With Olympics, China earns medals, respect

BEIJING | A spectacular closing ceremony at nightfall Sunday will culminate in the extinguishing of the Olympic flame that for the last two weeks has burned above the “Bird’s Nest” National Stadium.

Then the tough questions can be asked - starting with whether the Beijing Games justified the incredible $44 billion that were lavished upon them.

Except that most Chinese, like 21-year-old Wu Bo, a university student from eastern Anhui province on his first trip to the capital, see no need for even the most cursory of postmortems. They made up their minds two weeks ago.

“These Olympics have been the most successful in history, and coming to see them has been a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” said Mr. Wu, as he took a picture of a leafy replica of the Great Wall that has been erected in the downtown area.

“Cost just isn’t an issue, because hosting the Olympics is a long-term plan for the whole of China. The stadiums will be used again. The economy will be boosted, and the Olympics will have consolidated China’s international status.”

Similar exhortations of pride flow from the crowds that gather outside the perimeter fence that surrounds the Olympic Green. They have no tickets to the athletics, but are lapping up the triumphal atmosphere before it fades away.

“China’s national image has been changed for the better by these Olympics. We have won a lot of gold medals, which symbolizes the strength of the people and the country,” said Morrison Zhang, 24, a public relations executive for Sony China.

Even Liu Wenming, who is livid with the authorities for trying to evict her from her home in one of Beijing’s oldest residential areas, has tapped into the celebratory spirit.

“Although I have been treated unfairly by the government, I am still Chinese. I am passionate about this country. The Chinese people have stuck together and shown foreigners coming to the Olympics what China is,” she said, sporting a red-and-white polo shirt worn by Olympic public security volunteers.

For the Chinese government, the outpouring of positivity from the people is proof that the Beijing Olympics have been a resounding success.

Analysts have long maintained that the leadership’s primary aim through hosting the games was to bolster its legitimacy at home and prove the country’s power to its own people. This has been achieved with ease.

The Olympics were also viewed as an opportunity for China to put on its best face for the world. That may have been achieved only superficially. Walls were constructed around the city to hide ramshackle buildings that eluded the beautification drive.

The general reaction from tourists visiting China for the first time has been overwhelmingly positive. The spotless streets and the ever-smiling, English-speaking volunteers betray no sign of the grimy human rights record that lies beneath the gleam.

The government, eager to show that it could tolerate an opinion at odds with its own, announced that protest zones would be set up in three parks around the city for anyone wishing to rally to a cause.

But by the end of the Olympics, the government seemed willing to sacrifice its international image for internal stability.

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