Letters from China No 7

24th July 2008

Well, today’s the big day. Tonight sees the Opening Ceremony for the Olympic Games in Beijing. It’s a public holiday here in China as it is also in Hong Kong. The “mist” still hangs over Beijing, whether it is really mist or the unfailing dust particles that come down from the Gobi Desert is another matter. The pollution indicators have been at 98 with 100 being the safe limit within Chinese Standards. The WHO (World Health Organisation) consider a reading of 50 to be nearer the mark. But as with any indicator, what it really means is open to interpretation, so, do we consider single day or long-term readings. Now if you take the long-term readings for Beijing, it would be declared a disaster zone from a pollution point of view. Swimming, Gymnastics, weightlifting etc and all other indoor events will not be affected by outdoor conditions as they’re in air-conditioned environments, BUT, the athletes do have to live in the outside world for the most part of their stay, so how that will affect them and their performances remains to be seen.

When we lived in Beijing for one year, we lived for part in one of the villages on the outskirts of the city. I believe that village has been consumed now by the city’s huge expansion. But six years ago, just about all the villages in and around Beijing were using a form of compressed coal dust/charcoal as a form of heating and cooking fuel. Anyone who remembers the smog of the UK cities in the pre Clean Air Act era will know what I’m talking about. A few feet visibility and acrid smog in your lungs is a very vivid memory for me. Well, BJ was just like that and, as far as I know, hasn’t got much better for the normal everyday times of the year, i.e. non-Olympic Games. I do believe that the use of gas in households has been increased immensely, but the number of households and of those living in squatter-like accommodation has increased enormously too.

We have to remember just how much this means to the Chinese who are a very proud people and enormously nationalistic. What they have achieved in the last ten or twenty years would leave most, if not all, countries standing breathless, so the coming of the Games is their due reward. I only hope that they will see it as one observer said –

"I think this will mean a lot for the perception of China. On the one hand for the rest of the world to discover China will be to discover a country that is for most of the world a bit mysterious. But they will find a country with 5,000 years of history, a fascinating country. I believe the spotlight on China will help the world to understand China, and it will also help China to understand the world."

We’ll just have to wait and see…..