Will Beijing have clear air for the Olympic Games? All the indications are positive. There were 25 ‘blue sky’ days — days with fairly good air quality — in September which breaks a seven year record.

A spokesman with the Beijing Environment Protection Monitoring Center attributed the increase mainly to the frequent but weak cold air activities, which offered a favorable condition for atmospheric diffusion.

The city still needs 59 more such days to meet this year’s goal of 245 days.

The Chinese capital launched a drive ‘Defending the Blue Sky’ in 1998, when it only had 100 days of ‘blue sky’.

Last year, Beijing saw a total of 241 ‘blue sky’ days.

For the Olympics a lot more effort will be made including a ban on certain traffic.

During a four-day test of the traffic ban from August 17 to 20, about 1.3 million cars were barred from the city roads each day and the amount of pollutants discharged was cut by 5,815.2 tons. Cleaning up Beijing’s atmosphere probably can be done. And the government will not fail from a lack of serious trying.
Source: China.com

Most meteorologists accept the fact that weather forecasts deteriorate by the square of time. The forecast for next week will be far worse than the forecast for this week. The forecast for next month is probably as accurate as astrology. To try and predict one year ahead is pretty much high farce. Your guess is as good as any weather expert.

In fact, weather experts said this August was much hotter and drier compared to previous years in Beijing. However, that does not mean that the 17-day session Olympics will be the same.

Sun Jisong, chief forecaster of the Beijing Meteorological Bureau correctly said, ‘In terms of weather, anything can happen in Beijing. The weather here is very unpredictable and it’s under the impact of monsoon climate.’

He said when Athens hosted the Games between August 12 and 28 in 2004, all 17 days were hot, sunny and dry, a stable environment for competing athletes.

Athletes who took part in several outdoor test events this summer may have felt like the air was very hot but Games officials said as long as athletes follow the health manuals, the hot weather should not be a major problem. Our illustration is of a satellite which went up last year specifically to help with Olympic weather forecasting.
Source: China Daily

Liu Qi, president of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2008 Olympic Games (BOCOG), has urged meteorologists countrywide to strive to provide the best services during the Olympics next summer.

He said, ‘A top-grade Olympic Games can not do without first-class weather services.’ He called on meteorological departments to provide more accurate forecasts.

He said that due to global climate change, the weather during next year’s Olympic Games will be much more complicated than previous ones and therefore poses tougher requirements for China’s weather services.

Beijing has set up 26 bases around the city to carry out rain reduction projects for the grand sports event next year.

The city has been trying to improve meteorological services to serve the event, including accurate weather forecasts and air quality reports.

At the beginning of August, China held a rain reduction drill in Inner Mongolia to ensure that the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympic Games would not be interrupted by rain. It met with limited success because the weather in Inner Mongolia refused to co-operate. As is often the case.
Source: China View

Chinese scientists are conducting high-altitude tests to eliminate clouds and stop rain spoiling any part of next year’s Beijing Olympics. Dozens of scientists flew for three hours over Hohhot, the capital of Inner Mongolia in China’s far north dropping chemical compounds designed to disperse clouds and prevent rain.

The mission was part of a wider scientific research drive to enhance chances of blue skies and sunshine for the Games opening ceremony on August 8 and the closing ceremony on August 24.

Liu Xiaolin, an official with the Inner Mongolia weather control office said the test efforts, which coincided with the one-year countdown to the Beijing Games, were moderately successful. He said, ‘Although the clouds were not as thick as expected and other weather conditions were unfavorable, the drill still collected sufficient data.’

Three planes carrying 30 technicians flew for about three hours within a 80 kilometre (50-mile) radius about 8,000 meters (26,000 feet) above Hohhot. The researchers dropped silver iodide and diatomite, two compounds thought to prevent the moisture forming into rain drops.

Liu Xiaolin said that while the dispersion technique was not successful in thick or large clouds containing a lot of moisture, it did work in smaller cloud build-ups.

China has already set up an extensive system that officials claim may be able to make it rain if needed during the Games, such as if a storm is required to clear polluted air.
Source: Daily Times

In a sense, what the China 2008 Olympics lack is a load of highly motivated (think a lot of money) spin doctors to manipulate the overseas press. The Chinese government does not have such an operation which is in direct contrast to, say, the Bush administration in the United States, or, more precisely, the recent Blair regime in the UK which practically redefined the term ’spin doctor’ so that the UK had government by spin.

Now The Economist has tried to balance out the assorted stories and look at how the Games stand.

It mentions:

The impressive collection of new and renovated sports venues that will house the competitions, such as the National Stadium, and the equally impressive array of new roads, railways, and metro lines that will ferry the massive crush of spectators and athletes around the city.

It goes on to say other logistics seem likewise well in hand. The ticket program, organizers say, is proceeding smoothly. And although officials think they will need 100,000 volunteers to help run the games, they have already received more than 560,000 applications.

On the hardware side of the ledger, and especially when it comes to the venues themselves, it would seem every detail has indeed been attended to. Not only will all 37 venues be completed well in advance, officials promise, but they will be ready for any contingency.

Planners are also likely to succeed in bringing Beijing’s notorious air pollution down to more bearable levels during the games. If they have to impose draconian restrictions on traffic and industrial activity in the weeks before the games, they will have the authority they need to do so.

Even the weather is taken care of. Officials at Beijing’s municipal Weather Modification Office say the timely launching of chemicals into the atmosphere will allow them to dispel clouds and largely control the time and place of rainfall.

So on that side of the ledger everything is very well prepared. Far more so than other host countries were at the same time before their games. Athens was still slapping on paint up to the day of the opening.

The Economist lists all this and then gives the other side of the coin. It reads:

The government seems far less prepared, however, when it comes to the delicate business of handling the activists and pressure groups that are sure to use the event as a soapbox for their many and varied criticisms of its policies. Whether to do with labour rights, religious freedom, the mistreatment of ethnic minorities or general political repression, there is no shortage of causes, and no shortage of champions prepared to take advantage of the Olympic spotlight.
Much of the world assumes — with justification — that China hopes to use the games as a global coming-out party, raising its international profile and softening its image. But another important goal is to convey to the domestic audience that China has the stature and ability to take its place at the centre of the world stage. Neither goal will be well served next year by ham-fisted responses to criticism.

Which is equally true and fair. On the other hand, does China needs government by spin doctors? Should all decisions be based on what the world’s press will say? There is a middle position which, perhaps, it could be argued, China should take. The article presents both sides of the case very well.
Source: The Economist