John Taylor was the Australian ABC's China correspondent from 2002 to 2006. He returned to Beijing for the Olympics - and reports on the Radio National's Correspondent's Report:
"Welcome to the no-fun Games, the dirty Games, the repressive Olympics, the One Party party. You could go on and on like that.
China has invested billions of dollars in this international set piece to show the world it's back, and to be reckoned with. But it's not going as the Communist officials planned.
The weather has been all over the place. The pro-Tibetan protests have kept on coming. The venues aren't full. And the joy that was so evident on the streets of Sydney eight years ago just isn't here.
It's not that they haven't tried. I reckon the authorities have tried as hard as they can to make sure Beijing looks and is as good as it can. But I don't think the officials get it because of who and what they are: unelected, and unaccountable, except to each other.
They can't be honest, because they believe the public is to be feared, not embraced. Power is vested in the few, not the many. Friends and family come before the public. It creates distrust, anger, and danger.
But these truths can't be acknowledged, and must be hidden. China is striving to be a harmonious society, officials say. It is peaceful and non-threatening to the world.
But when does putting on your best face cross over to be just faking it? Is it faking it to have a little girl mime to another child's singing, because the Opening Ceremony needs a very pretty child? What about inserting computer graphics of fireworks into the live televised Opening Ceremony?
It wasn't faking it to the authorities that organised the Opening Ceremony. It didn't matter that it wasn't real: it looked better, and it fooled people, so great!
On the day the Olympics began, there was a carnival atmosphere outside the main Olympic precinct. Thousands of people spontaneously flocked to the area. The fences were strong and kept them out, but they actually didn't want to go in: they wanted to share their Olympic anticipation."
Interestingly, Mike Carlton, writing his weekly column in the SMH, comes to a not dissimilar conclusion:
"Somehow, the Olympic Games are not doing it for me this time around."
And:
"But there is something just not happening. And after some deep thought - at least a minute of it - I have worked out what it is. These games lack a heart and soul. There is no warmth to them. You never get the feeling that anything spontaneous might ever be allowed to get in the way of the relentless, goose-stepping march of organisational perfection.
Where are all the people? At Sydney 2000, and in Athens four years ago, the streets and the parks and the bars were thronged. There was a carnival mood. In Beijing, to judge from the television pictures, you could machine-gun some of the public spaces and not hit anyone. Perhaps they already have. The place has no life to it."
"Welcome to the no-fun Games, the dirty Games, the repressive Olympics, the One Party party. You could go on and on like that.
China has invested billions of dollars in this international set piece to show the world it's back, and to be reckoned with. But it's not going as the Communist officials planned.
The weather has been all over the place. The pro-Tibetan protests have kept on coming. The venues aren't full. And the joy that was so evident on the streets of Sydney eight years ago just isn't here.
It's not that they haven't tried. I reckon the authorities have tried as hard as they can to make sure Beijing looks and is as good as it can. But I don't think the officials get it because of who and what they are: unelected, and unaccountable, except to each other.
They can't be honest, because they believe the public is to be feared, not embraced. Power is vested in the few, not the many. Friends and family come before the public. It creates distrust, anger, and danger.
But these truths can't be acknowledged, and must be hidden. China is striving to be a harmonious society, officials say. It is peaceful and non-threatening to the world.
But when does putting on your best face cross over to be just faking it? Is it faking it to have a little girl mime to another child's singing, because the Opening Ceremony needs a very pretty child? What about inserting computer graphics of fireworks into the live televised Opening Ceremony?
It wasn't faking it to the authorities that organised the Opening Ceremony. It didn't matter that it wasn't real: it looked better, and it fooled people, so great!
On the day the Olympics began, there was a carnival atmosphere outside the main Olympic precinct. Thousands of people spontaneously flocked to the area. The fences were strong and kept them out, but they actually didn't want to go in: they wanted to share their Olympic anticipation."
Interestingly, Mike Carlton, writing his weekly column in the SMH, comes to a not dissimilar conclusion:
"Somehow, the Olympic Games are not doing it for me this time around."
And:
"But there is something just not happening. And after some deep thought - at least a minute of it - I have worked out what it is. These games lack a heart and soul. There is no warmth to them. You never get the feeling that anything spontaneous might ever be allowed to get in the way of the relentless, goose-stepping march of organisational perfection.
Where are all the people? At Sydney 2000, and in Athens four years ago, the streets and the parks and the bars were thronged. There was a carnival mood. In Beijing, to judge from the television pictures, you could machine-gun some of the public spaces and not hit anyone. Perhaps they already have. The place has no life to it."
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