The White Cloud Temple is one of Beijing's oldest Taoist centres. According to legend, before entering the capital to found a new dynasty, each emperor had to pay homage there. The temple has a riddle: 'There is a bridge but no water flows beneath, a window that cannot be opened, three monkeys but you cannot see their faces, a doorway that nobody passes through.' The riddle, expressed literally within the temple's architectural features, is long forgotten by most in Beijing.
Now, as China celebrates hosting the 2008 Olympics, the riddle is reflected again in the capital's Olympic architecture. There are hotels but nobody stays in them, press freedoms promised but the window is unopened, scheduled celebrations and anticipated tourists, but you cannot see their faces, and a vast, vacant airport that nobody passes through.
What is happening? After nearly half a decade of frenetic preparations for massive tourism with unprecedented infrastructure spending, it feels as if no one is bothering to attend. Or maybe they were just not invited.
'Welcome to Beijing' is the official slogan represented by the five fuwa, or lucky mascots, that have become as ubiquitous symbols as Mao Zedong's profile was during the Cultural Revolution. But, despite the slogan, Beijing is not welcoming foreigners. Visas have been strictly controlled. Even work visas have been restricted.
Multinational corporations - whose investment commitment over three decades has transformed China from a poor to a rich nation - had prepared conferences, board meetings and activities in celebration of their joint success. Now, they have cancelled most activities, one after another, amid an environment of hyped-up security and 'foreigner' paranoia. In private, the word 'divestment' is heard in investment diversification discussions. No one expected 2008, the year that should herald the beginning of a new 'China century', to end up like this.
The capital is under lockdown. The 300,000 police and nearly 900,000 troops on alert around the capital hark back to an era when Mao called upon the people to dig shelters in anticipation of a Soviet attack from the north and a US invasion from Taiwan.
