Excitement, wariness as Beijing counts down

BEIJING — In an annual springtime transformation, color is returning to Beijing — with the brown and gray landscape in city parks, open areas and surrounding mountains slowly being replaced by a wide spectrum of greens, yellows, pinks and whites as trees and plants begin to bud and flower.

Augmenting the natural hues are the noticeable addition of five bold colors — the red, yellow, green, blue and black from the five interlocking rings of the world-recognized Olympic logo — as the capital city of the People's Republic of China prepares to host the 2008 Summer Games.

The five colors are cropping up everywhere in displays and signage; they're also casting a figurative tint across the city of nearly 18 million residents.

Red and yellow — also the colors of China's national flag — are used predominantly for most Beijing Games advertising and marketing, since they simultaneously convey both nationalism and the Olympics.

Green and blue could suggest the environmental concerns and efforts in Beijing. And black might best describe the cloud of protests and controversies collecting in advance of the Games.

Today marks four months out from the Aug. 8 opening ceremonies at National Stadium, with massive Olympic countdown-clock markers — such as the one along the Fourth Ring Road near the Olympic Green in northern Beijing — digitally ticking away the days to China's biggest-ever event.

Thanks to a table tennis exhibition less than four decades ago, the People's Republic of China opened up to the United States and the rest of the Western world. What started as so-called "ping-pong" diplomacy then has now led to Beijing serving as the world's stage for an estimated 10,500 international athletes competing in 302 events from 28 sports — yes, that does include table tennis.

And with the '08 Games come the good, the bad and the scrutiny of an estimated 20,000 foreign journalists unleashed in one of the final frontiers of the civilized world, with the Chinese government professing free and open access to the visiting media but possessing a history of media sensitivity, wariness, restrictions and control.

The people of Beijing and China are curious as to how their hometown and home country will be received when they welcome the world later this summer — much like Salt Lake City and Utah residents leading up to the 2002 Winter Olympics and those in Atlanta prior to the '96 Summer Games.