Beijing.July 2008

[hidden12345]

Can anyone who is in Beijing now give a report how things are faring over there. I have a visa, some time off, and nothing better to do, and thus, am thinking about hopping a plane over to Beijing to hang out for a couple weeks. Most of my Beijing friends are leaving to other parts of the country to escape the madness. When I ask them what things are like over there, they all seem to reply with “着急”。 I hear the gov't has been shutting down a lot of clubs and what not, so is Beijing still raging now or what?

[hidden12345]

64 replies and not one person on the ground can give any insight? Do you notice ANYTHING different recently?

[gougou]

Sure, it's different, more police on the streets, more controls and stuff, but I don't think it makes the place so much less livable that you'd need to flee it. Starting today it might actually be better than before, with half the cars of the roads. As to having shut down "a lot of" clubs, I can't confirm that. I know that the ones inside the worker's stadium have been closed (or will be soon, anyway), and that a few venues are not permitted to play live music at the moment, but that's just five places out of hundreds.

[cdn_in_bj]

There should be less cars on the road - today's the start of the even/odd plate number restrictions for passenger vehicles.

[adrianlondon]

There should be less cars on the road - today's the start of the even/odd plate number restrictions for passenger vehicles.

Yeah, that's being heavily reported in the UK too, along with the factories shutting down and construction being stopped. They did this during the African-Chinese summit in November 2006 and we had beautiful blue skies for the week.

Athens did (still does?) this car-banning thing with even/odd registration plates. The rich simply used another car when needed.

[gougou]

I took some time to check today (once on Chaoyangmen Wai, once on the street south of the station) and I was surprised that I really didn't see any regular cars with odd license plates (bar two regular looking cars which had 京B license plates, so I'm guessing they must be some kind of private taxi?). I was also impressed by the number of taxis - it seems there were two taxis for every regular car. However, I took three cabs today, and all of the drivers said that the difference for them was barely noticeable. One lamented that with Beijing keeping people from outside Beijing away, their business won't improve much through the Olympics.

[smh254]

I know a club promoter in Beijing. He said that he's had to cancel all his upcoming parties. He's kind of bummed about it, but he assured me that he's been told things will return to normal once the Olympics are over.

Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised to hear that they institute a curfew during the Olympics.

[Alvinho]

the local authorities guaranteed last year that they would overcome the polluted air issue......the air is still contaminated.......how locals deal with the prospect of tourists criticize it?....I'm not here to tell anyone off otherwise I wouldn`t register on this forum...

[cdn_in_bj]

I took some time to check today (once on Chaoyangmen Wai, once on the street south of the station) and I was surprised that I really didn't see any regular cars with odd license plates

I took a taxi yesterday and on the east 3rd ring road I saw only 2 private cars with odd-numbered plates, and one of these looked like it had some sort of permit for the Olympics. Overall, traffic was a bit lighter than usual on the 3rd ring. However, Chang An Ave looked really blocked heading west towards the city center. Perhaps they were implementing traffic controls with the arriving delegates.

So I think that the odd/even restrictions are working, even though the loss of a lane on the main roads somewhat offsets this from a traffic point of view (for regular citizens). However, I'm going to wait a few days before I make any definite conclusions.

(bar two regular looking cars which had 京B license plates, so I'm guessing they must be some kind of private taxi?).

Yeah, 京B should be taxi/limo. Were they large, black, boxy-looking sedans?

[cdn_in_bj]

Regarding the air quality, it helps that in the past 3 weeks we've had an unusually large amount of rain. Quite the stroke of luck, I'd say.

[gougou]

On my (short) way to work this morning I saw two even-numbered license plates. Both cars didn't seem to have any permits, but they both were black Audi's, which I guess gets you some special rights too...

Were they large, black, boxy-looking sedans?

They were quite large (商务车), but one green, one yellow rather than black, which was what surprised me.

Regarding the air quality, it helps that in the past 3 weeks we've had an unusually large amount of rain.

Completely agree. I saw some people have been lauding the government yesterday already, which might be a bit premature. Today the view already is much more hazy.

[cdn_in_bj]

On my (short) way to work this morning I saw two even-numbered license plates. Both cars didn't seem to have any permits, but they both were black Audi's, which I guess gets you some special rights too...

Perhaps they were military (white plates) or government (京O), or just too rich to care.

What I did notice was a surprising number of "regular" cars (and even taxis) in the designated Olympics lane today.

[imron]

Quite the stroke of luck, I'd say.

Others would say quite the stroke of manipulation of nature.

[cdn_in_bj]

Others would say quite the stroke of manipulation of nature.

It's said that they will employ cloud seeding to help clear the skies prior to the opening and closing ceremonies. This would need to be done a day or even less ahead of these events. I don't think that the rain we got in the past 3 weeks was related to this. That was probably caused in part by the storms in the south.

[roddy]

Was just about to reply to this topic when this landed in my inbox:

Hope you come back sometime soon, but maybe leave it till after the madness of the Olympics. I am in BJ now and it is bonkers....

Virtually all the foreigners I know in Beijing have either relocated elsewhere - be it permanently, temporarily ,or for a 'wait and see' length of time; or are complaining about how ridiculous things are getting and praying for it all to be over. If you just want to go and see Beijing, I'd leave it till after the Olympics - you'll get the benefit of the new infrastructure with, hopefully, none of the paranoia.

[gougou]

are complaining about how ridiculous things are getting and praying for it all to be over

I used to be like this until recently, but when I stepped out of my flat this weekend into beautiful sunshine, plenty of flowers on the roadside and smiling volunteers every half kilometer, it rekindled some of the earlier enthusiasm I had for the games. I guess being on a work visa, I was spared the biggest mafan so far.

Might revert to complaining next time I have to take a flight though, the new security checks don't sound promising.

[cdn_in_bj]

I haven't noticed any of the paranoia - maybe it's because I'm not really into doing "foreigner" things or live in an area with many expats. Anyways, I'm with gougou here - being on a proper work visa probably helps.

[roddy]

Actually that's a good point - the people I know in Beijing are what you might term 'floating foreigners' and if I factor in people on here, there's probably a lot less irritation. Although it sounds like Gougou might already have relocated to Stepford, Connecticut?

[imron]

This would need to be done a day or even less ahead of these events. I don't think that the rain we got in the past 3 weeks was related to this.

Yes, but surely they'd want to test out and practice with the technology beforehand. Make sure it works and everything.

[Alvinho]

huummm.....as the main Brazilian TV channel will broadcast the event, they've shown nationwide Beijing being covered by a smoke as though it was a Londoner fog.......I can't wait to follow the Games and even watch the Opening ceremony....