B E I J I N G / D U C K / S O U P1/ ZBIGNIEW BRZEZINSKI - Why the holding the Olympics in Beijing is just okay (The New York Times, "Can Communism Compete With the Olympics?", Op-Ed, 07/14/01) ...
2/ GREENING BEIJING - As Beijing steps up to the Olympic (2008) trough, so too will urbanists, landscape architects and all manner of environmental consultancies. See Beijing Bid Goes 'Green' (CNN, 07/10/01). Here comes the next gravy train ...
The Trough ($$$$) - "In seven years of preparation for the 2008 Games, 22 of 37 planned sports stadiums must be built at an estimated cost of $1.6 billion. Wang Wei, a leader of the Chinese Olympic bid, said it should not be a problem to complete the stadiums by 2006, given that $15 billion of general construction is being completed each year in Beijing and that a million workers are available.
A new site must be found for beach volleyball. Plans to use Tiananmen Square came under international protest. The square was the site of the violent crackdown on the student democracy movement in 1989. The centerpiece of the Beijing Games will be 3,000 acres of forested parkland known as the Olympic Green, which will include Olympic Stadium and the athletes' village. The government has also approved a $12 billion plan to improve air and water quality by closing polluting factories or moving them to the edges of the city, where they will burn natural gas instead of coal. Buses and taxis will switch to cleaner-burning natural gas in an attempt to cut Beijing's pollution by 60 percent, officials said. Billions of dollars have been earmarked to expand Beijing's expressway and subway systems.
Along with choking pollution and traffic problems, searing heat in late July and early August is a concern for a number of former Olympic athletes who are delegates of the I.O.C. Similar problems are expected at the 2004 Summer Games in Athens, where preparations have been troubled." (The New York Times, "Beijing Wins Olympics Bid for 2008 Games", 07/14/01)
***For one of the first Olympic 2008 master plan projects out of the gate, see NBBJ. See also Sasaki Associates. For the Sydney Olympics (2000) master plan, see Hargreaves Associates.
AND 3/, from our Olympic correspondent, an early report on preparations for the 2008 Olympiad:
OPENING CEREMONY:
Tiananmen Square Chase
COMPETITIVE EVENTS:
The Dissident Toss
Falun Gong Eliminations
Tibetan Persecutions
Taiwan Bashing
Shar-Pei Grooming
Public Hanging Trials
Genghis Khan Wall Walk
Dead Heat Lying
Chow Rolling Downhill
The Hop-Skip and Hobble
Chop Stick Dexterity
Hunger Strike Exercises
Cigarette Butt Burning
Firing Squad Accuracy
The 50 Yard Spit
Prostitute Fencing
Tortured Endurance Runs
General Tso's White Eye-Ball Ping-Pong
The Second Child Vault
Hand, Heel, and Head Whacking
Decastrateathon (Closed to Foreign Devils)
CEREMONIAL CONFESSIONS: Noodle Festival of Champions
Flag Waving Demonstrations
Human Rights Fireworks
(To Be Continued)
Another Works From NowHere
(C) 2001 - Hammond Guthrie
4/ PROVISIONAL DOSSIER - We've begun assembling materials on Olympic Urbanism and will add to this Provisional Bibliography as time allows ... We've focussed on the Summer Games since most cities, with the exception of ill-fated Sarajevo, do not have snow-capped mountains and other wintry venues in situ to sponsor the Winter Games.
5/ THE GAME WITHIN THE GAMES - Please watch the Amnesty International site, link below, for updates on the runup to the 2008 Games in Beijing. AI is bound and determined to turn up the heat on Beijing, vis-a-vis human rights, and this may turn out to be the most interesting and edifying game within the Games.
For example: China: Human Rights and the Spirit of Olympism AI Index: ASA 17/023/2001 Publish date: 13/07/2001Excerpt: "In the latest 'Strike Hard Campaign', the Chinese authorities have managed to execute more people in three months than the rest of the world put together for the last three years. Over 1700 alleged criminals have been executed since April. Many of them are likely to have been tortured to confess to crimes they didn't commit and few would have received a fair trial. 'Ironically, sports stadiums were the last places where many of those condemned to death were taken, to be subjected to ritual public humiliation in front of large crowds, just before being executed', the organization [AI] said."
6/ THE MAN WHO SOLD THE 2008 SUMMER OLYMPICS? - Preliminary Findings (07/15/01) - We noticed a fearful symmetry in the early despatches from Moscow on the awarding of the 2008 Summer Olympics to Beijing. On the one hand was the so-called objective evaluation of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) of all candidate cities. On the other was the presence of Henry Kissinger, well-known China analyst, consultant to global corporate interests, and - lo and behold! - special consultant to the IOC. For more info please contact: Kissinger Associates, 350 Park Avenue, 26th Floor, New York, New York 10022 (T. 212.759.7919) or the IOC (Lausanne, Switzerland), link below.
7/ AN IMMODEST PROPOSAL - THE PALESTINE LIBERATION OLYMPICS - Given the logic of the IOC decision to award the 2008 Olympics to Beijing, we've prepared an international petition to the IOC to grant the 2012 Olympics to Hebron, the West Bank, Occupied Palestine - For the latest news regarding investment opportunities in the West Bank visit Hebron or The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories - To view the draft petition to the IOC, go to PLOLYMPIAD ...
8/ THE OLYMPIC SPECTACLE - Excerpt from Ute Lehrer's Mega-Projects and Mega-Events: Olympics in Berlin, presented at the public event "Olympic Dreams - Urban Nightmare?" organized by Bread-Not-Circus, Metro Network for Social Justice, and International Network for Urban Research and Action, Toronto, September 16, 1998.9/ HOW TO BUY THE OLYMPICS, SALT LAKE STYLE - The Observer (UK) - The sordid tale of graft and cronyism leading up to the 2002 Winter Olympics.
10/ BEIJINX - Constructing Beijing 2008 - November 13-14, 2002 @ the Beijing New Century Hotel, China - "The Beijing government has allocated a staggering sum of money -- over US$102 billion -- for construction projects over the next five years, and much of this will be spent on sports venues, public design projects and transportation infrastructure. There is no doubt that, particularly in the field of design, engineering, planning and management, the Chinese need support from the international construction industry for such a huge venture [...] Constructing Beijing 2008 will foster in-depth discussion about critical architectural, design and construction issues facing Beijing in the run-up to the 2008 Olympic Games: the biggest event ever to be staged in China." (Architectural Review)
11/ COST-PLUS ARCHITECTURE - Regarding the price tags attached to some of the signature architectural projects associated with the make-over of Beijing, in preparation for the 2008 Games, see Rem in China in "Why We Are Not Rem Koolhaas" (Anti-Journal 1:1)The Editors
MORE BROKEN NEWSChina Enters WTO (BBC World Service, 09/17/01)
The Falun Gong Show (China) (BBC World News, 08/31/01)
Human Rights in China (HRIC)
COMPILATION - Beijing Olympics (The Guardian Unlimited)
Beijing Report (IOC pdf document)
Late News (Muzi - The Digital Great Wall)
"[LatelineNews: 07/20/01] BEIJING - Beijing has vowed to 'smash separatism' in Tibet during a visit by Vice President Hu Jintao to mark China's 50-year rule, state media said Thursday in the wake of the country's Olympic triumph. 'While the local Tibetans will continue to enjoy their freedom to worship the Buddha, those who conduct separatist activities under the robe of Buddhism will not be condoned,' the article in the China Daily said."
The Games China Won't Win (The Christian Science Monitor, 07/17/01)
Atlantic Online Forum - Beijing 2008
Powell Hopes Olympics Will Open Chinese Society - Secretary of State Sees Opportunity in IOC Decision (The Washington Post, 07/13/01)
Require Rights Guarantees from Olympic Hosts (International Herald Tribune, 07/11/01)
U.S. Decides to Stay Neutral on Beijing's Olympics Bid - Some in Congress Oppose Administration's Side Step (The Washington Post, 06/25/01)
New Beijing, Great Olympics - Steven Zeitchik on bringing beach volleyball to Tiananmen Square (Feed Magazine, 03/19/01)
Amnesty International
International Olympic Committee (IOC)
Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Committee
112th IOC Session (Moscow)
