Beijing’08: In a Potemkin state of affairs

Posted by JJ on Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Many have spoken in the past about Singapore’s adeptness at first impressions. A certain Mr Koolhaas even once coined the term ‘Potemkin State’ to describe the Republic’s willingness to cover up the unsightly, as did  Russian minister Grigori Aleksandrovich Potemkin, who built Potemkin villages, purportedly fake settlements erected at the direction of to fool Empress Catherine II during her visit to Crimea in 1787.

The New York Times’s Jane Hooker picks up on Beijing in preparation for the 2008 Olympic Games, where a hurried effort is underway to hide some of the ‘mess’ that has developed over the length of China’s recent efforts to modernize:

“Many cities have sought to remake their image when hosting global events like the Olympics. Beijing is polishing off one of the world’s most expensive makeovers with a whitewash. Along the historic central axis of the city that runs from the Yongdingmen Gate due north to the Drum Tower, the authorities are doing their best to give the old city a new face. Beijing has spent $130 million to restore buildings, many of them temples along the five-mile axis, according to the city’s cultural relics bureau.” (more here from the New York Times)

Peek behind an erected 12-foot tall banner, and you’ll see the remains of courtyard houses and hutongs. Round a conspicuous looking brick wall, and you’ll be astonished to find hidden gems like Sun Ruonan’s bakery which her ancestors opened south of Tiananmen Square in the 1840s. She is worried that the government will tear her building down. “I don’t really want to oppose the government,” she said. “For those of us who have lived through the Cultural Revolution, this life is like heaven.”

While some may be understanding and even sympathetic to the needs and wants of the government, others are demanding human rights and a fair trial. So the next time your folks tell you they don’t want people walking into your home and seeing that heaped mess you call your favourite room, try a nice sturdy brick wall for a change; it works wonders.