Will the 2008 beijing olympics be an economic failure?

Question

China is a long flight and I say westerners like me generally have a negative view of the place- is beijing poor and dangerous.
And will there be many shops, and other facilities there or is it all just slums.
Do you think many tourists will go?

Answer 1

Not unless we never get that far, due to today's escalating global tensions . . . All (including the climate) seems to change so rapidly, these days - who can accurately predict anything? anymore?

Answer 2

No way. The Chinese government is pulling out all the stops for the 2008 games, investing in thirty-seven new gymnasiums and stadiums as well as fifty-nine training centers. Over 300,000 houses were demolished, and residents relocated from their homes thus far in Beijing due to construction in preparation for the 2008 Olympics.

Its largest architectural pieces will be the Beijing National Stadium, National Gymnasium, Olympic Aquatic Park, Convention Center, Olympic Village, and Wukesong Cultural and Sports Center. US $2.1 billion (RMB¥17.4 billion) in corporate bids and tenders are expected to fund almost 85 percent of the construction budget for the six main venues. Investments are expected from corporations seeking ownership rights after the 2008 Summer Olympics. Some venues will be owned and governed by the State General Administration of Sports which will use them after the Olympics as facilities for all future national sports teams and events.

Beijing municipal authority declared on April 10 2006, that more than 70 local laws and decrees would be made before the 2008 summer Olympics. These laws and decrees include banishing local people who don't have residency permits for Beijing; banishing vagrants and beggars from the city; strengthening border control; forcible "special holiday", or forcible shutout, to make Beijing citizens stay at home during the Olympics; strengthening controls over Chinese and foreign NGOs; and forbidding any protests.

There's NO WAY China will allow themselves to be embarrassed on a world stage. I'd say Beijing will most likely be the safest city in the world for those two weeks.

Further, Beijing is not a dangerous slum, Beijing is China's second largest city in terms of population, after Shanghai and is recognized as the political, educational, and cultural center of the nation. Your perceptions are based in ignorance, do some research and you'll see what I mean.

Oh and regarding the flight. I guess that depends on where you're coming from, but the flight from Los Angeles to Sydney is actually 1,250 miles LONGER and that didn't seem to deter athletes and tourists from going....

Answer 3

Korea was also a long flight and questionable but it worked, it seems most Olympics are long flights for someone. it will be far for East Asian,Europeans, and others if it's in the Western Hemisphere,in the East vice versa. China is not as bad as it's sometimes protrayed in American movies ya know.

Answer 4

Guys I think none of you have been to China that is why you have these opinions about it. do some home work on it and you will know what it is all about. Their lifestyle and spending power is more than peolpe in UK. If you check China has got more shopping centres and services avilable in UK and the reason i m saying this is that i visit China every quarter and once you go you will fall in love with it. Check this website will clarify everything you want to know

http://www.chinatoday.com/

China's retail sales up 14.2% in May
June 13, 2006 - China's retail sales rose 14.2 percent in May as higher incomes spurred consumer spending in the world's fastest-growing major economy.

Answer 5

Many people reckon that the 21st century will belong to China. I think the IOC just jumped on the bandwagon a little to early by choosing them as 2008 hosts.

I for one, am concerned about the contrast in culture between China and the westen world. How will the disciplined working class Chinese folk react to Aussie laughts drinking and carrying round giant kangeroos. Also will they welcome traditional enemies such as Koreans to the games?

Answer 6

beijing is ofcourse the richest city in china so i think they might have enough money for protection.. you have to realize that its the WORLD olympics, there will always be a disadvantage on some part of the world but still people will go

Answer 7

no, they already have all of the facilities built, the Olympics is going to be the start of the political shift from America to China.

Answer 8

i visit help the US group of their participation interior the Beijing video games. mutually as China has an abysmal checklist interior the are of human rights, view the video games as an possibility to enable in a touch sunshine & sparkling air. how can the inhabitants no longer see the variations interior the way they are compelled to stay & the freedoms attainable to electorate of alternative worldwide places?? possibly sure, possibly no, yet I see it as a sturdy element..

Answer 9

Do not underrate China's ability to perform on the higher level.

Answer 10

Now that capitalism has started to take hold, and with the billion plus people there, it should be a financial boom.