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Beijing racing to meet the deadline

"Only one year to go. Are you ready?" This is the question that for the last few days has been flooding promotional space on China's TV channels, newspapers and billboards. On Wednesday, Beijing celebrated the start of the one-year countdown to what is perhaps the most anticipated Olympic Games in history and the question on everyone's lips is indeed whether the city is ready for the challenge.

For China, a country that had lost a previous bid for the Olympics after concerns about its human rights record were voiced, the opportunity to host the 2008 Games are being seen as a chance to pull off the public relations coup of the century. In 2008, half a million foreign visitors are expected to join the crush on the capital city's streets and millions of others will watch televised footage of Olympic events beamed across the world, live from Beijing.

When it comes to the building of sporting venues the answer is a resounding, yes. Beijing has shown remarkable efficiency with all of the 37 venues, apart from the main "Bird's Nest" Olympic Stadium, on track to finish by the end of the year.

Beijing has spent billions of yuan moving steel mills and other polluting industries to the outskirts of town in a bid to clean its notoriously dirty air. However, in the week leading up to Wednesday's one-year countdown, the capital city was blanketed in a virtually unrelenting carpet of smog, limiting visibility to a few hundred meters.

Official "blue sky" days - a somewhat vaguely defined criterion - are running behind target this year. June was the worst month on record in seven years with 15 days classified as sub-standard.

Again, despite the outsized effort and money being spent on laying new expressways, subway tracks, and developing mass transportation options, Beijing's avenues experienced serious traffic snarls even on Wednesday, something of a dampener on the day's celebrations.

The Game's organisers have vowed that during the 17-day period starting August 8, 2008, both the traffic and pollution problems will be taken care of. The authorities plan for example to keep a million of the city's over 3 million cars off the road for the duration of the event.

The Beijing meteorological office's weather modification department is also busy preparing to ensure clear skies for the Games, by perfecting techniques of artificial rain and cloud dispersal. These are processes in which canon and rocket launchers are used to fire chemicals into threatening clouds.

But even perfect weather and traffic will not ensure a bump-free ride for the Beijing Olympics.

There are concerns that the event will be used by critics of China's ruling party to protest the country's role in the Darfur conflict. Officials have also expressed worry that anti-government groups such as separatists in Tibet or Xinjiang province could use the international spotlight on China during the Olympics to embarrass the regime and promote their causes.

Food safety is another potentially explosive issue, with China having come under much international flak recently for its lax enforcement of food and drug safety norms.

In a bid to allay fears, the Games organisers have promised that all food available in Olympic venues will be electronically tracked from the field to the consumer. They have not, however, commented on how the government plans on handling potential protests during the duration of the Olympics.

Public protests against the government are usually banned in China although Beijing has been attempting to show a more liberal attitude in the run-up to the Games. Thus, for example, from the start of this year reporting restrictions on foreign journalists have been eased, allowing them for the first time to arrange interviews without the prior permission of the Foreign Ministry.

But despite the various concerns of the Games organisers, for the average citizen in Beijing Wednesday was simply a day to crack open the champagne and begin a year-long celebration as the city moves towards what official media are calling the fulfilment of "the century long dream of the Chinese people.

"Over a million Beijingers of all ages thus gathered in the capital's parks on Wednesday morning to participate in a public fitness exercise, one of more than 60 events organised on the day to celebrate the countdown. Several people randomly greeted this correspondent on the streets shouting Olympic slogans in English. "One World, One Dream!" a grey-haired retiree called out with his wrinkled arm extended up in a victory sign.

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