THOUGHTS OF ENDLESS torment flooded my exhausted mind on July 31. Here I was, having sat for hours in a cold, dimly lit cabin, elevated 34,000 above the ground with nothing to do except read and wait.

Believe it or not, my parents, siblings, and I willingly subjected ourselves to this form of torture known as an airplane flight. At the end of the 17-hour journey lay a reward well worth the lack of comfort. I was heading to Beijing, China, home of my mom’s family as well as the Games of the 29th Olympiad.

My brother poses in front of an illuminated bridge in Tiananmen Square. Gargoyle photo by Yunling Man (click to enlarge)

Third time's the charm

Going into China, I had no reason to expect anything outside of roaming the beautified streets of Beijing and looking at the exterior of the famous National Stadium, commonly called “The Bird’s Nest,” seeing as I wasn’t able to get tickets for any Olympic event that occurred before Aug. 9, the scheduled day of my departure from Beijing.

That being said, I thought I was still going to enjoy the new Beijing with or without the bonus of attending an event. The 2008 Games were the catalyst for many changes and clean-up efforts for Beijing, and the difference was clearly visible.

I had previously visited the city in 2001 and 2006. Beijing was selected as the host city for the 2008 Summer Olympics during my stay there in 2001. The excitement was palpable as fireworks and other sorts of loud noises rang through the streets shortly after the announcement. Thus began Beijing’s remarkable transformation.

When I returned in 2006, I could not recognize much of the city. Though it still did not compare in beauty to the way it is today, it was definitely a great improvement over five years. Many old single-story buildings were torn down and replaced with tall office-looking buildings, giving the city a much more modern look.

Flowers arranged into the Olympic Rings. Gargoyle photo by Danny Ge (click to enlarge)

Beauty abounds

Two years later, I found myself once again the same city, and I found myself once again in completely unfamiliar surroundings.

Having arrived at night, I first noticed that the air was much cleaner than it had been in the past. Gone was the strange smell of pollution from cars — well, almost. After all, Beijing is an enormous city, and to expect no trace of pollution from cars is ridiculous.

As I was in the car on the way to my grandma’s apartment, I noticed lights were installed everywhere. They weren’t just ordinary streetlights either. Most if not all of them were purely decorative lights of assorted colors, making for an entertaining ride from the airport.

I also saw a brightly lit countdown clock to the Olympics that had been running since I last came to China two years ago. This colorful, brightly lit night scene was quite a spectacle to behold.

The morning brought another fresh perspective to Beijing in the form of flowers. While I noticed the large amounts of vegetation the night before, it took the light of day to allow me to fully appreciate the decoratively arranged plants throughout the city.

A Fuwa doll set that I bought back in 2006, arranged from Beibei to Nini as described in the article. Gargoyle photo by Danny Ge (click to enlarge)

Meet the mascots

Lights and flowers aside, there’s one other colorful thing that I saw everywhere in Beijing, or rather, five colorful things. I’m referring to the Fuwa, the mascots of the 29th Olympic Games. Since they were first revealed in 2005, the Fuwa have been a huge phenomenon in China.

Originally given the English name of “The Friendlies,” the name was dropped for fear of misinterpretation. The Fuwa are five cute little doll-like things that represent the spirit of the Olympic Games. Their names — Beibei, Jingjing, Huanhuan, Yingying, and Nini — form the Chinese phrase “Bei Jing Huan Ying Ni,” which translates into English as “Beijing Welcomes You.”

The Fuwa were everywhere, from billboards to magazine ads, getting everyone hyped for the Olympics. Also, Fuwa merchandise sells very well, allowing for profit alongside pumping people up for the Games.

While Beijing had progressed aesthetically, it also improved practically with the public transportation system. The buses and subways were, for the most part, very efficient and comfortable.

Just about everywhere I went, a bus stop was nearby that could bring me close to anywhere else I wanted to go. The subway system was also very large and still growing.

Air conditioners were part of most buses and subways that I rode on, but a few lines still used an older, hotter bus or train.

My brother and I pose outside of the National Indoor Stadium. Gargoyle photo by Yunling Man (click to enlarge)

An unexpected circumstance

About three days into my trip, my family was able to purchase tickets to an Olympic event. I was surprised to learn that the tickets themselves were not very expensive, selling for 150 yuan each, which translates to a little over 21 U.S. dollars.

The event I would be seeing was the men’s artistic gymnastics team final on Aug. 12. My date of departure was accordingly pushed back to Aug. 13.

I was excited and curious after learning about the event I was to attend. Excited, obviously, because I was finally going to the Olympics, and curious because I was not very familiar with artistic gymnastics. I didn’t even realize that “regular” gymnastics was referred to as artistic gymnastics until after I entered the stadium.

The gymnastics events were held in the National Indoor Stadium, also known as “The Fan.” This was somewhat of a disappointment, since I really wanted to go inside the Bird’s Nest. Also, my seats were terrible, being in Section 304, Row 17, Seats 6, 7, and 8. But I guess the saying “Beggars can’t be choosers” holds true.

Ready for the big day

In anticipation of the final, I watched the preliminary round on TV to familiarize myself with gymnastics in general as well as to see which teams I would be watching in person.

After becoming somewhat familiar with the different apparatuses and scoring system (which I still don’t completely understand), I was excited to see the result of the preliminary round. China was on top followed by the U.S. in second. Though scores don’t carry over to the next round, I was still expecting spectacular performances from them. It was difficult to pick whom to cheer for, so I decided to support both teams.

On Aug. 12, I woke up at 7 a.m. in anticipation of the competition, which was to occur three hours later. Olympic ticketholders received free bus and subway rides if they presented their tickets, which was very cool. There was even a separate subway line —Line 8 — which took us to the Olympic Green.

Before boarding the train, my mom, brother, and I had to go through a ticket and security check. Afterward, we were free to walk through the Green, a park that contains all of the buildings in which sporting events are held, such as the National Stadium (Bird’s Nest), National Indoor Stadium (Fan), and National Aquatics Center (Water Cube), as well as recreational areas. We didn’t spend much time looking around before the event however.

The Fan didn’t look nearly as cool as the Bird’s Nest or the Water Cube, but it was still a nice-looking building. Upon entering the stadium, I wasn’t quite as blown away as I expected to be because, well, it was exactly like on TV. I was also so far away from the floor that I had to use binoculars, which I fortunately brought.

Home-court advantage and a thrilling finish

As the seats began to fill, anticipation welled up inside me. Before the gymnasts took the field, however, there was a brief pregame show in which people dressed up as Fuwa came out and started dancing. Quite frankly, it wasn’t very interesting. Nevertheless, the situation was quickly remedied as the Fuwa left and were replaced by the athletes.

Throughout the event, the stadium was dominated by chants of “Zhong guo jia you” (Go China). Though the occasional chanting of “USA” could also be heard, it was obvious that this was China’s home court.

And what a showing the Chinese gymnasts gave. Though their performance on floor routine, their weakest event, was somewhat lackluster, leaving them in fifth place, they were able to bounce back two rotations later with a spectacular performance on the rings, which propelled them into second place behind the U.S. men. After that, one phenomenal effort after another allowed them to take a commanding lead and eventually win the gold.

The U.S. wasn’t too shabby either, finishing third behind Japan. I was able to see former U of I gymnast and current assistant coach Justin Spring in action alongside his fellow American gymnasts. It wasn’t until I returned to America did I learn that Team USA was missing its top two gymnasts, Paul and Morgan Hamm, due to injuries, which makes the third-place finish all the more impressive.

After the victory ceremony, I was free to roam about the Olympic Green, taking in one final bit of the Olympic culture before leaving. After viewing the exteriors of all of the stadiums, I went to a few of the exhibits held by sponsors of the Games such as GE and Coke. While I did get a free Coke, the exhibits themselves weren’t nearly as interesting as walking around the park and taking in the scenery.

The Games end, but the fun never stops

Finally, it was time to leave. Sadness, and also hope, occupied my thoughts as I got on the subway to go back home. Sadness, at the thought of leaving Olympic Green, and hope, at the thought of returning some day after the Olympics and seeing the buildings again.

Billions of dollars were invested in improving Beijing for the Olympics, and billions more will be invested for future developments. Someday later, I want to return to Beijing and see how much farther it has progressed.

After seeing the wonderful job the city did with the Olympics, I’m sure it can only become more beautiful in the future.