China Turning Olympic Venues into Tourist Attractions

The Olympic hoopla, pomp and circumstance has long faded and world leaders have since returned home. But three months after the 2008 Summer Olympics, the Chinese are coming in droves to the Bird's Nest and the Water Cube to remember one of their country's proudest moments.

In true capitalist form, China has turned its Olympic venues into money making tourist attractions. Each day, thousands of people from all over the country as well as some foreigners descend on National Stadium, whose exterior design resembles a bird's nest. To get in, they each pay $7, more than it costs to walk on top of the Great Wall.

Inside, giant video screens on each end of the stadium flash memorable scenes from the tennis, track and field, soccer and basketball events and the opening and closing ceremonies. Olympic signs hang everywhere, as if time has stood still.  As China's Olympic music blares loudly overhead, the young and old scramble into the empty stands to sit in the 91,000 red and white seats, imagining what it must have been like to watch the games in person.  Others stroll to the center of the stadium, a grassy field like any other. Under the glare of bright lights, visitors snap pictures of each other in front of giant red and green balloon figures representing two of China's Olympic mascots.

"I feel very proud because this is the country's biggest moment in history," said Shu Zhao, a 27 yr old government worker from Xiaogan, Hubei province, in central China.

He stood happily in the middle of the field with his wife one afternoon earlier this month.  China's main Olympic venues, the Bird's Nest, the Water Cube and the National Indoor Stadium,  have proved so popular that they have been drawing more tourists than the Forbidden City, according to Chinese media reports.  Once inside the Bird's Nest, however, there isn't much to do. You can't walk or run the full circular track. But that doesn't bother most Chinese.  They marvel at the empty stadium, take lots of pictures and gaze at some of the costumes worn during the opening ceremony, which are displayed on mannequins standing in the corners of the field.

"It's a very great stadium," said Su Jizhong, a 52 yr old who works for a government-owned trading company in Taiyuan, Shanxi province, in northern China. "On TV, it's all flat. By being here, it feels more alive."