It’s party time in Beijing – and only some are invited
Posted: Monday, September 14, 2009 2:56 PM
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Beijing, China
By Adrienne Mong, NBC News Producer
BEIJING – After a short summer break, I returned to Beijing to find the city under siege.
At least that’s how it looks these days – two weeks before the National Holiday on Oct. 1 to mark the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.
As I rode through central Beijing over the weekend, an armored vehicle was poised on the corner of the Dongsishitiao roundabout. A soldier was sitting on top of it, wearing a balaclava and with a machine gun at the ready. Pedestrians stopped, stared, and then took photos with their cell phones.
Police checkpoints now ring Beijing’s outskirts, monitoring traffic from the surrounding provinces and inspecting vehicles entering the capital. Busloads of troops have been unloading around the city. And jets screamed across a beautifully clear sky over Tiananmen Square on Saturday morning.
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| Adrienne Mong / NBC News |
| With increased security in Beijing, some officials who are new to the city try to find their bearings. |
The square itself, the Forbidden City opposite it, and the major road arteries flowing south of Chang'an Avenue – which bisects the capital – were all closed to the public this past weekend.
What sounded like half-hearted fireworks sputtered through the late evening near the Workers' Stadium, but with the high visibility of soldiers and police, you’d be forgiven for thinking it was gunfire.
A party for the Party
In short, authorities here are taking no chances.
After all, it’s a big anniversary. It’s especially significant because in Chinese culture sixtieth anniversaries are a big milestone – their significance is equivalent to that of a centennial elsewhere.
But anyone under the impression the celebration is for the people might want to think again. This is a party for the party – the Chinese Communist Party.
For one, the general public won't be allowed anywhere near the big event – a massive parade showcasing China's military might, the likes of which are not seen around the world these days (except for North Korea). While attendance will be seriously restricted, the highly choreographed event will of course be broadcast on China’s state TV.
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| Ng Han Guan / AP file |
| Chinese soldiers are drilled on Sept. 10 in preparation for a military parade planned for the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic on Oct. 1. |
I tried to get an impression of the event to come. Cycling past the Forbidden City on Saturday afternoon, I could see reviewing stands, presumably for the leadership, outside the Gate of Heavenly Peace (the front entrance of the Imperial City where Mao Zedong’s iconic portrait hangs).
Meanwhile, a huge video monitor loomed across the street, and crowds of people dressed in uniform walked in and out of Tiananmen Square. Traffic barriers lined Chang’An Avenue. Security checkpoints have sprung up on strategic corners. Police waved me away from the south side of the street; they waved me away from stopping on my bicycle; and waved at me to stop taking photographs.
Even more forbiddingly, residents are being restricted in their very own homes.
At diplomatic compounds overlooking the road that becomes Chang’An Avenue, property management offices have sent out fliers asking residents not to invite friends into the area between Sept. 30 and midnight on Oct. 1; not to open windows or balcony doors facing Chang’An during the same period; and not to stand on the balcony to watch the ceremony on Oct. 1.
And for several weekends running now, residents have found themselves trapped in certain parts of the city, unable to cross town because of roadblocks. Several friends told me stories about being stranded overnight one weekend when they couldn’t get across Chang’An Avenue to get home.
Which makes it all the more ironic that one of the 50 Party-approved slogans marking the 60th anniversary says: "Put people first, realize, safeguard and develop the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of the people!"
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| Adrienne Mong / NBC News |
| A checkpoint set up on Chang'An Jie, or the Avenue of Long Peace, leading up to Beijing's Tiananmen Square. |
The new normal?
It might seem a stretch, but it’s hard not to wonder how much all of this might become "situation normal." Before last summer’s Olympics, authorities put into place several security measures that have endured long after the games have ended. Some of them were for the "safety" of Beijing residents, but many of them came into being soon after the March 2008 unrest in Tibet.
Bags are still being x-rayed at subway entrances. Tiananmen Square is still fenced off and visitors must walk through a metal detector and a bag search before entering the area. Police still conduct random ID checks at people’s homes. And after years of laxness, the guards in diplomatic compounds, like the one that houses the NBC News bureau, are still persnickety about checking Chinese ID cards.
Not to mention the general crackdown on dissent. Although a prominent activist lawyer, Xu Zhiyong, was recently released on bail, critics of a wide-ranging number of issues have been rounded up during the past year. And YouTube, social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, and Chinese-language blog sites like Bullog.net all remain shuttered.
All a far cry from 18 months or so ago when optimists crowed that the Beijing 2008 Olympics would usher in a new era of openness in China and argued that the tightening political climate was temporary – just a blip, as it were, that would ensure a smooth Summer Games.
Others have observed that 2009 is full of difficult, troubling anniversaries – March 14 (the one year anniversary of the Tibet unrest), June 4 (the 20th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown), and October 1 (the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic) – and that government officials are trying to minimize the potential for unrest or open dissent.
But what if this isn’t a blip? What if this is the new normal?
I’m flying off to Afghanistan for a month-long assignment. We’ll see if the barricades are gone by the time I return.
