08:45 am
Controlympics: The Potemkin Metropolis
A first-person account of how the ChiComs are keeping Beijing safe for Olympocracy:
So we were returning to Beijing from Datan and had to take a coach bus from Fengning County seat. . . . Although the Olympics had put a tense atmosphere over the whole country, we didn’t think about it too seriously. Even with the Games, people still have to eat, sleep, go to the toilet and travel around. We were returning to Beijing, not to make trouble there.
But we were still asked for our ID and got our card numbers recorded. Although Fu Guoli lost his ID card, he is a gentleman-faced guy and works for a Global 500 company and we couldn’t imagine he would have a problem. . . .
When the bus pulled out of town, I was sitting next to Fu Guoli and while we were chatting the bus pulled over. When we walked off the bus we first saw cops, who set up two checkpoints along the highway and two policemen in bullet-proof vests with light machine guns were minding the booths. We were submitting our ID cards one after another along a rail line. For those who have the second generation of IDs, a scan can tell whether it’s real or fake; but for those first generation ones, your information needs to be entered into a computer and then a matching program will confirm its authenticity.
I passed without any problem. But Fu Guoli showed his work badge and reported his ID number, seemingly not much a hassle, but was taken aside by the cops. From 1:00 to 1:20 am, I saw through the bus window that he was constantly talking to the cops and was not allowed to board, and we realized something was wrong. . . . [W]hen Fu gave them his ID number, the computer couldn’t find his record, and neither could the system find his name. Which is to say, the police concluded that Fu has no valid ID record, which means he couldn’t be allowed back to Beijing. He was, finally, left behind with police at Fengning, not able to return to Beijing.
The police were not sympathetic to Fu’s plight. One told him, “Even [if] the problem [is] the database, it is still your problem. We still cannot let you go.”
So the Chinese not only kicked people out for the Olympics, they also set up a network of security checkpoints that enable them to allow back in only those with correct identity card. It’s the rebirth of the old internal passport system, which had largely broken down as a result of the big labor migrations of the capitalist era. And judging by this account, the new system will be far more efficient than the old one, with the Chinese now issuing “second generation” smart cards (I’m guessing with scannable RFID chips) to all Beijing residents.
What will be interesting is who they let back in — and when they allow them to return. Over time, corruption and labor shortages will in all likelihood cause the system to break down again, but for now, the government has complete control over access to the city.
Given that, things will never not go back to the way they were. The old messy, wonderful, interesting Beijing is probably gone forever. The new, controlled, antiseptic Beijing, which has become the world’s largest Potemkin Village, is here to stay.
Translation by and big tip of the hat to China Digital Times.