Article and Photography By BECKIE LOEWENSTEIN
Chinese citizens expecting to see the morning torch relay from the Flood Control monument at Zhongyang Street in Harbin, China, console themselves with photography. They arrived before 5 a.m. as prepared as could be. With heart stickers of the China flag on their cheeks and flags in hand, they waited patiently. Catching a glimpse of a torch-bearing proudly carrying the Olympic flame would make missing a day of class and/or work worth it.
They waited more than three hours at the barricades. The first barricade enclosed the street. A second barricade created empty space of twenty-five meters in width. The pre-approved university student leaders and Chinese elites stood behind this barrier. The general public squeezed into spaces behind. The crisply-dressed police officers, bearing no weapons on-person, faced the public. During the joint police forces warm-up exercises, they jogged together in single-file unison.
Hesitation and uncertainty tempered any feelings of excitement. Only given approximate destinations of the route, they did not know if they would actually see the torch bearer or just the bus transporting the torch bearer to the next destination. It was unclear where the torch relay with the exchange of the flame from one torch to another would take place. The torch relay took place for a stretch of only one kilometer along the banks of the Songhua River.
The fact that few people got to see the torch relay did not diminish the aura of patriotism. After the torch passed them by in a bus, the Chinese swarmed the ceremonial stages for photographs with the inflatable 6 meters-tall Five Friendlies. Just as most Chinese people will not have an opportunity to participate in the Beijing Olympics Games in person, witnessing the torch relay in person remains only a dream.
