Beijing blog
Day 4: The Paralympic dream: a world within a world
Today we went to the Paralympic village, and discovered a world within a world. From the first look, it was like viewing an ideal society. The sun shone brightly in a blue sky. Clean, well-manicured lawns with flowerbeds bordered orderly streets with quiet level crossings. Of course, there was no traffic. Well-designed apartment blocks bore homely traces of human habitation: some washing hung out here, a flag hung out there. Everything wore an air of quiet purpose.
But what made this ideal scene so striking was the people. They were citizens of the world, where colour mixed with colour, male with female, younger with older, and disability with no disability. It reminded me of the Spanish ideal of Convivencia, an imagined utopian kingdom where nations intermingle in peace and tolerance with an interplay of cultural ideas between the groups. Yet this scene was thoroughly Chinese. “This is the new Forbidden City,” a colleague commented wryly.
Back in the real world, the Beijing Paralympic village is in hot demand as a prime piece of centrally-located real estate. Word on the street is that the flats within the compound, which are to be sold on as private property, sold out within weeks of going on the market. There is something rounded about this. The Paralympics continues to go from strength to strength, and just as the athletes are in increasing demand, so everybody wants a piece of the Paralympic dream.
Day 4: The Paralympic dream: a world within a world
Today we went to the Paralympic village, and discovered a world within a world. From the first look, it was like viewing an ideal society. The sun shone brightly in a blue sky. Clean, well-manicured lawns with flowerbeds bordered orderly streets with quiet level crossings. Of course, there was no traffic. Well-designed apartment blocks bore homely traces of human habitation: some washing hung out here, a flag hung out there. Everything wore an air of quiet purpose.
But what made this ideal scene so striking was the people. They were citizens of the world, where colour mixed with colour, male with female, younger with older, and disability with no disability. It reminded me of the Spanish ideal of Convivencia, an imagined utopian kingdom where nations intermingle in peace and tolerance with an interplay of cultural ideas between the groups. Yet this scene was thoroughly Chinese. “This is the new Forbidden City,” a colleague commented wryly.
Back in the real world, the Beijing Paralympic village is in hot demand as a prime piece of centrally-located real estate. Word on the street is that the flats within the compound, which are to be sold on as private property, sold out within weeks of going on the market. There is something rounded about this. The Paralympics continues to go from strength to strength, and just as the athletes are in increasing demand, so everybody wants a piece of the Paralympic dream.
Of course, the athletes have their own dreams as individual as they are. We were lucky enough to meet with Li Xiao Dong and Wang Song, two delightful 27 year old Judo medallists who told us about their lives before the Paralympic games. Wang is blind since birth, Li lost his sight ten years ago from retinitis pigmentosa. Both had benefited from devices donated to them by CBM based on a survey of their personal need. Li said he liked his new MP3 player, which helped him to relax after a game.
I asked them, now that they had won their medals, what their dreams were. Wang is already married to the girl of his dreams, a beautiful wife. Li hopes to study to become a masseur. This is the little-reported side of the Paralympics. Once the games are over, the athletes must return to their ordinary lives. Some go back to school, others become farmers. All must find resourceful ways to earn a living. It is very hard to find work, Li tells me. He’s poor, and doesn’t have an income at the moment.
The fulfilment of their Paralympic dream may be all they have ever wished for, but for many athletes, looking back, this will seem like a distant dream too. How will they cope when faced with the reality outside? With society’s rapid economic development comes a change in attitudes. This is brought home to me by a thoughtful Paralympic volunteer. “Life must be very inconvenient for Persons with Disabilities,” he tells me. “Performing their daily tasks with them, I feel consideration in my heart for them. But for them, it is nothing special.”
Speaking later to a member of the Sports Council of Wales, I realise that there is no such thing as perfection when it comes to practising inclusion. I ask him how the coverage of the Paralympics has been back home. He tells me the TV has been good, but newspapers are still very poor. One 13 year old Welsh girl had won a swimming medal, but the article on her appeared three pages from the back of the newspaper and didn’t carry a photo. I wonder if, had this been the Olympics, this would have made front page news.
We may feel sometimes as if we live in a world within a world, but globalisation is an opportunity for us all to embrace inclusion. The Paralympic dream is as beautiful as it is fragile. Whether it survives beyond the brief weeks of triumph will depend on the attitude of the people outside.
I asked them, now that they had won their medals, what their dreams were. Wang is already married to the girl of his dreams, a beautiful wife. Li hopes to study to become a masseur. This is the little-reported side of the Paralympics. Once the games are over, the athletes must return to their ordinary lives. Some go back to school, others become farmers. All must find resourceful ways to earn a living. It is very hard to find work, Li tells me. He’s poor, and doesn’t have an income at the moment.
The fulfilment of their Paralympic dream may be all they have ever wished for, but for many athletes, looking back, this will seem like a distant dream too. How will they cope when faced with the reality outside? With society’s rapid economic development comes a change in attitudes. This is brought home to me by a thoughtful Paralympic volunteer. “Life must be very inconvenient for Persons with Disabilities,” he tells me. “Performing their daily tasks with them, I feel consideration in my heart for them. But for them, it is nothing special.”
Speaking later to a member of the Sports Council of Wales, I realise that there is no such thing as perfection when it comes to practising inclusion. I ask him how the coverage of the Paralympics has been back home. He tells me the TV has been good, but newspapers are still very poor. One 13 year old Welsh girl had won a swimming medal, but the article on her appeared three pages from the back of the newspaper and didn’t carry a photo. I wonder if, had this been the Olympics, this would have made front page news.
We may feel sometimes as if we live in a world within a world, but globalisation is an opportunity for us all to embrace inclusion. The Paralympic dream is as beautiful as it is fragile. Whether it survives beyond the brief weeks of triumph will depend on the attitude of the people outside.
