The 'mianji' (making face) Olympics

The Olympics appears to have given developers, and individuals, favoured by the CCP the opportunity to enrich themselves from Games related construction while thousands of the poor are forcibly relocated on inadequate or zero compensation to make way for the Olympic venues. Thousands of farmers in drought hit Hebei and Shanxi have lost all or part of their livelihoods as farms and homes were destroyed and water tables pumped dry for construction of the water diversion project. Farmers were also denied access to precious water from four of Hebei's reservoirs in times of severe drought so that the water can be diverted to Beijing to reinvigorate dry and stagnant canals and irrigate the new Green Beijing and Olympic venues and facilities.

Mianji (making face), is integral to Chinese life. Mianji is referred to by old China hands as an illusionary image to overcome a problem or embarrassment made up of "half truths, lies and damned lies". To the Chinese however, mianji is paramount to the individual, family units and corporate image. To those in power however, mianji is political survival. The image takes precedence over the means.

Mianji requires a demonstration or show of wealth, power or public acknowledgement of one's position. To admit that any challenge cannot be overcome results in diu lian, (losing face). It was this part of the Chinese psyche that the IOC appeared to ignore when tabling the schedule of commitments required to be met by China in return for hosting the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Regardless of the cost, scale or even outright impossibility to solve problems, to admit that any one of the IOC conditions could not be met would have been diu lian for the CCP. Losing the Olympics a second time would not have been be diu lian on a small scale. This would be on a global scale witnessed by the entire world and would discredit China, the CCP and the Chinese people in the eyes of all Chinese worldwide. Such an admission was inconceivable and China and the IOC signed off on the 2008 Olympics with much mianji.

When the IOC granted China the right to host the 2008 Olympics, rather than improving human rights, the IOC appears to have inadvertently granted China the licence to continue and increase human rights abuse on its own people on the basis of an agreement of unenforceable conditions. China now appears to have had no intention of compliance on key conditions. The billions of dollars that would have improved the lifestyle of China's rural poor and sick, was spent on grand projects to make much mianji for the CCP and its grand palace, Beijing.