The Portrait of an Olympic Host: Showing off the real China at the
Olympics -- For China's Olympic Games, reality rather than perfection
/Ding Gang

-- Micky's comment: Beijing dare not even to show the "Green GDP"
report. Olympic participants will most likely to see a fake China via
Beijing Olympics, don't forget, China is famous in making fake goods,
that includes image. --

Submitted by Danwei on Thu, 2007-07-26 13:14. :: 2008 beijing olympic games

This article was aggregated from Danwei

JDM070726shirt.jpg

http://www.danwei.org/images/JDM070726shirt.jpg
Don't see Huanhuan wearing a shirt, either.

Although the Beijing government has repeatedly denied that it will order
many of the city's migrant workers back to their home provinces during
the 2008 Olympics next year, no one has stated precisely what will be
done with them. For a city that's trying to make a good impression on
the world, the prospect of hundreds of thousands (or even millions) of
scruffy peasants sharing the streets with foreign guests is not
particularly attractive.

In an opinion piece that appeared in yesterday's Global Times, Ding
Gang, a senior editor with the People's Daily, wrote that China should
take pride in what it is rather than worrying about foreign tourists
catching glimpses of Beijing's imperfections.

He Dong, who reposted the article on his blog, agrees with Ding, but
fears that the government will be worried anyway. His comments are
translated following Ding's essay.

For China's Olympic Games, reality rather than perfection

by Ding Gang / GT

There are quite a few construction sites near my neighborhood. Every
evening, migrant workers will walk out wearing sandals, shirtless or
wearing their shirts rolled up to expose their stomachs. They'll walk
along the streets in groups of three to five, and occasionally there'll
be someone sitting at the roadside eating a few sticks of barbecued lamb
and drinking beer. They don't have much else to do outside of work, and
they don't have enough money to enjoy a life outside of work. It's
obvious that this is their most relaxing time of day.

A friend of mine became anxious after seeing this, saying that it would
affect Beijing's image during the Olympics. My friend's worries are not
without basis. Next summer during the Olympics, tens of thousands of
athletes, tourists, and reporters from all over the world will crowd
into Beijing. If they see this sort of sight, they may spread it abroad.

So how should this problem be solved? Should we impress a bit more upon
those migrant workers the great importance that wearing shirts and
buttoning them up has on the Olympics, or should we collect funds to
purchase shirts for them? Or maybe we should just take the simplest
approach, and when the time comes, have all of the construction sites
simply halt work and dismiss them back to their homes.

Truth be told, going shirtless is not really in very good taste - it's
less than ideal and the very least is not in accordance with the
standards of modern civilization. For an influential, world-famous,
metropolis like Beijing, it's something of a loss of face. But the
reality of shirtlessness is not just Beijing's reality - it is China's
reality as well. I will suggest that this phenomenon exists in
practically all of China's cities. Making shirtless migrant workers
completely disappear from Beijing's streets in a short time is not
difficult to accomplish, but have we ever considered that Beijing
without shirtless migrant workers is no longer the real Beijing, no
longer the real China? We always say that the greatest inspiration, the
greatest life force, comes from reality. When friends come from afar, we
ought to warmly welcome them in a festive atmosphere. But we must not
lose the opportunity to show the world the real China.

If foreigners do not see shirtless guys on the streets of Beijing, will
they change their view of Beijing? Not necessarily, I'd say. If
foreigners see shirtless guys in some other city, they may begin to be
suspicious about the real Beijing. "When the false is true, the true
becomes false" is precisely this logic.

Then again, even if foreigners see shirtless migrant workers, even if
photos of those shirtless migrant workers are published in the
newspaper, it's not that big of a deal. Ask yourself - which Chinese
city doesn't rely on these shirtless migrant workers for swift growth?
Which of Beijing's Olympic projects would exist apart from these
shirtless migrant workers? Letting foreigners understand this is not the
least bit shameful. There's really no need to worry too much over issues
like shirtless migrant workers, and there's no need to take pains to
cover them up or hide them away. Otherwise, it won't just be the
government's money - it'll be more of a hassle for common people as well
as officials. Rather than spending a great deal of effort to cover
things up in pursuit of perfection, why not just take things as they
come and give foreigners a picture of the real Beijing and the real China?

Everyone knows that it will take time to get shirtless migrant workers
to wear shirts. It's not something that simple education alone will
solve. It is a reflection of real standards of living for a segment of
Chinese society, and it involves reasons both historical and
contemporary. To transform their situation will require substantial
investment; overall living standards must be raised for rural residents.
Only when they have cool, air-conditioner-equipped rooms, and their wife
and child are at their side, will they no longer go outside to chat and
stroll shirtless on the streets.

Telling foreigners about the real Beijing is nothing that will muddy our
faces. It will show our self-confidence and it will reduce pressure on
government officials and common people. This is China's national
situation - there are modern skyscrapers, but there are also low-lying
buildings behind them, in streets that aren't very clean; you can find
city-dwellers in pretty clothes eating Ha"agen-Dazs in snack shops, and
you can see shirtless migrant workers strolling along the
roadside....this is China, a developing country, a country that still
requires vigorous effort to reduce the gap between rich and poor.

Perhaps what we should be thinking of is a way to let these shirtless
migrant workers experience a bit of the Olympic atmosphere, and how to
make sure that their livelihood, so hard to come by, is not casually
interrupted. There's been news that the Beijing Municipal Government has
denied rumors that it will urge migrant workers to go home, so I hope
that when the Olympics come next year, I'll still be able to see
shirtless migrant workers sitting at the roadside drinking beer, eating
barbecued lamb, and talking about how many gold medals the Chinese team
has won.

He Dong is not very optimistic:

The idea is a good one, but we've long been accustomed to wanting to
save face in the international arena, to present an outward image of the
rise of our great nation. So even though Ding Gang's idea is quite good,
there will definitely be no shirtless migrant workers available for
foreigners to see at the Beijing Olympics next year.

As for how this issue will be resolved, the government is probably
looking into that right now. Maybe a set of Olympic clothing will be
issued to all migrant workers, and they must wear it when they go
outside during that period. Maybe special supervisors will be sent out
to prevent migrant workers from leaving their construction sites.

In short, this issue that relates to China's international image, so
ultimately there is no chance that Ding Gang's notion of Beijing's real
life will appear during the time of the Beijing Olympics. Since
hypocrisy has long been a habit for us, being sincere for once is simply
too difficult.

Links and Sources

* Global Times via Sina (Chinese): For China's Olympic Games,
reality rather than perfection
http://news.sina.com.cn/pl/2007-07-25/123613524913.shtml

http://blog.sina.com.cn/u/59386ed601000c1i
# He Dong's blog (Chinese): Topless or not at Beijing's Olympics

http://www.cideal.com/pinpai/Cideal11.htm
# Image from CiDeal