Beijing Welcomes You
The five mascots of the Bejing have a rather sweet naming convention. Each one is based a Chinese character in the sentence “Beijing welcomes you” doubled to sound like child’s pet name. So you get, Bei-Bei, Jing-Jing and so on. It must have all sounded so adorable and clever when the ad agency was putting the concept together, and a whole merchandising campaign has been built around these five rather cute characters. Each has their own little personality, but I confess, I am not a big enough fan of the morning cartoon shows to be able to differentiate them, but I suspect any child of seven could do so quite correctly.
Recently however, one begins to wonder if a character is missing from the quintet and a sixth character Bu-Bu, needs to be added to the line-up. Bu-bu (named for the Chinese word not) lacks the sunny personality of his five friends, but without him this particular team is loosing touch with the unfolding reality. Beijing does not welcome you as warmly as Bei-Bei suggests and without Bu-Bu to at least whisper some unpleasant home truths, the soft centred message is beginning to sound awfully thin.
It doesn’t help that I am just back from a “visa run” and found the experience more than usually unpleasant. Although I am very familiar with the processes, I found myself anxious this time lest, for reasons beyond my ken, I might be refused a new visa. That the Hong Kong papers were full of new regulations and reports that tourist numbers are well down on expectations, did little to lighten my mood. There is a plethora of new and unevenly applied regulations and they make the process of getting a visa expensive and uncertain. In effect, I lost a working week and am considerably out of pocket for what was, until not so long ago, a minor inconvenience only. I should hasten to add that, though I was very sensitive to Bu-Bu hovering over my application like a malevolent angel, nothing untoward happened; the entire process was uneventful and I am once again back in the capital. Thank you Bei-Bei!
It isn’t only the visa run which is colouring my attitude, there really are increasing signs that Bei-Bei’s sunny welcome is being countered by Bu-bu’s heavy handed concerns for security. Two bus bombs in Kunming don’t help, and will have given the powers that be, every reason to be nervous. The large media pack add to the situation. Many are here only for the Olympics, have no experience of China and want to fill out their background pieces with overly simplified examples of the contrasts within contemporary China. I have been approached more than once, to help round off, with my Bu-Bu perspectives, the “dark cloud behind the silver lining” story under which China seems permanently to be filed. I am committed to standing with Bei-Bei and cheer on the marvellous achievement which these Games represent and but to my surprise I shiver whenever Bu-Bu’s shadow crosses my path, which it is doing rather too frequently at the moment to be entirely ignored.
Beijing itself does not quite share my gloom, everywhere there are earnest young volunteers oozing beibei-esque hospitality, and were I to counter their earnestness with questions about pollution or the migrant problem I would be dismissed as the Olympian equivalent of Mr. Scrooge humbugging Christmas. Perhaps it is a bit churlish of me to want to introduce Bu-Bu to the mix, just because he is messing up my life a little. Bu-Bu may be a part of the story, but it is too easy sometimes to be a naysayer. For most people, Bei Bei caputures better the mood of the moment. Buildings are gleaming, the city is looking beautiful and the enthusiasm for the event is palpable. Maybe its better to go with the flow, and let the Games begin!