http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/04/09/uk-olympics-beijing-legacy-idUKBRE83808J20120409?type=olympics2012


Beijing grapples with Games legacy four years on

(Reuters) - Four years after Beijing hosted a spectacular summer
Olympics, China's bustling capital sees vastly improved public
transport and infrastructure, but many of the venues built for the
event languish unloved, underused and draining public finances.
The jewels in the crown were two architecturally-stunning buildings --
the main "Bird's Nest" stadium and the "Water Cube" aquatics centre,
described by International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge
as "beautiful" and "unprecedented" venues.

"The successful hosting of the Olympics was not only splendid for
Chinese sports, it ... excited the passion of one billion people about
sport," China's sports minister Liu Peng was cited as saying by state
media last year, summing up the Games legacy for Beijing.

Yet today both places are better known for the steady stream of
curious tourists they attract -- some 4.61 million visitors in 2011 --
rather than as locations for major sporting events.

While the Bird's Nest does host the odd football match or track and
field competition, it has also been the site of what was billed as
China's first rodeo, a "winter wonderland" theme park, and concerts.

The stadium's management estimates that at the current rate, it will
take some three decades to recoup the 3 billion yuan ($480 million)
cost of building it. The neighbouring Water Cube lost an estimated 11
million yuan last year, even with a state subsidy and revenue from an
attached water park built after the Olympics to capitalise on its
fame.

"The cost for building Olympic venues was substantial. But the
organisers failed to consider overall how to use the venues after the
Olympics when building these sites or even bidding for the Olympics,"
said Yan Qiang, chief sports editor of NetEase Media Group.

"For sports venues, the more frequently they are used, the longer they
will last, the better protection they will receive, and society will
benefit that much more," Yan added. "I think Beijing has a severe
shortage in this regards."

TOTAL ABANDONMENT

Other venues have fared even worse than the Bird's Nest or Water Cube.

The kayaking venue sits all but abandoned, what water remaining in it
being sucked up by a large pipe to quench a surrounding park in the
midst of a typically parched Beijing spring, during a recent visit by
a Reuters journalist.

The rowing venue, located in a remote and hard to reach northeastern
suburb, now hosts mostly small dinghys.

Neither sport is well-known in China, which partly explains the almost
total abandonment.

Some sites, such as for table tennis and wrestling, were built inside
universities.

"They were given these huge venues ... and they had no event
management experience, and they weren't allowed to get any before the
Olympic Games," said Susan Brownell, professor of anthropology and
expert on Chinese sports at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

"After the Games were over they were learning from scratch in terms of
how to manage an event," she added.

Plus, in Communist Party-controlled China, there is the added concern
over large crowds in the current tense run-up to a once-in-a-decade
handover of power for the country's top leadership, which will happen
in the autumn.

"In order to hold a major sports event you have to bring thousands of
people together, and that's a public assembly. In the current
political atmosphere there's just a lot of fear of large public
assemblies," Brownell said.

Even the trumpeted closing of polluting factories to improve Beijing's
notoriously poor air has only had a limited effect and the city is
still regularly cloaked in a think pall of choking smog.

Where once Chinese swelled with pride at the hosting of the Olympics,
especially after the country topped the gold medal table in 2008, some
now criticise the venues for their wastefulness. "I think the building
materials are very expensive and wasteful," said tourist Li Fang.

The Water Cube "changes water everyday, which is a huge waste of water
resources. It also consumes lots of electricity when the lights are
on. I think it's better to devote these resources to people's daily
life. These expenses are totally unnecessary", the 21-year-old added.


http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/04/09/uk-olympics-beijing-legacy-idUKBRE83808J20120409?type=olympics2012

On 10/04/2012 18:59, Bruce wrote:



Beijing grapples with Games legacy four years on


And the relevance to UK railways is?

--
Graeme Wall
This account not read, substitute trains for rail.
Railway Miscellany at http://www.greywall.demon.co.uk/rail

Graeme Wall wrote:

On 10/04/2012 18:59, Bruce wrote:



Beijing grapples with Games legacy four years on


And the relevance to UK railways is?

I think the missing connection was the fact, capable of being expressed
in
around 10 lines, that the rather short short spur of Beijing Metro from
Beitucheng
north to three stations covering the main Olympic site, has been
solidly renamed
Line 8 and extends another 6 stops in the northerly direction,
intersectiing with line 13.
Its southern extension is planned to be partly open this year, with
further extensions
north and south happening up to 2015. They do seem to be going slowly
on the parts
due to be open later this year: the sites of some of the new stations
due to be opened
still seem to be just holes in the ground surrounded by various
building machinery.

--
David D S: UK and PR China. (Native BrEng speaker)
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valid for at least 2 weeks from 2012/4/11 20:58:02