hardboiled

beijing's social cleansing operation

by jennifer min

President of Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee (BOCOC) Liu Qi has expressed only the highest of expectations for the upcoming 2008 Olympics. With China’s expanded budget of US$2 billion backing the most dramatic transformation of Beijing since 1949 under Mao, Liu Qi’s optimism is with good reason. China seems to be taking the 2008 Olympics as an opportunity to internationally publicize its image as a global power. It is barring no effort to that end, sprawling Olympic Green construction and revitalization across nearly 2,800 acres of Beijing along with a hopeful plan for a new lasting Beijing center.

However, one of the consequences of this extensive renovation on the Chinese citizenry is a social cleansing operation ordered by Beijing’s Olympic President. This program is intended to clear Beijing of all deemed “undesirables” by August 2008 in preparation for the Olympics. The program has been in implementation as early as 2001, though it wasn’t formally announced until late January 2008. According to Chinese officials, as of May 2005 an estimated 300,000 residents have been evicted, some illegally. However, the Geneva-based Center for Housing Rights and Evictions estimates a total of 1.5 million people to be displaced by the time the Games are held.

“Undesirables” subject to relocation encompass a huge proportion of Beijing residents. Among them are unregistered taxi drivers, mobile snack vendors, suspected fronts for prostitution such as hairdressing salons and karaoke parlors, beggars, hawkers, prostitutes, and homeless people. Religious leaders too seem to fall under the label of “undesirables” following the questionable arrest of Christian house church leader Hua Huiqi and his mother in 2007. Huiqi was allegedly arrested for merely walking near a hotel construction site built in preparation for the Olympics. Any local person without a hukou (residency permit) of Beijing are also subject to relocation. Forcible evictions due to house demolitions (attributed to Beijing’s preparation for the 2008 Olympics) have also left many of Beijing’s once-residents subject to relocation, though notably with a promise of compensation to the evictees. China’s ultimate goal for its social cleanup is to create a salubrious image of Beijing in time for the inflow of an estimated half a million tourists, athletes and journalists. In this line, any resident detracting from that image is also subject to eviction and relocation. Chinese authorities have previously announced that only migrant beggars and hawkers would be relocated to constructed special holding centers. However, the China-based group Human Rights claims all relocated residents are being shipped back to the countryside or to secretive camps, of which information is severely limited.

However, as alarming as the extent and nature of Beijing’s social cleansing operation might be it must be noted that Beijing is not the first host city to adopt such measures. Prior to the 2004 Athens Olympic Games an estimated 2,700 Romas were reportedly evicted. Also, according to a 2007 study done by the UK’s Center on Housing Rights and Evictions more than 2 million people have been driven from their homes since 1988 to make way for the Olympics. While a controversial topic no matter what nation it’s applied to, the evictions are seen by many as a type of necessary evil inherent to hosting the Olympic Games. As such, the persecution of such should not fall on China’s shoulders alone.

Perhaps an even greater concern than the evictions my be China’s harsh response to petitioners and human rights advocates protesting the relocations. Beijing police have placed many petitioners and human rights advocates under arrest, among them the well-known Beijing human rights Ye Guozhu. In 2001 both of Ye Guozhu’s restaurants in Beijing were razed, as was his home two years later, to make way for parks to beautify Beijing in preparation for the 2008 Olympics. On August 24, 2004 he applied for permission to hold a march in Tiananmen Square to protest against such forced evictions and house demolitions and was arrested on September 17, 2004 on the grounds of “disturbing social order.” He was sentenced to four years in prison on December 18, 2004 and wasn’t allowed to meet with his family until January 23, 2006. Ye refused to admit guilt to his alleged crimes, insisting applying for a parade permit was entirely legal, and was consequentially sent to the Strict Disciplinary Team. All communication with his family was denied, his right to customary bi-monthly family telephone calls was revoked, and Ye later admitted to having suffered serious abuse at the hands of prison authorities. Toward the end of 2006 Amnesty International received reports that Ye was beaten by guards with electro-shock batons and has declared him a prisoner of conscience. Allegedly other protesters and human rights advocates have experienced similar arrest and imprisonment. While such stories have been slow to circulate, rising international concern for protest suppression has called for China to remediate their ways.

There is growing worry that China’s current protest control is only a precursor of what is to come. The UK has recently considered having athletes sign a charter barring “any kind of demonstration or engaging in any political, religious or racial propaganda at Olympic sites,” though the idea was retracted. Meanwhile Australia has already openly asked its representatives not to comment on political issues in China. The US, the Netherlands and Belgium have declared they will not restrict their athletes’ freedom of expression, though unease remains and apprehension clouds the “positive image” China intends to portray.

That is not to say there is no hope for change. Though China’s past is punctuated with severe police enforcement and regulated laws, China is asserting that it is currently taking care to curb such tendencies and to extend decorum to its enforcement as quoted in a recent edition of Beijing News.

“In enforcing the law, [officers] must be civilized, they must explain their actions and be reasonable. They must not create social environment problems,” BOCOC President Liu Qi said.