By Roberta

When I embarked upon my recent trip to China, I was ready for the worst in terms of pollution. I had been told that tap water was not only not potable, but also not suitable for bathing because it was so murky that nobody would want to bathe in it. (Showers were considered to be ok). I guess they figured the impurities would just roll off. We were told to take dust masks with us so that we could breathe outside. I expected the hotel rooms to be lacking in environmentally friendly technology.

How surprised I was when I walked into my hotel room in Beijing! Lights, TV and all other electronic systems were operable only when the hotel key card was inserted into a slot provided on the wall just inside the hotel room door. When one left the hotel room and removed their key card, all of the electrically operated gadgets in the room would go dead. No energy was wasted when nobody is present in the room. A remote control center next to the bed allowed occupants to operate any light, television, etc. in the hotel room without getting up.

I got out my water-purifying device and filled it with water from the tap. Wow! It wasn't murky (not that I would have drunk it, but at least it looked ok). I did use it to brush my teeth, as we were told it was safe to do so. Surprisingly, Beijing air didn't seem any more polluted that one of the major cities in USA, and I found no reason to don a dust mask. What I did notice was that the streets were clean. They had plenty of manpower to pick up litter and keep the streets immaculate. Street cleaners consisted of people with brooms and huge dustpans cleaning up the solid debris, and one individual on a bicycle with a tank of water on the back. Another man walked along behind directing the hose and scrubbing the roads. There was no wasted water, and no need for fossil fuel to propel the vehicle. Needless to say, there was not much of an obesity problem in Beijing.

The vast majority of people traveled to work on bicycles. Some used motorbikes, and a small percent of Chinese drove automobiles. Because of the density of people living in Chinese cities, the roads are packed with cars even though most people don't drive. If the percent of Americans riding bikes or motor scooters to work equaled that of most China cities, America wouldn't have much of a carbon emissions problem. Shanghai has a novel way of encouraging people to ride bikes or take public transportation. Cars are readily available for purchase. The only problem is that it costs more to register a car than it does to purchase one. License plates have codes that indicate what city the vehicle is registered in. If an individual tries registering a vehicle in another city to avoid paying the high registration fee, they are out of luck. According to our Chinese tour guide, it is illegal to drive a vehicle that is not registered in Shanghai on shanghai highways during the day on weekdays.

Shanghai also boasts the fastest train in the world, the Maglev, which can reach speeds of 300km/hr in 2 minutes flat, and cruise at 500km/hr. The Maglev uses magnetic levitation by traveling on a magnetic field generated by both the train and the rails. It is reported to be "pollution free," though there is some concern about "magnetic pollution." Since the entire length of the present run from Pudong Airport to down town Shanghai is only 30km, the train can never reach maximum speed before it has to slow down. The entire trip takes about 10 – 15 minutes. Travel during rush hour from the Pudong Airport to Shanghai would take 1 ½ or more, as I found out when our plane arrived at Pudong Airport during rush hour; so who wouldn't choose to take the Maglev rather than drive?

The whole idea is to make other means of transportation so convenient and travel by private vehicle so expensive and inconvenient that people will use alternatives. Public transportation is readily accessible and quite convenient, even for tourists who do not speak Chinese.

One difference was immediately obvious when comparing new apartments in USA and new apartments in China. Almost all new structures had solar panels on the roof. According to Worldwatch Institute, an environmental group based in Washington D.C., 60% of the solar capacity installed in the world (30 million households) are found in China ⁽²⁾. Solar panels are being installed throughout Beijing, including 1,100 Solar panels on the Beijing's National Indoor Stadium, ahead of the 2008 Summer Olympics ^{(1, 3)}. China takes solar power back to the basics. Even in the cities there were typically clothes hanging on lines outside the windows and balconies of every apartment – again, no need for pollution producing energy.

Not everybody in China lives in apartments. I saw many housing developments in the suburbs of Shanghai. While there were many beautiful flowering shrubs and vines growing along fences and walls, there weren't huge weed-free lawns. Instead, between these houses were patches of corn, mounds of melons, apple, pear and pomegranate trees; and behind the homes, there were rice paddies and tethered goats grazing between the paddies. Chicken coops were more common in the yards than were garages. Basically, no land was wasted. Zoning ordinances in the USA would usually prohibit such land use in typical housing developments.

When we flew north from Beijing on our way back over the pole to JFK airport, I was thrilled to see wind-farms sitting on hills above little cities and towns. In checking, I discovered that at the end of 2005 China had 59 in-grid wind-farms with a total of 1,854 wind turbine generators. China ranked 10th in the world with 1,266 megawatt in-grid wind power installed capacity ⁽⁶⁾. In addition, by the end of 2004 China had produced 200,000 off-grid wind turbine generators (usually rural single family generators), and was ranked number one in the world ⁽⁶⁾.

China is sitting at a crossroads in terms of energy sources. They are making tremendous strides into alternative energy sources. But let's look at their present predicament a little closer. At the present time 70% of china's energy comes from coal ⁽⁸⁾. It is a country rich in coal, and with a rapidly growing economy, the need for coal will likely continue. The energy produced by 3 Gorges Dam is predicted to reduce the China's dependence on coal, but even the Dam Project has the environmental community wondering and worrying. At the same time, the China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation's (Sinopec) Xinjiang Oil Field will likely boost China's oil reserves to 1 billion tons by 2010 ⁽⁹⁾. So, it appears that fossil fuel will not be making an exit from China any time soon.

With a population of 1.3 billion people, China has more than 4 times the population of the USA. 20% of the world's population lives in China, but China consumes only 10% of the world's energy and 4% of the world's oil ^{(6, 10, 11)}. On the contrary, USA is the home to just 5% of the world population and consumes 23% of the world's energy and 25% of the world's oil ^{(10,11, 13)}. Remember also that China is a developing industrial power. Americans depend upon China to manufacture a huge amount of products we use every day. Why? Because China can make the products cheaper! So, much of their pollution and energy use goes to products sold to Americans and not to the Chinese, who are living within a small environmental footprint.

China has suffered growing pains as it attempts to meet the criteria of the Kyoto Protocol (of which China is a member). Realizing that the vegetation in cities such as Shanghai were disappearing at an alarming rate, they decided to move many trees from other areas of China and plant them in cities. A major undertaking, referred to as the "Great Green Wall," involves planting a shelterbelt of trees 4,480km (2,800 mile) long across northwestern China skirting the Gobi Desert ⁽¹³⁾. This is a 75 year project which started in 2000 and is now well underway. Initially they moved many large trees in order to hasten the development of the wall of trees that is intended to block the desert sands from Beijing and other cities. They also moved trees into Shanghai. Indeed, it did work. The trees look as if they have always been there. A problem that they failed to consider, however, was how many trees they could remove from a given area without affecting the ecology of that ecosystem. According to our tour guide, they are now conducting reforestation in some areas from which too many trees had been taken.

Does China have environmental problems? Undoubtedly. When I was in Shanghai, the air pollution was much worse than it was in Beijing. Why? Most likely it is because there were many more vehicles on the road. The vehicle ownership in China is 10 vehicles/1000 ⁽⁷⁾. While in the USA there are 800 vehicles/1000 people ⁽⁷⁾. Imagine if China had the same ratio of automobiles/person as is common in the USA. China recognizes their problems and has set their benchmark very high. It is obvious everywhere one travels in China. Billboards everywhere have the same message, "We must protect the environment."

China has a long way to go, but their commitments are quite evident in their achievements to date. Before the USA is too critical of China, they should look at their own record. For the first time China is the world's #1 producer of CO2 emissions at a rate of 6.2 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2006 of carbon/year or 4.9 metric tons per capita. The USA comes in #2 with 5.8 billion metric tons of carbon of carbon or 19 metric tons per capita in 2006. Imagine how much carbon emissions China would have if they lived the 2007 American Dream and wasted energy as Americans do.

References

1. Chi-Chu Tschang; China Aims to Clean Up in Solar Power; Businessweek; April 11, 2007; Last accessed 10/24/07 http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/apr2007/gb20070411_628994.htm
2. Areddy, James T.; Heat for the tubs of China; Wall Street Journal; Updated: 2006-03-31; Last accessed 10/24/07 http://online.wsj.com/public/article/0,,SB114374984648312629- A0F_dVhGloFXtoF8doVDS_kg_0k_20060406,00.html?mod=regionallinks
3. Editor; Shanghai to Install Solar Panels on Building Roofs; Shanghai Daily September 15, 2005; Last accessed 10/24/07; http://russian.china.org.cn/english/environment/142288.htm
4. Doe, Charlie /Beijing Bergey WindPower; Renewable Energy in China: Development of the Geothermal Heat Pump Market in China; NREL International Programs; 2004; Last accessed 10/24/07; www.nrel.gov/international
5. Mayfield, James; commercial officer, US Commercial Service, heads the Construction, Environmental, and Marine Technologies Team, US Consulate General, Shanghai; Top 10 Questions on Environmental Projects: Answers to the most frequently asked questions about China's environmental sector; China Business Review; 3/11/02; Last Accessed 10/25/07; http://www.chinabusinessreview.com/public/0311/02.html
6. Feller, Gordon; China's Wind Power: The World's Most Populous Country Harnesses Wind to Help Power Burgeoning Economy; EcoWorld; 7/15/06; Last Accessed 10/25/07; http://www.ecoworld.com/Home/articles2.cfm?tid=390
7. Corning Environmental Technologies; China - on the fast track to Lowering Emissions; Emissions Control Technology Magazine; 1/25/2004; Last Accessed 10/16/07; http://www.corning.com/environmentaltechnologies/auto-emissions-magazine/ archive-edition/2004-1/article1.aspx
8. Lim, Louisa; China's Coal-Fueled Boom Has Costs; National Public Radio – Morning Edition; 5/2/07; Last Accessed 10/26/07; http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9947668
9. Wang yu; Xinjiang provides Succor to Sinopec; China Daily; Vol 27 no. 8571 October 12 Page 1
10. Wingfield-Hayes, Rupert, BBC correspondent, Beijing; Satisfying China's demand for energy; BBC News; 2/16/2006; Last Accessed 10/26/07; http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4716528.stm
11. NationMaster; from CIA The World Factbook; Updated 10/18/2007; Last Accessed 10/16/07 http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/ ene_oil_con-energy-oil-consumption
12. Population and Energy Consumption; World Population Balancev; (Data courtesy of BP, "Statistical Review of World Energy 2005;" and United Nations, "World Population Prospects: 2004 Revision"); Last Accessed 10/26/07 http://www.worldpopulationbalance.org/pop/energy/
13. China's Great Green Wall; BBC News; 3/3/2001; Last Accessed 10/26/07; http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/ monitoring/media_reports/1199218.stm

By Roberta

I just returned from the World Special Olympics Summer Games in Shanghai, China, where one of my riding students was representing the U.S. Special Olympics Equestrian Team. In the coming weeks I will be writing about China's environmental accomplishments and shortcomings, but today I wanted to share my Olympic experiences.

The Special Olympics Summer World Games in Shanghai took center stage in China during the first eleven days of October. Perhaps they were a prelude to the 2008 Summer Olympic Games scheduled to take place in Beijing. If the opening and closing ceremonies are any indication of what's to come, the world is in for a major extravaganza.

Opening Ceremonies were held in Shanghai Stadium in down town Shanghai, which has a seating capacity of 80,000. Hoards of guests including Olympian family members, press, dignitaries and local residents packed the facility to watch 7,500 Special Olympians from 165 countries march in to music composed and conducted by Tan Dun, the composer for the soundtracks of the movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Grammy Award winning Quincy Jones composed the Special Olympics Games theme song, "I Know I Can." Performers included such household names as Jackie Chan, David Wu, Lang Lang, Colin Farrell, Karen Mok, Vicky Zhao, Angela Cho, Yo Yo Ma, The Silk Road Ensemble, Quincy Jones, Yao Ming, Vanessa Williams, Bruce Willis and Zhang Ziyi. Dignitaries included China's President Hu Jintao, who officially opened the ceremonies, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. The magnificently choreographed performance and fireworks display were truly of Olympic quality.

While there were a few glitches in providing the box meals promised to the spectators and getting people into the stadium in an orderly fashion, China treated family members as dignitaries and I quickly felt that I was a welcomed guest of the People's Republic of China.

Closing ceremonies held at Shanghai Jiangwan Stadium were no less spectacular, featuring performers that included Jose Carreras, and Kenny G. Intellectually disabled Chinese conductor Zhou Zhou led an orchestral performance of "Prelude for Festival". The show included lights, music, flying fairies, one of whom was a down syndrome girl fulfilling her dream, spectator participation in Thai Chi, and a fireworks display that dwarfed any such performance that I had ever seen.

Unfortunately, somewhere between the opening and closing ceremonies, something seemed to break down, resulting in frustration for athletes and coaches. From the start of competition, "sandbagging" became obvious. In order to give all participants a fair opportunity to medal, regardless of level of disability, participants went through preliminary performances in order to categorize them according to their ability. Theoretically, this seems fair. But it is only fair if competitors perform to their ability in division placement performance. China was not alone in "sandbagging," but they seemed to take it to a new level. One rider scored in the 20s on his placement performance, then scored in the high 60s in actual competition. This happened not only throughout the equestrian events, but also in many other sports. Apparently, one Chinese table tennis team performed as if they couldn't even play the sport in placement, then played like champions for the actual competition and took the gold.

As national equestrian teams were not allowed to bring their own horses unless they sent them to China six months prior to the Special Olympic games, Chinese event organizers were responsible for providing all equestrian competitors with horses to be used in competition. As part of this responsibility, earlier this year, the Chinese came to the United States and purchased ten quality horses to take back to China for the competitions. They reportedly purchased horses from other countries as well. However, the vast majority of mounts provided at the games were Mongolian Ponies that had obviously never performed in the show ring, and had no training in dressage. While horses and riders were supposed to be selected by a lottery system, the Chinese and Germans ended up with the vast majority of imported horses, while most of the competitors from other countries ended up with the untrained Mongolian Ponies.

Before leaving for China, the rider I had been training for five years, Jackie Guiseley from Raymond Maine, kept asking what would happen if she got a horse that was gaited, or one that bucked. I naively assured Jackie that Chinese officials would know enough to select only well-trained, safe horses with standard walk-trot-canter gaits. Little did I know how wrong I would be. Jackie was given a Mongolian pony, probably one of the homeliest horses at the event. Its ears had been frostbitten off, and of the stubs that remained, one hung off to the side, and the other was pinned back. His head stuck straight out on a short thick neck. He would not go out of a walk unless the rider kicked him violently. Dressage riders, however, have been trained never to kick, because dressage requires invisible communication between horse and rider. If Jackie carried a whip, the horse would buck. If the crowd clapped or cheered, the horse would buck. Like most of the other Mongolian ponies, Jackie's mount refused to enter the arena, and shied from the tents and judges stands. As if that weren't bad enough, it turned out that Mongolian ponies are gaited. They do not always have a true trot, but rather a gait known as "Tsouma," which makes them difficult to ride in dressage.

Except for the fact that Jackie had the homeliest pony of all, she was on an equal playing field with many of the other non-Chinese riders who were also riding Mongolian ponies. But the travesty does not end there. Jackie's disability results in a diminished short-term memory and she learns only by tremendous repetition. We had spent two months helping Jackie memorize and master her dressage test. Then just two days before the opening of the equestrian event, the contestants were notified that officials had changed the dressage test that would be used for competition.

Upon questioning, it was learned that the test change had been made two months before the event, but that officials had apparently forgotten to inform all of the national coaches and as such, I had never been informed of the new test so that I could teach it to Jackie before going to China. Interestingly enough, apparently, all of the Chinese riders and coaches had been informed of the test change in a timely manner as all of the Chinese riders had memorized the new test. Jackie, however, never had the opportunity to ride the test, and had only been able to do one dry run without her horse.

Even if Jackie had ridden the new test several times in China prior to her competition, it would have been too short a time for her to memorize the new test. While athletes were able to have the new test called verbally during competition, Jackie, like many other competitors, due to her disabilities, does not know left from right, and has a delayed reaction time that does not allow her to assimilate a called routine quickly enough to respond in time to perform appropriate moves. As one might expect, her performance was a disaster, not at all representative of her ability as an equestrian.

Jackie was not alone in her frustration. A rider from Gibraltar was given a horse that refused to enter the arena. After the coach forcefully dragged the horse into the arena, it spun and reared. It was a truly dangerous situation, and the rider was removed from the horse and disqualified. He rightfully should have been given a re-ride on a different horse, but it didn't happen. Another rider was thrown and unable to continue competition. One rider's horse laid down in the arena in the middle of a dressage test, and two riders were disqualified because their horse left the arena when the ring crew forgot to close the gate. The gate had been properly closed for a third rider who won a gold (there were only 3 in the class!). Again, there was no equal playing field.

The equitation classes were not like any I had ever seen in any Special Olympics event or open competition. Typically, the riders ride at all prescribed gaits in both directions. They are judged on form, control and performance. They then may be asked to perform an individual workout (typically a figure 8 at a walk and trot or trot and canter depending upon the level of competition). In this event, they simply walked half way around the arena, lined up, and basically were asked to perform an alpha, with a halt and salute to the judge at the end. Unfortunately, Jackie was the first rider to go. She was given verbal directions, but not shown the pattern. She completed the routine, as she understood it to be (which was close, but not exactly correct). The judge was not at the end of the alpha as one would expect, but behind Jackie and to the left. Thinking that she had to acknowledge the judge, Jackie halted and turned around in the saddle to acknowledge the judge (not pretty). Again, Jackie was not alone in her frustration. In a previous class, a judge walked across the performance area while a rider was completing the pattern.

One thing that I was intrigued by was how well many of China's intellectually handicapped competitors could speak English and discuss the events quite intelligently. Apparently others noticed too, and questioned it. They were informed that China classified impoverished people as being intellectually handicapped. In other words, it was social status and not intellectual capacity that determined whether a Chinese individual could compete in Special Olympics.

I cannot speak for what happened in the other events. If, however, the equestrian events are any example of how the other sports were conducted, then those competitions were anything but fair. Anyone who thinks that it really doesn't matter how these competitors place because they really don't understand winning, is totally wrong. Most of the Special Olympic athletes know when they have done their best and have been cheated. Jackie is no exception; she returned home from China totally devastated. Her confidence level that we have spent so many years working very hard to develop has been absolutely crushed. I am sure she is not alone. When Jackie left for China she was almost ready to compete in open shows. Now I fear we will have to start all over again to build up her confidence.

The Special Olympics Committee needs to address issues that reared their ugly heads at the 2007 Summer Special Olympics and make appropriate changes before the next World Games in Athens in 2011. After talking with many other families and local coaches who attended the games, I have written just a few items that need to be addressed:

• There should be a clearer definition of what constituted "Intellectually handicapped," and there must be evidence that all competitors qualify on that basis.
• There needs to be a fairer way of determining the ability level of riders for competition, and the ability level should be based upon level of intellectual handicap rather than how they compete in preliminary events.
• Since Equestrian events require the use of animals, there should be standards developed for the quality and training of the horses based upon the level of competition. At the very least, all horses should have had competition experience and be appropriately trained for the events for which they will be used. A horse that is not trained to respond to legs and hasn't reached a basic level of suppleness responding readily to accepted aids is not suitable for Special Olympics competition. Horses must be safe and appropriate for the rider and the type of competition. One would wonder if there would be a way in which countries could provide their own horses for the events, the ones that riders had already ridden. Remember that these individuals are handicapped and may be easily confused by strange horses, especially ones that are not properly trained.
• Tests should all be provided in advance, and there should be a deadline on when changes in tests can be made prior to competition. Contestants should be judged on ability to ride, not ability to memorize tests quickly. After all, they shouldn't be competing in the Special Olympics if they are not mentally challenged, and mentally challenged individuals normally learn much slower than other individuals.
• Every rider should be judged on a level playing field. For instance, if the ring crew forgets to close the gate for a rider, and the horse leaves the ring as a result, the rider should have an opportunity for a re-ride, unless the gate was left open for all riders. Likewise, if a rider is competing on a horse drawn by lottery, and is unable to complete an event because it refuses to enter the arena or perform (even when the coach or groom is struggling to get the animal to cooperate), the rider should be given a re-ride and even a different horse if necessary.

I do not hold China responsible for all of the abnormalities in the equestrian competition. This is not a sport that is common in China. China may not have had enough information about Special Olympics Equestrian competition to anticipate all possible problems. However, "sandbagging", failure to inform other coaches of change in tests, including poverty alone in the definition of an intellectually handicapped individual, and apparent rigging of horse lottery so that they received most of the warm-bloods, Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses, leaving the Mongolian Ponies for other countries, was inexcusable. All of the horses should have been of comparable quality and training.

When I am asked about my trip to China, I am quick to tell about the wonderful experiences I had as I traveled through Beijing, Xian and Shanghai. I rave about the quality of the opening and closing ceremonies. Then I am suddenly at a loss to explain what happened between the two festive ceremonies that marked what should have been a chance of a lifetime for many Olympians who justifiably feel as if they had been cheated.