If you woke up yesterday hung over from Friday night's intoxicating opening ceremony, welcome to the club. I did too, and will probably take months to get over it.
Those of us who live in Beijing and have been watching China prepare for its "coming out party" never doubted its ability to throw a grand bash. It's difficult to best the Chinese when it comes to dazzling guests. And this one turned out just like a regular Chinese party, where you are plied with so much alcohol that you feel dizzy for days after.
So no surprises there. What has been really dizzying, instead, is Beijing's transformation over this past year. Being the capital of a country that's changing by the minute, Beijing is, of course, no stranger to change. But this time, it has outpaced even itself. Stunning buildings have shot up in the skyline, glitzy malls have appeared out of nowhere, public transport has been revolutionized, entire neighborhoods refurbished, and gleaming new roads added to the city's already awe-inspiring infrastructure.
Much of this new skyline, however, has been blanketed by Beijing's stubborn haze these past few days, which has been used to great effect by some to ridicule China's promise of a Green Olympics. But that's the story repeated only by those who can't cut through the smog to see what's churning underneath.
A change more significant than Beijing's skyline has been under way in the run-up to the Games, and it is the way the Chinese have begun to understand and take to the concept of energy and environmental conservation, the way emission has entered the popular lexicon, the way the notion of carbon footprint has tiptoed into collective consciousness.
For all the bad press it gets for pollution, Beijing, by far, is one of the greenest cities I have seen. The leafy canopies across entire stretches of roads, grassy patches and flower beds along the streets, and the innumerable parks and gardens dotting the capital would have made the city ideal for a perfect lungful. But then, China is paying the price of lifting 500 million people out of poverty in one generation, and the price of supplying the world with affordable goods.
The government realizes this can't go on. It understands that development has to be sustainable to be lasting and that the country can't keep playing factory to the world by poisoning its own air and water. This is why it has embarked on an elaborate clean-up. Hundreds of factories have been shuttered. Energy and environment exchanges have been launched to boost carbon trading. At the consumers' level, the public transport network has been expanded beyond recognition.
Along with these, an awareness drive has been launched on energy conservation. And people have responded by choosing public transport, or simply cycling or carpooling to work. Most Beijingers now say they want the even-odd number plate system to stay beyond the Games. "Green" buildings have caught on. These days, you can even click on Sohu.com to buy a device that calculates your carbon footprint.
Businesses have been co-opted in this giant project. With the government making environment its central plank, companies have jumped on the "green" bandwagon with a vengeance. Not only are they coming up with innovative ways to reduce emissions and adopt alternative energy, they are also devising measures as diverse as selling eco-friendly products to encouraging employees not to drive to work.
Since brandishing the E-word has become the surest way of ensuring media attention, I suspect many enterprises may be talking more than they are actually doing. But even if they are doing a fraction of what they claim, it still is a beginning. There aren't too many countries where the pitch of environmental rhetoric has been raised as high as it has been in China, making it impossible for individuals or companies to be deaf to it. Long after the Games ends and our hangovers are gone, this is the lasting legacy the Beijing Olympic will have left.
E-mail: drc@chinadaily.com.cn
(China Daily 08/10/2008 page10)