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Few Beijingers dare to bash dream
BEIJING (AP) -- The shopkeeper adds up her receipts on a dusty black calculator as she dares to say what Chinese leaders don't want anyone to hear: She doesn't want the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. "The Olympics won't be any good for us regular folks," she says before looking around nervously and changing the subject. Not just a few other Beijingers privately agree, fretting about the cost and the destruction of their homes to make way for Olympic facilities. But none will say so openly for fear of official retaliation. The communist government's power to muzzle public opinion is one big difference between Beijing and the other front-runners waiting for Friday's vote on who gets the 2008 Summer Olympics. Paris and Toronto are also in the running. State newspapers are relentlessly upbeat about the bid. They don't question whether China should be spending billions of dollars on an Olympics when millions in the countryside endure crushing poverty. Talk shows don't debate complaints that China's repressive political system makes Beijing an unworthy host for a sporting event meant to symbolize global peace and fellowship. The shopkeeper, who sells cigarettes and beer in a rundown northern Beijing neighborhood, voiced a common worry: Winning the Olympics would speed up a campaign to demolish traditional Beijing neighborhoods of narrow alleys and single-story brick homes. "If Beijing gets the Olympics, they'll definitely start clearing away more homes," she said. Like others, she didn't want even her surname used. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue assured reporters on Thursday that 96 percent of China's public supports the bid. That is impossible to confirm, because the government has not allowed independent polling of public sentiment. One activist spent an hour thumbing through her tattered, black phone book, calling up friends and urging them to share their gripes about Beijing's bid with a foreign reporter. No takers. "Come on, what are you worried about?" the activist asked one friend. "The Communist Party," the person replied. Many Beijingers seem to agree with the government's view that getting the Olympics would be a triumph -- a sign that China is joining the ranks of modern nations and shrugging off decades of poverty. The government says the games will flood China with more foreign investment that will help build roads, clean up Beijing's smog and erect world-class sports facilities and commercial buildings. "The Olympics will bring a lot of tourists to Beijing, lots of money. It'll be great," said a 35-year-old businessman who was out for an evening stroll with his wife. He would give only his surname, Pan. Beijing has enlisted contemporary Chinese heroes -- American tennis champion Michael Chang and action movie star Jackie Chan -- to campaign for the city's bid. Chang criticized China's bloody crackdown on the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests in 1989. Concern about human rights contributed to Beijing's loss to Sydney in its campaign for the 2000 Olympics. Now, Chang is among those who argue that China has changed and that the Olympics would help it become freer. They point to how the 1988 Seoul Olympics led to more democratic reforms in South Korea. But one Beijing professional in his 30s said that South Korea and China can't be compared. "South Korea wasn't controlled by the tight grip of a communist party for 50 years like China has been," he said. "China's also much bigger, so I doubt the Olympics will bring more freedom."
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