Jul 21 2008
The Ten Plagues of Egypt
How many “plagues” will Beijing face? Consider the recent challenges the Chinese regime has faced to ensure that this Olympics goes off without a hitch:
1. The city’s pollution. Last summer, breathing the air in Beijing for one day was equivalent to smoking a pack of cigarettes. Since then, the government has implemented measures to reduce the air pollution, including seeding the clouds with silver iodide and dry ice to control rainfall. Despite these efforts, concerns over the air pollution persist. The Canadian and Australian track and field teams will not be participating in the opening ceremony because it requires unnecessary exposure to pollution a week before their events. Ethiopian world-champion marathon runner Haile Gebrselassie is not competing in the marathon because he has asthma.
More after the jump
2. The March riots in Tibet and the concomitant international bad press. Simmering ethnic, political and religious tensions erupted in Lhasa 57 years after the Chinese Communist occupation of Tibet. The Chinese government has blamed the ensuing violence on the seditious and separatist “Dalai Lama clique.” But the exiled Dalai Lama has publicly only made demands for increased autonomy for Tibet within China. Some Western athletes and governments toyed with the idea of boycotting the Olympics to protest the Chinese crackdown, but the idea received little support even from the Dalai Lama. However, protesters have harassed the Olympic torch relay on several occasions.
3. The tragic Wenchuan earthquake – named after the epicenter – that killed 70,000 and left 4.8 million people homeless. Beyond the humanitarian disaster, there is also a superstitious dimension to this calamity. Earthquakes anticipate political changes: China’s last earthquake of equivalent magnitude was the 1976 Tangshan earthquake, which was preceded by the death of Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai and followed by the deaths of both PLA leader Zhu De and Mao Zedong. I imagine President Hu Jintao has been watching his diet and looking both ways before crossing the street.
4. The algae. In early July, 10,000 People’s Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers were sent to the port city of Qingdao, the site of Olympic sailing this summer, to clean up an unprecedented algae bloom that is clogging the beaches and coast. According to international news reports, the non-toxic algae are the result of industrial pollution and sewage pumped into the waters. Chinese press attributes the growth to the salty water and the hot sun. (This BBC video illustrates the extent of the problem.)
5. The last “plague” beggars belief: locusts are hatching in the northern province of Inner Mongolia. China’s Xinhua News Agency reports that no fewer than 33,000 people, mostly PLA soldiers, have been sent to the province to eradicate the locusts before they hatch. Specialists plan to use 200 tons of pesticide, 100,000 sprayers, and multiple airplanes to solve the problem. Although “there have been no reports of large swarms of the pest flying from the region to Beijing in recent years” (Xinhua), the potential damage caused by these locusts to China’s grasslands might constitute another natural disaster – and another major concern for Beijing right before the Games.
There are ten Biblical plagues in the book of Exodus. As August 8 (the Olympic opening date) approaches, one wonders what else could go wrong – and whether the Chinese are able to solve the problems they already face.
But when I asked local Beijing-er Sha Dongmei what she thought about these auguries, she dismissed my superstitions: “Oh, don’t be silly. The government is going to make sure the Olympics are a success.” And indeed it is. Tibet is quiet, the earthquake relief effort has been a huge success, the algae have mostly been cleared, and I haven’t seen any locusts. Furthermore – and perhaps most critically for the Games – the air quality this last week appears to be much improved. If it holds up, Beijing promises clear days in August.
But people better pray for their firstborn (and here, only) sons. Just in case.
You have summarized most of the major hurtles China has to leap over to make it appear that China is really the international success they want to be. What about the internet restrictions that the international press is now facing? World wide media will really be on China’s case about censorship–human rights can’t be far behind!