Olympic Green 奥林匹克公园
Part of A Better Guide to Běijīng’s coverage of Běijīng Suburbs and Beyond
The main Olympic site straddles the same main north–south axis that passes through Yǒngdìng Mén, Qián Mén, and the towering central halls of the Forbidden City, although lying far beyond the reach of the original city in what was still farmland a short time ago, between the Fourth and Fifth Ring Roads.
Evidence that you’re about to enter a gigantic showpiece can be found even as you alight at m Olympic Green, which turns out to be one of the smartest metro stations on any line, anywhere, beginning with the etched glass screens at platform level. The body of the station has curtain walls of stacked Chinese drums and artfully piled roof tiles, amidst sunken buildings resembling precisely the traditional courtyard buildings destroyed to make way for assorted Olympics-related development. This involved the utterly disgraceful forced eviction of over 1.5 million Beijingers from their homes (amongst several other crimes to which the International Olympic Committee was party in giving the Olympics to Běijīng).
On all but public holidays the site usually has a ghost town feeling, with vast wind-swept plazas stretching away in all directions, though this openness is a reminder of central Běijīng’s Tiān’ān Mén Square and Cháng’ān Avenue, especially since stirring patriotic music is played through an ubiquitous public address system.
There are the occasional stalls, sometimes under tent-like structures, selling soft drinks and candy floss — a hint of carnival at odds with the general lack of gaiety.
A walk to the north (or one stop further on the metro) lies a belt of newly-planted forest, and to the south lie the most famous of the Olympic buildings as well as lesser-known but still attractive structures, almost all of them complete white elephants that have seen little or no use since the Olympics ended in summer 2008.
On your right as you walk south the National Indoor Stadium is pleasing enough, and beyond it to the west the building resembling several circuit boards stood on their sides is a data processing centre. This is said to play a part in the implementation of the ‘Great Firewall’ that isolates China’s Internet from ‘harmful’ information and services, such as YouTube, Google, Blogspot, Facebook, and Twitter, with varying degrees of success.
Ahead there’s an oddly retro television tower, and the series of buildings running right down the west side of the site ending in a tower with a curiously folded top is Pángǔ Dà Guān (Pángǔ Plaza), a residential, hotel, office, and shopping complex.
But eyes are already drawn to the tangled facade of the National Stadium (‘Bird’s Nest’) and the bubbly blue of the National Aquatics Center or Natatorium (‘Water Cube’). For more on these buildings and other Běijīng grands projets, see The Shock of the New.
At night the Bird’s Nest is illuminated in red and the Water Cube in blue, and lights run up and down the television mast.
In a perhaps desperate attempt to attract more visitors to the site, three museums are to be built along its perimeter. These will be of Arts and Crafts, of Sinology, and a new National Art Museum (NAMOC) on a large scale. Herzog and de Meuron, Frank Gehry, and Zaha Hadid were all said to be in the running at different times, but Frenchman Jean Nouvel won the commission, with completion imminent.
National Stadium 国家体育场
Guójiā Tǐyùchǎng, t 8437 3008, www.n-s.cn/en, 9.00am–6.30pm, Apr–Oct; otherwise 5pm.¥50; ¥80 with National Aquatics Centre. b to 国家体育场东: 82, 538, 611.
In a few short years the Bird’s Nest has become the most famous modern building in China and one of the most familiar on the planet, and deservedly so. An immensely appealing tangle of beams that might be the result of leaving a giant robot kitten alone in a steelyard, it’s even more impressive up close than in innumerable aerial postcard views and contemporary architecture books. The ticket office is near Entrance D.
Inside it’s far less impressive, however, appearing much like any other sports stadium since its attractive lattice structure is largely invisible. Given its size it’s surprisingly intimate. There’s usually little to see bar a few giant inflatable Olympic mascots, and unless you want to buy golden miniatures of the place, or a mock Olympic torch, there’s little point in entering.
The stadium reputedly held 91,000 people for the Olympic opening ceremonies, and thousands flocked to visit it after the games were over. But plans to make it the permanent home of one of Běijīng’s several football teams, a conference venue, a shopping mall, and a hotel, have all come to nothing, and visitors now number only a few hundreds per day, mostly at weekends and on public holidays. The venue cost perhaps ¥3.6 billion to build, money that might well have been better spent to great effect on any of Běijīng’s pressing problems of poverty, hunger, homelessness, education, healthcare, and pollution, as might the ¥200,000 daily maintenance cost.
National Aquatics Centre 国家游泳中心
Guójiā Yóuyǒng Zhōngxīn, t 8437 0112, www.water-cube.com, 9am–8.30pm. ¥50; ¥80 with National Stadium. b to 굇낸鮫픕굇: 81, 82, 510, 607.
The Water Cube, not actually a cube at all, is more interesting inside than the Bird’s Nest. The main auditorium is filled with soft blue light filtering through the 4000 translucent ETFE bubbles filling a steel lattice, whose irregular pattern is derived from the natural formation of bubbles. The building has gone through an expensive internal restructuring to turn part of it into a water park, spa, and theme restaurant, and ticket windows and entrance are now all on the east side.
The main lobby features glass windows streaming with water, and an immense range of souvenirs: water cube manicure sets, water cube-like boxes, water cube jewellery, and water cube ties, all at serious prices, along with swimming gear and T-shirts. A water cube keychain that lights up inside will cost you ¥66.
In the southwest corner of the site grovel the last few remaining structures of the Běi Dǐng Niángniang Miào (北顶娘娘庙), a temple to the wife of the god of Mount Tài. It’s incongruously small and overly restored in a stunningly cynical pretence that conservation was a matter of concern during the multi-billion dollar beanfeast of 2008.
▶ Àolínpǐkè Gōngyuán, m Olympic Green (Lines 8 & 15, exit D). On the south side m Olympic Sports Centre provides an alternative point of access to and from Line 8, but the tawdry and racist China Ethnic Culture Park to the west of the station should be avoided. The Yuán Dynasty Capital City Wall Site Park is two stops south at m Běi Tǔ Chéng.
Next in Museums and Other Sights: Yuán Dynasty Capital City Wall Site Park
Previously: China Aviation Museum
Main Index of A Better Guide to Beijing.
For discussion of China travel, see The Oriental-List.
