Ordinary Chinese set for bigger post-Olympic challenges

BEIJING -- Even as they bade an emotional farewell to the Olympics, China's proud citizens were gearing up for bigger battles to come: environmental challenges, economic inequities and social reforms.

This is a country that savored immensely its athletic triumphs, its 51 gold medals and its two weeks of glory in the global spotlight. But as they celebrated Sunday night, many Chinese acknowledged the long fight ahead on poverty, pollution and inflation.

Many said they were willing to accept further sacrifices -- including factory shutdowns and drastic limits on car traffic -- to preserve the environmental gains that were achieved during the Olympics.

At dozens of parks and outdoor plazas across Beijing, thousands of people gathered to watch the closing ceremony on giant television screens. At the Temple of Earth, about 500 people waved Chinese flags, sang along lustily to the Chinese national anthem, screamed at Chinese pop idols, swayed to the ballads and cheered noisily for Yao Ming and other Chinese athletes.

"I feel very proud to be a Chinese," said Li Changcun, a 21-year-old university student who had traveled to Beijing from remote Qinghai province to share the Olympic atmosphere.

"These Olympics were really exciting and very moving," she said. "Everyone in the faraway regions of China was watching the Olympics on television every day. It left a grand impression on us. It makes Chinese people more confident in the world, and more influential."

But like many other spectators at the temple park on closing night, Li said she believes the country still has a long way to go. "I hope the world doesn't think that China is a rich developed nation," she said. "We still have many poor regions, outside the big cities. China's next goal should be to improve the life of its ordinary people."

After heavy smog and haze at the beginning of the Olympics, Beijing enjoyed blue skies for much of the Olympic period. The city government revealed yesterday that it might extend the drastic traffic restrictions after their scheduled end on Sept. 20.

"We want to hear more public opinion on whether, or how, to keep the rule," said Wang Li, deputy director of Beijing's traffic administration bureau, in an interview with China Daily.

Many people in Beijing say they support the idea, despite the continued sacrifices it would require from motorists who were required to leave their cars at home on alternating days throughout the Olympics.

"I own a car, but I understand and support this policy of bringing back the blue skies," said Wang Zilu, a 59-year-old teacher who was watching the closing ceremony at the Temple of Earth.

He worries that the success of the Olympics will convince the rest of the world that China is too powerful to need any help in the future. "I'm afraid they will stop giving us foreign aid because they think we are not poor any more. It's wrong. I grew up in the countryside, and I know how hard the rural life is. Some farmers are still very poor."

China is too preoccupied with saving face and concealing its social problems, he said. "But we're making progress. Some major social problems are disclosed in the media and then they get solved. I'm confident that China will become more and more open in every field."

Wang Disheng, a 38-year-old civil servant, says China's next goal, after the Olympics, should be to solve its economic and social problems, especially inflation, the slumping stock market and the environment.

"I hope some of the new traffic restrictions can be continued as long-term policies," he said. "Everyone can see how great the weather is these days. I have a car of my own, but I'm willing to bicycle to my office every second day. It makes me healthier, it improves the air and it saves money on gasoline, too."

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)