"How much of your history should you hold onto, and how much should you leave behind?"
-- Rob Gifford, author of China Road: A Journey into the Future of a Rising Power
Many would anticipate that the 2008 Beijing Olympics will go down in history as the most watched Olympics ever aired. The television coverage of the opening ceremony itself was the most viewed ever on global television networks. With millions of viewers tuned in to watch the astounding fireworks burst into the night sky amidst the backdrop of the iconic Bird’s Nest stadium – although it was faked for TV coverage – it is apt to say that the Bird’s Nest was also the most watched architectural masterpiece in history on a single night!
Bird's Nest - (Photo source: kenyee, Flickr.com)
Cube - (Photo source: chrissuderman, Flickr.com)
Long after the game is gone, millions of tourists would flock to the city in drove allowing themselves to be mesmerized by the Beijing Olympics architecture. Though the Cube and the Bird’s Nest are built for a specific reason, their raison d'etre will exist beyond its utilitarian function: they will become a monumental statement and an architectural emblem of the nation’s prowess. However, in every gain, there is a loss as the saying goes.
Beijing's Hutong - (Photo source: Ian Masterson)
For the past 20 years, more than 2 million people have been displaced from their homes to give way for the Olympic Games: three quarters of the displaced people were in China. Soon, the hutongs of Beijing will disappear with modernization. Its fate now lies in an invisible “Hand” – to borrow the term from Michael Meyer’s latest book, "The Last Days of Old Beijing: Life in the Vanishing Backstreets of a City Transformed
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