My Beijing 2008: One World, One Private Party?

The Beijinger is a magazine which functions partly as a Craig's List here in Beijing. Each day during Games time, members have been posting requests to buy or sell tickets for the sports events. I've inquired about a few of these. Last week, I asked about a basketball match and the vendor's price for two tickets was 12000Y, about $2,000! The match was China vs. Spain and, as I heard later, it was probably worth it, as it was a formidable match. In any case, the tickets really hit home what's happening in the city when you encounter these Olympic moments.

I'm on a public subway now and most people here have no Olympic pins, no tickets and are probably not engaging much with the Olympics each day, though they undoubtedly are watching the television at night. On more than a few occasions, I've walked through the hutongs and seen groups of neighbours crowded around a television.

The next stop is 'Japan House' one of the many national hous venues around the city. These spaces perform a number of functions during Games time and they are located in all kinds of venues. For instance, Holland House - also known as Heineken House -- is within the Agricultural Exhibtion Center, a grand building on the east side of the city. Russia House occupies an entire section of the lake at Hou Hui. A few of these houses are open to the public, like Switzerland house in the trendy -- but increasingly commercialized -- 798 Art District, also east of the city center. Here, the Swiss showcase all kinds of aspects of their culture, from local music to exhibitions about how green their energy systems are.

However, most of the houses are private spaces, open for corporate entertainment. To enter these venues, you don't need a ticket, but you do need to hold a passport to the nation whose house you wish to enter. Japan House is like this and we were just refused entry. They were kind enough to offer some information about Tokyo 2016, which is now an Olympic Candidate city, but ultimately it was a closed venue.

How should we feel about these spaces, when they seem to translate the Beijing 2008 Olympic slogan to 'One World, One Private Party'? Of course, not every space in an Olympic city can be open to all people at all times and some of these closed spaces find a middle ground. For instance, London House -- of Team GB and London 2012 -- has one day during Games time that is open to the public who register their request (though we've done this and have yet to receive a reply). Other national houses have more dubious policies of exclusivism. For instance, the Holland House is open only to Dutch nationals, but has become an enormous party space during all Olympic Games. It is possible to negotiate your way in, but you have to have your wits about you, if you're not Dutch.

Among these environments, there is an unsettling contradiction in their presence, which showcase a culture within a host city to which its doors are closed for the locals or the other international 'friendlies'. Coming from the UK where the discussions about nationalism are still present, I'm allergic to any such exclusionism on the basis of nationality and I'm still struggling to find a legitimate basis for the policy. Any ideas?

Comments

[EpiphanieBloom]

I celebrate your allergic reaction.

I've seen myself as a 'citizen of the world' for a long time and don't respond to nationalism, so I am amazed that people are creating exclusive cultures for themselves of the types you mention. Surely it would increase interest in any national culture to have its House open to the general public?