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Zhang Zhongyue: Beijing pride

My name is Zhang Zhongyue. I was born and raised in Beijing. Even though I am currently living outside of China, as I am studying in Canada, ever since Beijing’s successful bid to host the Olympics was announced, I have been waiting expectantly, dreaming of being a part of the audience in the capital, watching the Games.

Through the internet application system, I was lucky enough to take the first step towards making my dream come true. On May 5, during the third phase of Olympic ticket sales, I finally successfully reserved tickets for baseball and athletics competitions. I have already purchased a plane ticket home in July.

Although I’ve been living abroad for a while, my roots are still in China. Because of the blood that flows through my veins, I am always thinking about China, about Beijing, and especially about our one-hundred year dream of hosting the Olympics.

In April of last year, I returned to Beijing to see the changes my hometown had made. On my birthday, I went to Tian’anmen Square to look at the Olympic countdown clock. During this trip, I also had a chance to see the amazing Bird’s Nest and Water Cube.

In August of last year, I returned to Canada with Olympic souvenirs, including keychains and badges. The keychains I presented to foreign friends who were interested in the Games; the badge I proudly hung on my schoolbag while I was in class, pinned on my uniform during work, and attached to my travel bag when I was out on vacation. I proudly took that symbol of China everywhere with me.

On April 11, 2007, the first phase of Olympic ticketing began. I applied for several popular events, including finals of men’s hurdles and 3m platform diving. I didn’t apply for opening ceremony tickets, because that was a family event. I was looking forward to my entire family, sitting in front of the television together to watch the opening ceremony, enjoying the Olympic spirit as one.

I thought that my name would be drawn for at least one event. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen.

In February of 2008, during the second phase of ticketing, fans were only allowed to reserve a maximum of three tickets for only two events. Due to the overwhelming popularity of tickets, again, a lottery system was put in place. Again I applied, again I was denied.

At 9 a.m. Beijing time on May 5, the first day of the final phase of ticket sales, I sat alert in my chair in front of my computer, ready to order tickets. But, I guess many people were doing the same thing, because every time I clicked on the icon to submit my query, the page that came up either was continually processing my request or showed an error message. After hours of this despair, I fell asleep. At 5 the next morning, I woke up to see that most tickets for Olympic events had already been reserved, but I managed to find two events, baseball and athletics, that were still open. I quickly put in my order, choosing to pay for them offline.

According to the rules, I only had three days to pay for the tickets; otherwise, they would be canceled and resold. My mother went to an official Bank of China outlet to pay for them, but she was told that she had to pick a number, and then wait in line. Only 40 people would be served each day in this capacity. The next day, at 6 a.m., my mother went back to the Bank of China again. This time, she successfully purchased the tickets.

After we got the tickets, I bought a plane ticket to return to Beijing at the end of July. Because it is peak season for trips to China, due to the Olympics, prices were very expensive. Usually, a ticket would only cost me about 900 Canadian dollars; this ticket was more than double, at 2,000 Canadian dollars. Compared to the joy of being home for the Olympics, though, this was not a large sacrifice.