Oct
1
Final Thoughts (Finally)
Filed Under Beijing, Life, Olympic Games, Work
You’ve been asking for it, now I’m finally going to live up to my word.
It’s been a few days more than a month since I landed in Chicago to start the next phase in my life. While parts of that have taken off — Jill and I will move into a dream apartment on Nov. 1, and as of today, our date is set: Aug. 8 — but I am still searching for that first job.
The date of our wedding has special meaning. First, and ultimately, the date lies days between our parents’ respective anniversaries. It will also be exactly one year after 8/8/08, the day the Beijing Olympics kicked off. (Of course 8/8 just looks cool, too)
Sometimes it’s hard to believe that I spent two months in China this summer, or that I was plunged right in the heart of the world’s biggest event. I look back at the pictures sometimes and it seems like all of that was a world away. That’s a good cliché, because it actually was a world away.
My memories of China are generally positive. The Olympics went without hitch, and I was in the audience during arguably three of the four biggest events of the whole event: Usain Bolt’s 100-meter dash world record, the women’s team gymnastics final and the men’s soccer final. Missing Michael Phelps hardly dulled my experience.
The city of Beijing, for all of its faults, became home by the end. For whatever reason transportation always seems to do it. Once the new subway line opened up just blocks away from our hotel and I learned to travel alone everything seemed to become a lot more homey. That’s exactly how it worked in London; as soon as I took the tube alone for the first time I realized I was home.
It’s hard to figure out why it’s been so hard to motivate myself to write this, or to fill up a photo album, for that matter. During a debriefing in the days before we left, my old sports editor said he’d talked to his wife that morning and that everybody at home was Beijing-ed out. I think we were too. It was a once in a lifetime experience, but when it was done, it was done. I think we all needed a break.
Earlier this week, after watching the nostalgic “Beijing Huan Ying Ni” music video on YouTube, I got one of those ambitions. As memories, insights and anecdotes ran through my head I realized that I could put them all together in the form of a book. So far I’ve only written one sentence, but now that it’s public I have some accountability. As long as I’m unemployed I am going to try to put something together.
In the mean time, here are some of my thoughts one month and I think four days since I’ve been home:
Beijing:
Whenever you meet somebody visiting from overseas the person will point out how the U.S. is nothing like the Beverly Hills 90210 episodes he or she saw on TV. I can safely say Beijing is nothing like the commercials and culture pieces you saw during the Olympics.
First and foremost, the sky isn’t blue there. Before the Olympics, there were one or two blue-sky days in about six weeks. With incredible pollution-reduction measures in place there were some gorgeous days during the Olympics, but it’s safe to say that the semi trucks are back on the roads and the factories are pumping soot into the air once again, and it will probably stay like that for a while.
There was no underlying “Go Green” theme in Beijing like you see all over Europe and more and more in the U.S. now.
Beyond that, the city itself is not like you’ve seen on TV. Inevitably most commercials and pictures show the overwhelming Chinese culture — Chinese dressed in traditional outfits hanging out in the Forbidden City, Jackie Chan signing a song on the Great Wall, or beautiful shots of the iconic Temple of Heaven.
Well yes, those are all there. What you see is pretty much he extent of it, though. Beijing is without doubt an industrialized city that is continuing to industrialize. The traditional buildings with pointed bamboo roofs are lost in the sea of western-looking high-rises. I made mention throughout my time there: in many ways Beijing feels just like an American city.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing. There are some incredible new and modern structures there; arguably some of the most unique architecture in the world is in Beijing. The twisting CCTV Tower will be one of the world’s most famous buildings when it’s done, the giant egg-shaped national opera house is already an icon, and the Olympics had its fair share of breathtaking architecture.
My point, simply, is that Beijing does not feel as Chinese and exotic as those commercials and promotional videos make it look.
It’s hard to justify not seeing Beijing if ever visiting China; after all the Forbidden City, Great Wall, Temple of Heaven and Tiananmen Square will always be among the most famous icons of the country. Still, Beijing is kind of a tweener city right now. If you are looking for a really cultural Chinese experience you can do better somewhere smaller and less industrialized, and if you are looking for someplace modern and architecturally amazing Shanghai and Hong Kong are probably better bets.
Olympics:
For me, the Olympics lived up to its hype. Some seasoned journalists complained that there wasn’t enough to do or to eat on the Olympic Green or at the exterior venues — and there is warrant to that — but after being there I don’t think you will see another event like it.
First is just the Olympic Green. The Bird’s Nest and the Water Cube were the two icons of the 2008 Olympics, and London 2012 has already made it clear that iconic Olympic stadiums are a thing of the past. Every stadium or Olympic building I saw — from softball to beach volleyball to the Main Press Center to the subways — was top-of-the-line. Whether you like it or not, China had the money and capability to make incredible Olympic venues.
Then you have the games. Mark Spitz has been talked about for years; is anybody ever going to beat his seven gold medals? Phelps, I believe, set seven world records as he won his eight gold medals. In the marquee event, the men’s 100-meter dash, a world record went down. The last time that happened at the Olympics was in 1996.
The Olympics also passed the controversy and terrorism test. Before the Games, some extremist group from western China basically confirmed that there would be trouble at the Olympics. They failed. Besides a freak-murder of an American on the first day, nothing major happened. The Chinese authorities had some minor incidents, such as when a group unfurled a “Free Tibet” on the Olympic Green or the scam that was the designated protest area. Beyond that, the Olympics never felt unsafe in any way.
A relevant argument can be made that for all of the aesthetics that Beijing did right, there were some things lacking. First is the food. There were two McDonalds restaurants on the Olympic Green — although one was real out of the way — but other then that there were only very basic concession stands selling packaged and cold food. The other downfall was lack of festivities. There were thousands of people at the events each day, but besides the events and some sponsor showcase buildings, there wasn’t much to do.
All things considered, nothing is perfect, but the 2008 Beijing Olympics were about as great as I could have expected and I will be very surprised if it is surpassed in the near future.
People:
More than anything, I left Beijing with a positive view of the people I met there. Sure, they can be a little nationalistic and naïve at times, but everybody who we met on a personal level was intrigued with us and went out of their way to make sure we were comfortable. The Chinese have a very friendly and unique demeanor and I will miss the friends I made there.
Sometimes I find it ironic how far the Chinese went to welcome their Western visitors. When I am the one visiting, shouldn’t it be my duty to learn basic Chinese and take on a Chinese name? Instead, I essentially got by with knowing only xie xie (thank you) and nihao (hello). The Chinese volunteers, at the Olympics and in general, spoke near fluent English and went by names like Lucas, Doreen, Norman, and Eleven. Well, I guess Eleven isn’t the best example, but I think my point gets across.
On our third to last night in Beijing, Renmin University hosted a going away party for our group and the North Carolina delegation, which was also living there. As part of the celebration various Chinese students took the microphone and sang songs to us, including the ever-popular “Beijing Huan Ying Ni” (Beijing Welcomes You). This, to me, summed up the attitude of the people during our time there. To some people it might have been an awkward situation — a man signing a long and slow song without background music to a group of foreigners — but really, it was just sincere.
I had a lot of fun with my Chinese friends, too. An Olympic volunteer friend, Angela, got a kick out of teaching Brad Pitt and Harry Potter the Mandarin words for fool, stupid and ugly; for the record, the Chinese thought my friend Alex looked a lot like Harry, so I alerted them that I looked like Brad.
Sometimes it was hard to differentiate sarcasm for naivety, but we all joked around nonetheless. Once Doreen, a Chinese boss at the Olympics, asked a girl in our group if she liked flowers. When our girl of course answered yes, Doreen informed her that she would have the honor of watering the plants in our office. To me, that’s a joke. I never knew if it was to Doreen too.
If there is a note to go out on, it’s that the Chinese that I met all seemed to be very happy in life. The security guards at our hotel, working what seemed like endless hours, never ceased to perk up and high five the Americans when we returned home. It seemed like everybody was always smiling; even the toothless, shirtless man poking a stick at garbage in a hutong would smile if he saw the Americans.
To End:
Say what you want about the Chinese government (and there’s a lot to say), my two months in Beijing went without problem at all. Things worked and were efficient (and cheap!); the people were helpful and friendly; and the Olympics will go down as a successful worldwide event, forever.
That all said, I don’t think you will find me ever living in Beijing, or China as a whole. I have good memories from my two months there, but the culture didn’t intrigue me as it does some people. I’m not sure if China as a country is developing in the right way, and while it may be extremely successful on the economic front, I think China itself is being left behind.
NOTE: If you’ve gotten this far, I wouldn’t mind any feedback on this blog throughout the summer. Was there anything you really liked, disliked, any tips for my writing style? Please feel free to comment below with any input/comments. Thanks for reading!