Threats to Olympic Sites

Insurance companies feared financial losses if the coronavirus caused the cancellation of this summer's 2020 Olympic Games in Toyota. As it turned out, the games were rescheduled for July, 2021. Violence, including World War II, that marred the noble purpose of the games in the past, could again be a factor next year, if North Korea continues to launch missiles toward Japan.

     Environmental threats from pollution and climate change also have had an impact on the Olympics. Debris in the waters off Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, before the 2016 summer Olympics worried open-water swimmers and skippers in boating events. High winds delayed skiing events and kept spectators off the slopes at the 2018 winter games in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

     Despite efforts to switch away from fossil fuels and plant trees to control the sand and dirt blown south from the Gobi Desert, athletes at the 2022 winter Olympics in China could face a breathing, as well as a competitive, challenge at events in Yanqing and Chongli, north of Beijing. During winter, heating homes and factories increases pollution in an area that suffers year round. Smog is likely to obscure views from the 4-story tower built in Yanqing to give visitors to the Olympics a glimpse of the Great Wall of China.

     Since the fur from four goats is needed to respond to the fashion industry's demand for one cashmere sweater, grazing goats turned the Mongolian steppes north of China into a desert no longer capable of protecting Beijing from wind-blown sand. To stabilize top soil, the government removed up to 700,000 villagers in northern China from land designated for planting trees. However, at the same time climate change reduced rainfall in arid areas, many non-native trees planted in China required more water and worsened water shortages. An attempt to plant shrubs needing less water is underway. In any case, it is hard to know if China's new trees and shrubs will be ready to shield 2022's Olympic athletes from the Gobi Desert's blowing sand. According to Congbin Fu, the director of the Institute for Climate and Global Change Research at Nanjing University, growing forests is a long-term process that "can take several decades or even 100 years."

Tour Sites Beyond A Country's Capital

News coverage rightly focuses on the capitals of countries. In governing centers, elections, coups. terrorist attacks, and earthquakes deserve attention, because they affect the political directions and needs of a country. Nonetheless, capital-centered news draws attention away from much that a country has to offer. This realization came home to me this morning, when I heard news warning U.S. citizens to avoid travel to China during this period of trade and spying tensions.

     Consider some of the sights and activities visitors to China have discovered  in cities beyond Beijing. Find a map or globe and locate:

Yanqing - North of Beijing, visitors will see flower exhibits from over 100 countries at the International Flower Festival with the theme, "Live Green, Live Better," which begins April 29, 2019. From a nearby 4-story tower, tourists also will be able to see the Great Wall of China when smog does not obstruct the view. In 2022, this city will be the site of some Winter Olympic events.

Chongli - North of Yanqing, this city also will be the site of some Winter Olympic events in 2022.

Moving southeast from Beijing toward China's coast, locate:

Qingdao - This deep water port was annexed by Germany and used by the German navy in 1887, captured by Japan in 1914, and returned to China in 1922. Germany's lingering influence is evident in the city's famous brewery, Tsingtao; a German Protestant church; and the Governor's House Museum. Prior to September, 2019, you may have been able to see movie stars coming and going from what was expected to be this new center of Chinese filmmaking before authoritarian control caused investors to leave.

Suzhou - Farther down the eastern coast, west of Shanghai, is China's traditional cultural center for intellectuals known as "the Venice of the East" because of its picturesque canals and stone bridges. A museum here traces silk production, and the UNESCO heritage Humble Administration's Garden and the Garden of Cultivation attract millions of tourists.

Xiamen - Still farther south, west of Taiwan, the deep water harbor, also known as Amoy, was once a pirate hideaway and tea exporting port. Now, it is known for its beaches and earthen Hakka roundhouses. A ferry takes visitors to Gulangyu Island to see the former mansions of European and Japanese traders.

Haikou - At the base of China, east of Vietnam, this city on Hainan Island is a tropical beach with water sports and arcades.

In western China, there are at least two notable cities, one in the south and one in the north.

Chengdu - If you've seen a Giant Panda at a zoo, it probably came from the research and breeding center, established in 1987, that you're welcome to visit at Chengdu, far west of Shanghai.

Lanzhou - This stop on China's ancient Silk Road map is the gateway to western China. It is a multicultural city, with Chinese Han, Muslim, and Tibetan influences, at the Zhongshan Bridge over the Yellow River. Lanzhou beef noodles and barbecued meats are local specialties.

     Beyond the capital of any country, what are the other significant cities you would like to visit?