourists want to extend their visas, they have to provide proof
that they have at least $3,000 in the bank and residential papers for
where they're staying," said Liu Jia, a Beijing-based visa agent. "The
new visa policy is tighter because the government is afraid something
will happen during the Olympics. . . . The new policy will try to keep
foreigners out of China."

The restrictions, which in some cases require tourists to prove they
have tickets for the Games and hotel reservations, have sent hotel
occupancy rates plummeting. In June, four-star hotels reported only a
45.5 percent occupancy rate. The city's five-star hotels, with average
room prices of $500 a night, reported an occupancy rate of about 78
percent.

Zhang Bin, a saleswoman at the four-star Sunjoy Hotel, said that the
daily rate at the hotel averages about $285 a night but that "there's
still room to lower the price."

"We were optimistic about the market last year, but there's such a big
distance between reality and our expectations," Zhang said.

Like many Beijingers, Liu Qifei, a magazine vendor, assumed that the
Olympics would bring real improvements to life in the city. But it
hasn't quite turned out that way.

"Look at this street. The old buildings have been newly painted. Just
opposite, the buildings facing the street have been decorated. But the
buildings behind them are unchanged," said Liu, 55, who plans to watch
the Games on television. "I don't like those facade projects because
they are useless to our ordinary citizens."

Liu said the Olympics have led to some benefits, at least in the short
term. Bus tickets are discounted, and traffic is being restricted to
cut back on pollution. Such changes, though, are intended mainly to
ensure a smooth event.

"I'm worried that after the Olympics, everything will return to the
old orbit," Liu said.

[Researcher Zhang Jie contributed to this report.]