The Beijing Olympics : Preparation, Impacts and Challenges

Résumé du document

Perhaps no other sporting event draws more geographically dispersed visitors, or showcases the host city as visibly as the Olympics. According to Andy Xie, an economist from Shanghai, "there is a huge psychological effect. Organizing the Olympics means that the country has succeeded, that it has finally reached the level of the developed countries." The Olympics are seen by China as an opportunity to optimize its economic growth and signal its emergence as a world power. The preparation for such an event needs a huge investment in various economic areas and creates an impact on the Chinese economy. According to Wei Xiaozhen, a division director of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Statistics, Beijing can expect its gross domestic product (GDP) to grow at 9.8 percent a year leading to 2008, after allowing for inflation owing to the "Olympic factor". This is 0.8 percentage points higher than the average growth between 2001 and 2005. We can thus wonder how China is going to deal with the challenges that represent the Olympics, what are the key points of the preparation and what kind of impacts on growth can be expected, along with a study of the issues that China will have to face to make a success of this event.

Extraits

[...] Moreover, a sensitive effort has been made to link the Olympic venues by creating 38 official public transit roads covered by 2,500 large-size buses and 4,500 mini-buses. Finally, unmanned trains with a capacity of 83 passengers each will be constructed in Beijing's airport. The objective of this huge investment in public transports is to show Beijing as a modern capital and it is also a way to avoid criticism about traffic congestion. Indeed, at the end of 2006, the volume of private cars in the city reached 1.21 million, and the urban traffic has become since a few years a high priority for Beijing Municipality. [...]

[...] According to Wei Xiaozhen, a division director of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Statistics, owing to the "Olympic factor," Beijing can expect its gross domestic product after allowing for inflation, to grow at 9.8 percent a year leading to 2008, this is 0.8 percentage points higher than the average growth between 2001 and 2005. Thus we can wonder how China is going to deal with the challenges that represent the Olympics. What are the key points of the preparation and what kind of impacts on growth can be expected? Which issues China has to face to make a success of this event? I. PREPARATION A. [...]

[...] But then, we will have to wait to see if all the efforts to improve Human Rights or environmental protection will be lenghtened or if the economic fallouts will be fairly used and benefit the whole country, without falling in the circle of endebtness, as it is the case for Athens, which developement level is quite equal to Beijing one. Undoubtedly, preparations for the Olympic Games are drawing worldwide attention. And if China will have to continue its efforts, the western countries, also, will have to continue looking at China . [...]

[...] The indirect branding of the host city and nation by the influx of journalists is also to be stressed. II. CHINESE OLYMPICS IMPACTS A. Global economical impact According to Li Zhiwu, who is a Shenzhen economist working for Essence securities, the 2008 Beijing Olympics Games should only profit to the capital city itself, which represents only a bit more than of Chinese population. For Pan Fan, who is in charge of economic surveys in Beijing under the National Bureau of Statistics, more than 50 sectors will be connected with the Olympic Games directly or indirectly. [...]

[...] The reason why so many sectors will be linked indirectly with the 2008 Beijing Olympics is that, according to Andy Xie who is a Shanghai economist, the psychological impact of these Olympics Games on Chinese population will be and is already- very strong. Indeed, organizing these games represents the proof that China is belonging to the developed countries group. Therefore consumers' state of mind is better and they spend more money. For the economist, Chinese people are already very optimistic and confident: they invest in real-estate, they buy shares and this phenomenon contributes to explain the Chinese current economical over-heating. B. [...]