By TED Anthony
Associated Press National Writer
BEIJING (AP) — They did — it seems obvious. But what exactly is the “it” they do?
China has successfully hosted the Olympic Games in terms of logistical support with few mechanical failures – no small matter in a time of a pandemic. It largely works by creating, in the Chinese government’s unique style, a so-called “closed-loop system” – the now-famous Olympic “bubble” – designed to enclose anyone connected to the Olympics and, just as importantly, keep them safe from contracting the virus. other parts of the country.
For these Olympics, the government made sure to launch a wonderful China. Inside the loop, everything is amiable – young and enthusiastic volunteers in front, embodied by a happy fat panda mascot named Bing Dwen Dwen. Serious men and women in hazmat suits are friendly, at least as can be seen from the masks, goggles and full-body plastic hoods. Even the relatively few police officers encountered in the bubble were downright chatty by Chinese law enforcement standards.
but.
The closed-loop bubble removes a sizable chunk of the heart and soul from the 2022 Olympics — at best, this global moment should be filled with both. That’s what it does, too: creating side effects that are sure not to displease the Chinese authorities.
First, some background. For decades, the country’s Communist Party and government have honed a multi-pronged system to prevent tourists from seeing and reporting what’s really going on in China’s surprisingly multifaceted nation.
Especially since the bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in 1989, those who try to peek behind the scenes—whether journalists, activists, or sometimes just curious tourists—have been routinely blocked, slapped, or given heavy weight. Oriented to something more innocuous, pursued.
Today, international journalists living and working in China — if they are not among the kicked out — are challenged to break down official narratives and must end interviews in innovative ways to understand more controversial topics .
Over the years, “foreign affairs offices” in different Chinese cities, ostensibly designed to facilitate tourists, have actually become official obstacles in many cases. Many foreigners trying to travel alone to one of the places the central government deems unstable — especially Xinjiang and western Tibet — are likely to be thwarted.
What about Chinese journalists? In a society where propaganda is positioned as patriotic rather than offensive, they face dangers and pressures that are unimaginable for anyone who grew up in a democracy.
So, in a sense, the Olympic bubble is the perfect epitome of hiding all the flaws as usual, against the backdrop of a globalized, mascot-saturated winter wonderland.
Regular international audiences are not allowed, which removes a random factor. More remarkably, thousands of international Olympic journalists visiting with prying eyes and cheerful story ideas, in addition to scrutinized, pre-approved delegate cadres in the circle, were effectively prevented from communicating with ordinary Chinese. any contact.
Apparently the reason is the COVID lockdown. But the results are entirely in line with the goals and practices of the Xi Jinping administration.
That doesn’t mean the bubble was created for anything other than the COVID-19 ban. Of course, last year’s Summer Olympics in Tokyo had a system that shared some features with Beijing, albeit less centrally, reflecting the different types of governments in Japan and China.
As China readily points out, the bubble system worked. As of Feb. 19, the isolation system that effectively turned Beijing into two cities (one quarantined and one very normal) yielded only 1.85 million tests of thousands of tourists who entered the bubble since Jan. 23. 463 positive results.
“The success of isolating events from the virus and minimizing disruption to sporting events also reflects the effectiveness and flexibility of China’s overall zero-coronavirus policy,” said the Global Times, which is pro-government even by Chinese standards ,enthusiasm.
So, those “authoritarian Olympics” criticized by human rights groups and boycotted by some Western governments (even if they send athletes)? In some ways, the bubbles created to accommodate them are not dissimilar to the bubble town created by Marvel character Wanda Maximoff in last year’s popular TV series “WandaVision.”
Like the fictional West Scene, Bubble Beijing certainly has something in common with reality, and sometimes you can glimpse the real world from within. But it’s shiny and heavily calibrated – unless you dig hard to find the seams – and you can’t really leave until the story has aired.
Ultimately, the 2022 Winter Olympics come to the books with two main storylines. One is a sports story — a narrative dotted with the victories of Eileen Gu, Nathan Chen and Su Yiming, the grief of Mikaela Shiffrin and the chaos of Russian figure skating.
Yet another catch from this bubble is the story of the Olympic host nation.
It was a pandemic-era tale of ostensible medical and logistical triumphs, with different realities floating below, sanitized for government protection, and inevitably viewed through the COVID-style prism of our time— — as through masks, goggles, and full-body plastic protective suits.
