Sitting in a restaurant with a friend on the opening day of the Paralympics, my friend asked me, “What happens after the Olympics?”
It was my first visit to Beijing and we were having lunch in a kaiten-zushi-style restaurant, where you sit at a bar with a rotating conveyor belt of sushi from which you grab what you want. The restaurant was linked to the Beijing Friendship store, a chain of stores created to sell Chinese fabricated antiques to foreigners.
Two things struck me as unique in this situation: I was in the heart of Beijing eating in a restaurant apparently owned and operated by some Japanese, which Chinese historically hate more than the Russians, Koreans and 50-some ethnic Chinese minority groups combined. Secondly, the 14-story landmark that I specifically met my friend at because “every cabbie in CHina knows it”, according to Renata, was a Western example of capitalism in China.
What I’m getting at is that though the Olympics are over, the goal of more than 7 years of renovation, re-education and coordination is accomplished, China changes constantly and that’s surely not about to stop.
Just outside of Tianjin in the Tianjin Economic-Technology Development Area (TEDA), business is continuing to boom and in today's China Business Weekly the cover story was about a company with Tianjin-Chicago ties. Wanxiang Group, China's largest auto parts manufacturer, already has a base in Chicago and is being courted by other U.S. cities. This is common; in the past, China was courting companies, now U.S. cities are courting Chinese companies. Read more
2 comments:
Do you know what they plan on doing with the buildings that were constructed for the Olympics? And now without all the constant international attention, what will China be doing?
The Paralympics run until Sept. 20, after which the 22 permanent buildings in the Olympic village and in the satellite Olympic city of Tianjin will be used for Chinese competitions.
The Bird's Nest will be turned over to the China football club Guoan, and will be open for concerts. The Olympic table tennis venue, built on Beijing University's campus, will be kept for students to play recreationally. According to this article I found on Slate, http://www.slate.com/id/2198671/?GT1=38001, the Water Cube will be used for swimming and diving events unspecified, a potential waste of such a gigantic and conspicuous, aqua blue building, if you ask me.
Usually these buildings get partially developed into hotels, restaurants and malls though the private housing in the Olympic Village will be resold as private apartments.
I'm writing my column this week on what China's goals are next. I'll make sure to post about them soon. Thanks for your questions Chelsea!
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