Alyssa GoodmanFebruary 15, 2022Beijing2022Comment

Blur from the bus: A visiting photographer's view of Beijing

Alyssa GoodmanFebruary 15, 2022Beijing2022Comment

Associated Press photographer Jae Hong had never visited Beijing. He's been here now for several weeks covering the Olympics, riding buses from his hotel to the venues, and the venues to the hotel. And not much more.

But he still has scant evidence he's really in the Chinese capital.

That's because Beijing organizers — using the COVID-19 pandemic as their justification — have implemented a tightly sealed, security-heavy bubble system to keep athletes and reporters separated from Beijing's 20 million residents.

“I'm not sure I’ve seen anything that says `Beijing' other than the venues,” says Hong, who has documented the Chinese capital from inside the bubble — in this case, from inside the media buses.

A man wearing a fleece jacket with an American flag on it takes pictures from an Olympic shuttle bus traveling inside the Olympic Park at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Thursday, Feb. 10, 2022, in Beijing. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

The Beijing Olympic Tower is illuminated through a window from a moving Olympic shuttle bus at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Feb. 10, 2022, in Beijing. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

A few riders snooze. Signs warn against sitting in some empty seats. Other passengers stare through the windows, hoping the glimpses paint a portrait of the ancient — and ultramodern — city.

“I'm riding the bus using a slow shutter speed, so what's inside the bus stays still and is in focus, and everything you see outside the window is a little blurry," says Hong, who is based in Los Angeles. "Visually, that’s probably how much I will remember of Beijing.”

Hong covered the Tokyo Olympics six months ago, and he says the differences are stark. There, after a quarantine period, he and other photographers were free to roam the Japanese capital, eating the sushi and capturing the street life.

Two journalists sit in a bus en route to the Capital Indoor Stadium, a venue for figure skating and short track speed skating at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Thursday, Feb. 10, 2022, in Beijing. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Tokyo Olympics organizers used a bubble system too, but it was a “light” bubble compared to Beijing's “case-hardened” version: “The safety measures here are over the top,” Hong says.

Yang Shu'an, the vice president of Beijing 2022, justified the tight restrictions, saying visitors could still get to know the city.

“To understand a city or country, there are a lot of different ways," Yang said Sunday. “You do not really have to experience everything in-person to understand a city. So if you look at the venues and the facilities within the closed loop, it can still give you a taste of what Beijing is like.”