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HANCOCK'S GAME: Welcome to the patriot Games

China is promoting itself through the Olympics, which start next Friday. Here a replica of the Great Wall made of shrubbery and the Olympic image of a cyclist are seen opposite the Lama Temple in Beijing. PHOTO: JOHN HANCOCK

Beijing is ready. The sporting venues and infrastructure have been completed on time — unlike Athens four years ago — and the only cloud on the horizon is pollution, which everyone hopes will blow away naturally.

There is a manifest excitement. On street corners a 400,000-strong army of volunteers camp out on foldaway chairs to keep an eye on diminished lines of traffic, or watch out for terrorist threats.

Their Beijing 2008 T-shirts and crimson-colored armbands identify this motley collection of neighborhood watch personnel, students and housewives.

Another battalion of 110,000 helpers can be spotted proudly walking around with their Beijing Organizing Committee accreditation IDs. In addition, there are police cars on major intersections and an increased presence of People’s Liberation Army soldiers near the venues.

Foreign reporters, including myself, have been warned on several occasions now to carry identification papers in order to “prevent any misunderstandings” — but the “Smile Beijing” campaign seems to be working so far.

Public volunteers, part of a 400,000-strong army, “guard” a street corner in Beijing. The red bands on their sleeves read: “Public security volunteer.” PHOTO: JOHN HANCOCK

After all the waiting the party is about to happen and with the excitement has come patriotic fervor. The red flag is flying, from apartment blocks and cars, while the media has gone into Olympic overdrive.

The theme song, We are Ready, has become a looped soundtrack to everyday life: “Even without wings, we can fly/ Our spirits lifted high, lighting up the bright red sky/ We are ready, our hearts together brings us glory.”

Mass distribution text messages have been sent to mobile phones calling on us to send our best wishes or “prayers” for the Olympics to various Web sites.

In newspapers “feel-good” stories about the sacrifices of volunteers or 112-year-old ladies making paper-cutting art for the Olympics are the order of the day.

The Olympics has inevitably taken over the airwaves too. On radio talk shows there are interminable discussions about the initiative to halve the number of cars on the road and reduce pollution.

The gala-type TV broadcasts that are popular fare now usually end with the ensemble cast shouting the slogan, “One World, One Dream” or singing We are Ready.

One particularly vibrant outdoor performance, for an audience of thousands of soldiers, had the star of the show singing the praises of China’s athletes in a moving Humvee. Olympic ambassador Jackie Chan seems to be everywhere and must be making a killing from all his endorsements.

One interesting correlative to all this activity is how the Olympics has become an almost holy event. It’s as if, in the absence of an official religion, the Games has become a pseudo-spiritual event for the country.

Like a pilgrimage, poor rickshaw drivers are cycling thousands of kilometers from their hometowns to Beijing. Thousands of ordinary people have created works of art to glorify the Olympics.

And then there are the Indian sadhu-type figures, such as the acupuncturist who pierced his head and shoulders with 2,008 needles (a record) to mark the event.

Meanwhile, the progress of the Olympic torch has traversed the country as if it were a holy relic. It is referred to as a “sacred” flame. The armed police who travel with it are called the “Olympic Holy Flame Protection Unit.”

It is a heady mix of “religious” fervor and national devotion from a relatively recent convert to the Olympics.

To put it succinctly, this is the patriot Games.



“John Hancock” is the Taipei Times’ correspondent for the Beijing Olympics.
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