7.30 am, Guangzhou Lu. A man in his fifties is bashing on the front door of the apartment screaming to be let in. He is “from the government”, he shouts, brandishing some form of official looking pass at the peep hole. After entering he shoves a paper into the hands of the foreign girl he just startled out of her sleep “Sign this!”, he commands without further comment. Luckily, her Chinese flat mate, not easily intimidated by local displays of authority, is having none of it; she demands an explanation.
Between shouts and threats of checking the Anhui girl’s Hukou it emerges that this government representative, dressed in a neon-green Nike tank top and matching shorts, with his dark blue bathing flip flops and toothless mouth from which an unstoppable string of accusations and complaints emerges, is carrying out a security check. “For foreigner’s safety, not just for ours,” he tries to convince the girls that this is a good thing. “Because of the Youth Olympics”, is the official statement. In actual fact it is a security measure not only for the upcoming sporting event but as a result of the numerous terrorist attacks that have been shaking the country up throughout the past months.
From the Tian’anmen truck crash in October 2013, to the Kunming Railway Station knifing last March to the Urumqi Railway Station violence in April, China’s security situation has become increasingly critical especially in recent times. In the face of these worrying activities, officials are intensifying the number and nature of security checks in order to prevent large scale terrorist attacks, which not only create fear and disorder amongst Chinese society but also have a negative impact on the harmonious image the country is working so hard to present to the international community.
With the approach of the Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, the local government departments are stepping up measures to ensure everyone can enjoy a safe sporting event throughout August. So it can happen that a stranger bangs on your door at an ungodly hour demanding you sign a piece of paper, to not only make sure you are where you should be according to your police registration but to check in the meantime whether you are harbouring any illegals in your flat. The local police being far too busy to concern themselves with such lowly tasks, they will as in the case of our frog-coloured sports-attired friend, hire so-called assistants to carry out the checks for them; assistants who far from having received any training on how to deal with such psychologically sensitive situations are barely fit to act in any representative office of any kind. But hey, that’s China.
Yet, home visits are not the only measures the local government has introduced to keep everything in order for the Games. On 16th June, a fencing competition was held in the Nanjing International Expo Center. In a test run for the Youth Olympics the venue staffed with triple security; security checks at the entry of the building, verification at the arena entrance, and venue managers on patrol to ensure visitors’ maximum safety. During the YOGs, Nanjing will further tighten prevention and control. The Nanjing police has set up 67 security teams for all 31 YOG venues, and is conducting regular drills to ensure staff know how to react in case of terrorist activity.
The tourism industry has been most obviously affected by the security squeeze. On 23rd June, two males took up residency in a hostel on Maiyao Lu. When the Nanjing police raided the rooms, they found that only one person had registered upon check-in, while the other person did not. The lax registration policies of the hostel resulted in a business suspension of three months. More than 3,700 hotels in Nanjing need to follow check-in procedures and enter truthful information relating to the guests in their establishment to prevent unregistered persons from being able to move around undetected. According to police sources if hotels are found to be in breach of the regulations they will initially face suspension for seven days, in the second instance their business will be shut down for three months. This year alone, the police has already penalized more than 30 hotels.
In addition, running up to the Games, outsiders and foreign vehicles will be subjected to random police checks. For this purpose, Nanjing’s police is sending more than 700 police officers on patrol every day, in over 230 vehicles patrolling the entire city. During the Youth Olympic Games, this number will increase further.
While the YOG should be a time of fun and games, especially in light of recent terrorist activity the threat to our security is undeniable. Hence, everyone needs to be prepared for random checks at any time and in any location; while not a pleasant experience for those of us from countries with a slightly higher degree of human rights they are a necessary evil to ensure that the games truly remain a fun experience.
