For the 2008 Olympic Games, Beijing advocated the idea of "One World, One Dream." However, the dream of the Chinese government is not the dream of everyone. In a vast social system long known for its tight control over its population, it's difficult for controllers and the controlled to share the same ideas.
It had been a dream for Beijing to host the Olympic Games ever since the International Olympic Committee (IOC) settled the thorny "two Chinas" dispute. After an initial bid for the 2000 Olympic Games, which was unsuccessful, China finally hosted the Olympic Games in 2008 for the first time.
It was a symbol of acceptance and recognition by the international community.
An unprecedented challenge
On 13 July, 2001, when it was announced that China would be the host country for the 2008 Olympic Games, tens of thousands of Chinese took to the streets of the capital to celebrate the victory.
It was perhaps the largest spontaneous demonstration in Beijing since the pro-democracy protests of 1989 ended in repression.
During the Beijing Olympics, hundreds of thousands of tourists and tens of thousands of journalists visited China, posing an unprecedented challenge for the Communist Party.
Protests abroad had not ceased since the announcement by the International Olympic Committee. Different voices were questioning China about human rights, freedom of the press, air quality, and other issues.
In response to concerns, the Chinese government stated that the Olympic Games would strengthen China's interaction with the international community and promote improvements in human rights and freedom of the press in China.
However, before the games' opening, some organizations argued that China not only had not fulfilled this promise but was increasingly suppressing "undesirable" voices.
The thorny issue of Tibet
In Tibet, a protest sparked deadly riots in March 2008. The Chinese government stated that 22 people had died in Lhasa, while Tibetan support groups abroad estimated that many more had died in police repression.
On the opening day of the Olympic Games, 8 August, the Tibet Freedom Torch relay ended in Leh, Ladakh, India.
The relay of this torch had begun in Greece in March of the same year and passed through 50 cities in Europe, the United States, Canada, Mexico, New Zealand, Taiwan, and Uruguay, calling attention to the "strict control of the Chinese government over Tibet."
Tenzin Choeying, a student leader of the movement, said at the time: "This year, the Tibet Freedom Torch has special significance because the Chinese government is hosting the Beijing Olympics.
"We want to directly convey to the world the Tibetan people's desire for Tibet's freedom to continue.
And the Chinese government is mistaken in understanding the Tibetan movement as a single movement of a single people.
"The majority of Tibetans living in Tibet want total freedom, they want independence," he expressed," he said.
"As for the Olympic torch, its relay created several 'historical firsts': it was the first time it passed through North Korea, reached the summit of Everest, and the relay was stopped for three days (to commemorate the 80,000 victims of the violent earthquake in Sichuan in May).
It was also the first time that a relay encountered so many large-scale demonstrations, including one in Paris: on 7 April , Tibetan activists, human rights advocates, and others disrupted the Parisian route until the police canceled the final stages.
Chinese wheelchair fencer Jin Jing, who carried the Olympic torch and managed to protect it from protesters attempting to snatch it, was praised in China for safeguarding the torch against "separatists".
Human Rights
On the eve of the Beijing Olympics' opening, over 200 protesters took to the streets of Tokyo to protest because China, as the host country of the Games, "does not respect human rights and represses ethnic minorities."
Meanwhile, in the Philippines, a group of cyclists gathered in Manila to urge China to "improve its human rights record."
They dubbed the Manila bike tour "Ride for Human Rights 2008," with the slogan printed on their shirts. Amnesty International joined the protesters.
A month before the Beijing Olympics' opening, Amnesty International released a report stating that China had failed to improve the human rights situation: "Just in 2007, thousands of petitioners and others were detained," to "show the world an image of harmony and maintain stability at home," the report said.
The Chinese government declared that it would establish several protest zones in Beijing during the Olympic Games, but some who wanted to protest (over issues such as the forced demolition of traditional hutong dwellings, in order to "beautify the capital before the Olympic Games," according to local authorities) said that the police simply rejected their request for demonstrations.
Protests and freedom of information
Regarding the right to protest, Chinese officials explained that, although China's Constitution guarantees freedom of expression, "special measures are needed at special times."
According to Associated Press statistics, from 1989 until July 24, 2008, Beijing issued only two protest permits.
When China submitted its bid to host the 2008 Olympic Games, it spoke of total freedom of information. However, when the time came, the president of the IOC Media Committee discovered that the Chinese government had blocked some websites.
These sites provided information about Tibet or Falun Gong (a spiritual movement, accused by Beijing of being a sect).
When asked about the discrepancy between China's promise seven years previously that the media could report freely and the reality, the Beijing Organizing Committee and the International Olympic Committee said that the blocked websites were unrelated to the games, and that media freedom to report on the games was not compromised.*
The IOC insisted that no private agreement had been reached with the Chinese government, as speculated.
Air pollution
Air pollution in Beijing has also been a concern for the International Olympic Committee and athletes. Although pollution levels had decreased three days before the opening, some American athletes chose to wear masks upon arrival in Beijing.
In order to reduce pollution, the Chinese government has taken drastic measures, including closing and relocating factories in the capital, restricting vehicles, and suspending construction.
This "Blue Sky Project" inevitably caused inconvenience for workers, residents, construction-related businesses, who incurred losses "for the sake of the nation."
However, the outcome regarding air quality was not bad: the French news agency AFP noted that "the air in Beijing was improving... Some athletes feel that the air in Beijing is still not good enough, but it's not as bad as they thought."
The role of Darfur
The 2008 Beijing Olympics were finally inaugurated.
The opening ceremony was supposed to be under the artistic direction of Steven Spielberg, but he decided to resign due to the Chinese government's stance on the issue of Darfur in Sudan.
In addition to Hollywood, Nobel Peace Prize laureates collectively urged China to engage in resolving the Darfur crisis.
More than 100 US legislators also wrote to then-President Hu Jintao, urging China, as the largest investor in Sudan, to use its influence to resolve the crisis, or the Beijing Olympics could be labeled as the "Olympics of ethnic cleansing."
The legacy of the Beijing Games
Returning to sport and sportsmanship, the 2008 Beijing Olympics were undoubtedly thrilling: two legends, Bolt and Phelps, amazed the world with their skill and energy; Afghanistan won its first Olympic medal; two athletes, one Georgian and one Russian, embraced on the field despite the conflict in South Ossetia; the number of female athletes participating in these Games was the highest up to that point; athletes from 204 delegations set a total of 132 Olympic records...
The Beijing Olympics were the most expensive Olympics of the time and impressed the world with what China could offer. T
This has led to a huge flow of international cooperation and investment opportunities in the years following the Olympic Games, and has left mang positive legacies for Beijing: the construction of healthier urban infrastructures, cleaner air, and the "Olympic standards" are no longer limited to the Games.
