By: William Tao, D.Sc.
My wife & I have planned to attend the 29th Olympics since Beijing was awarded to host it at the 2004 Olympics in Sydney, Australia. For me, there is additional meaning to attend because I could be qualified as one of the delegates to the 1936 Olympic in Berlin had Japan not invaded China in that year leading to World War II.
The budget to host an Olympics has escalated every 4 years. By comparison, the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles was budgeted at $800 millions; budget for the 2000 Olympics in Australia was $4 billions; budget for the 2004 Olympics in Greece was budgeted at $12 billions but ended with $2 billions in the red; and the 2008 Olympics in China was initially budgeted at $23 billions but the actual expenditure was more than $40 billions and is still growing.
Now that the game has successfully concluded, the big question is whether it is worthy of the expenditure for China to host the Olympics since there are many bread-&-butter projects still unfulfilled? The answer is obviously very difficult to assess and is extremely complex. .
On the positive side, I believe a large portion of the expenditures were spent for improving the infrastructures - highways, airports, rail station, subways and the numerous sports facilities in and out of Beijing. Those infrastructures will have lasting benefits to the economy and the state of health of the Chinese people.
Last minutes agitation by the Free Tibet followers had caused a major obstacle to the planning of this event in time and money. In order to tighten the security measures, all visitors to China have to be carefully screened making visa applications difficult and time consuming.
In the mean time, travel agencies all over the world have blocked out all available hotel rooms with expensive packages that most people could not afford. Consequently, potential visitors were discouraged and eventually abandoned their plan to attend.
While the trend was developing, most hotels are still holding their room rates sky high. With the help of our friends in Beijing, we finally booked a room at a 3rd rate hotel for $700 dollars per room-night while its normal rate was only $60. However, due to canceling of reservations by many of the international visitors, most hotels in Beijing were less than two-third filled. I noticed this situation when I flew from Shanghai to Beijing on August 7, one day before the opening ceremony, that both airports were nearly deserted with only scattered passengers. I also noticed the empty highways and streets in Beijing as if it were under curfew instead of a lively and festive city. There is no question that most of hotels and restaurants in Beijing suffered financial loss.
On the positive side, the opening and closing ceremonies are well conceived and executed. The high-tech theatric effect is an indication that China has reached a level of sophistication equal or better than many other leading cities in the world. (To me, the ceremonies have stretched too long, but that is not the point.) The images and the messages transmitted over the air and through satellites on billions of TV sets all over the world are more than offsetting all of the agony and expenses incurred for hosting this 29th Olympics.
I must compliment the Beijing government for its promise to clean up the hazy air hangover Beijing year around and was pleasantly surprised to find partial and full blue sky during the Olympic days. This was accomplished with great sacrifice by closing many of its heavy industries and the elimination of one-half of its daily automobile traffics. While these measures can not sustain for long, the result will have far reaching impacts in the future. With new technology and determination, I believe the problem can be resolved similar to that of Los Angeles during the 1950s.
More importantly, the successful conclusion of the two weeks of extravaganza, and the friendship built up between the athletes of the world and the first hand observation of modern China by international visitors have exposed China directly to billions of people in the world. The benefit achieved by hosting the 29th Olympics has far exceeded the money and effort China has invested. |
