The Party's Over at Olympic Park
With the 60th anniversary of China becoming a communist republic approaching October 1, Claire Duffett took a jaunt around the country for the month of September, starting with Beijing. Nowhere does old and new China collide than in its Capital, and for the next five days, we'll share with you the most up-to-date tidbits on what to see and do, and how many yuan it will set you back.
The Olympic Park, with the unmistakable design of its main stadium, the Bird’s Nest, is perhaps the best example of Beijing’s frenetic but seemingly misguided development. With a sparklingly-new subway connecting it to the rest of the city, the area is a quiet amusement park where nothing really happens.
Walking around the grounds gave us the feeling that we were wandering through a cluttered living room after the last guest has departed from a really awesome party. The leftover confetti is just a tad depressing. There’s a ferris wheel and some snack vendors, but otherwise, activities in the area involve marveling at the strands of steel on the nest or the fake blue bubbles of the watersports complex. Even the tower, used only to display the rings and elevate people to the top for a veiw of Beijing, is now cordoned off.
There are some pleasantries, however. Traditional Chinese music plays from loudspeakers throughout, and hundreds of children fly kites in the brown, breezeless Beijing air.
It costs about $13 to go inside the Bird’s Nest, which is enormous and impressive, to be sure, but it feels a bit strange to pay to enter an arena when no event is taking place.
Though, for those of us who’ve yet to experience an Olympic Games, sitting in the stands, imagining the excitement there last year was still pretty cool.
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