7/11 Olympic Park

Today we went to the Olympic Park to check out the Bird’s Nest. On our way, we went through a subway and there were 6 security guards in the underpass checking hukous (household registration cards). We were able to pass through without any issue, but it was interesting to see the law of management the mass migrations towards the city. When we first went into he complex, we had to go through another security check. The security check was only for our bodies and not for our bags. I found this very odd because a terrorist could have easily slipped an explosive into the complex in a bag.  

The Bird's Nest

The Olympic Park was very impressive and the plaza was expansive, even larger then Tiananmen Square and the subway stop was in the city, not on the periphery. The Olympic Complex is also situated along the axis of the city and when we looked south, there was a row of trees on either side and in the distance we could see the golden roofs of the palaces in the Forbidden City. In the periphery of the complex, there were giant luxury condos and office buildings, including an impressive IBM building, showing the international and high end neighborhood of Beijing. The Bird’s Nest had enormous curved steel beams and the water cube, although a rectangular building, had steel beams on the exterior that formed what looked like bubbles. There were giant steel lamp posts and in the distance an Olympic tower and beyond that, a tree looking building. The entire complex was very impressive and looked like a part of nature and I could only imagine the pride a Chinese citizen would feel if they attended the Olympics. 

Olympic Torch and High Rises

When looking at the Olympic Complex, the question of how the Olympic Complex represented “Modernization with Chinese Characteristics”, the CCPs slogan, continually came up in my mind. What makes these modern structures different then anything else? After speaking with Edward and Professor Armstrong, I realized that the modernizing with Chinese Characteristics is just a method for the CCP to legitimize its position of as a "communist" government while adopting capitalism. Although the government is authoritarian, the complex creates a very different self image then the complex in Germany. The German Stadium was very ominous and the structures were composed of right angles and imposing structure. The Bird’s nest, was very friendly and inviting and the curved steel beams were less imposing and felt more natural and organic. In the German complex there were naked human figures and giant horses five times normal sizes with defined bodies representing naturalism. In Beijing’s Olympic Complex there were five mascots about four feet tall that looked like teletubies. The German rise seems centered around perfectionism of the human form in a rigid manner whereas the Chinese rise is friendly yet imposing in size.

Chinese Teletubies

Olympic Mascots