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The Olympics represents the noble ideal of sports overcoming the barriers of politics with champion athletes of all nations gathering in the spirit of sportsmanship. However, the stakes go beyond who wins the gold medal. Shortly after each competition, nations begin to vie afresh for the bid to host the next game. Winning the vote to host is not merely an honor, it is a political conquest in global recognition. It also spins revenue from the influx of tourists, participants and Olympic related paraphernalia.
However, all that glitters is not gold. For some residents of Beijing, the site of Olympic 2008, the impact of winning the bid cuts deep and far into their personal lives. The capital is expecting to pour billions of dollars into sports facilities and related upgrades such as roads, public transport, landscaping and sanitation. For the bustling city of bicycles and traffic jams tucked among imperial relics, the Olympics is an opportunity for urban renewal.
Yet for those within the areas, something must give way to make room for the model Olympic Village.
Decades of family homes will be uprooted and dispersed among apartments on the outskirts of the city. Although modern plumbing and sanitation will replace chamber pots, the move is an upheaval of a community and its way of life and social dynamics. It will be interesting to follow up on those and study the effects ofthe transplant.
The Olympics upgrades are not disposable stage props that can be easily discarded after the show. Experts are afraid that without the heartbeat of ordinary people dwelling in the ancient city, the high tech Olympic City would become culturally dry. Careful urban planning and stringent regulations such as building restrictions can preserve the impression of an intact neighborhood. Nevertheless, without the residents, aesthetic is lost and only the facade remains, waiting to be filled by tourists and businesses.
Nonetheless who can begrudge anyone a more comfortable living environment? Even without the Olympics, can the drumbeat of modernization be stopped? And whether the changes are for better or worse, who should presume to judge such things other than those whose lives bear the brunt of the impact?
