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About The Asian reporter. (Portland, Or.) 1991-current | View Entire Issue (March 7, 2022)
SPORTS March 7, 2022 THE ASIAN REPORTER n Page 13 Supporting Oregonians COPING WITH PROBLEM GAMBLING HISTORIC SITE. The Juyongguan section of the Great Wall is seen on a trip for journalists covering the 2022 Winter Olympics last month on the outskirts of Beijing. A group of 60 athletes and journalists were given an opportunity to visit a section of the wall, making them among the few Olympic visitors able to experience the real thing. (AP Photo/Chisato Tanaka) Coping Beijing snapshot: Great Wall, a symbol of China’s strength By Ragan Clark The Associated Press J UYONGGUAN, China — Beijing’s famous landmarks were, for the most part, outside the Olympic bubble, including the Great Wall, the ultimate symbol of Chinese history and strength. A group of 60 athletes and journalists were given an opportunity to visit a section of the wall, making them among the few Olympic visitors able to bypass the virtual tours and cardboard cutouts of the wall in the Olympics media center and experience the real thing. The group climbed the ancient steps of the Juyong Pass, just outside Beijing, a small taste of China outside the bubble that was made possible by closing off a portion during their visit, in keeping with the strict COVID-19 protocols imposed by the government. Stretching thousands of miles along the crests of ridgelines and mountaintops, the wall has stood as a barrier protecting the Chinese capital for more than 2,000 years. It stood through dynasties and discoveries. And now, it has seen two Olympics. For those lucky enough to get on the bus for the tour, the rough-hewn stone and dramatic vistas offered a stark contrast to the sterilized, modernized version of China that was on display inside the Olympic loop, where robots did everything from dunking fries in oil to scuttling around, collecting trash. The country is expert in powerful gestures, whether through dazzling displays of light and fireworks during the opening ceremony, or a wall constructed over centuries through the labors of millions. And while cooking robots may be flashy, nothing compares to the grandeur of the Great Wall. Ragan Clark is a New-York based AP journalist on assignment in Beijing for the Winter Olympics. “Close door” — so much more than a button By Howie Rumberg Activities that help us cope with the things we can’t control are generally posi- tive choices. Sometimes, however, those activities themselves become difficult to control. For some, gambling can turn from a fun distraction into something that feels increasingly out of control. The Associated Press EIJING — It’s only a button. Or is it? You’re fenced off from the people and places that make Beijing, well, Beijing. You’re cut off from much of the world by the Great Firewall. You’re swabbed and sterilized daily as part of a “zero COVID” policy. Or you’re the recipient of a too-enthusiastic pat-down each morning and a cheery, computer-generated thank you every time a scanner records your movements from room to room. In a world like this, the slightest bit of agency matters. At an Olympics in a pan- demic run by an authori- tarian state in a fashion only this authoritarian state could pull off, some stuck in the “closed loop” found it in the elevator. The “close door” button. That button in so many elevators around the world that is more source of frus- tration than hurry-up tool works perfectly here and in many places across Asia. B Help is Available CLOSE DOOR. A poster of Bing Dwen Dwen, the Beijing Winter Olympics mascot, is seen last month inside an elevator. At an Olympics in a pandemic run by an authoritarian state in a fashion only this authori- tarian state could pull off, some stuck in the “closed loop” found a short escape in the elevator. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson) Americans: Think of all from your hotel that you the times you press, press, can’t walk to because of the press that button hoping to inflexibility of the Olympic shave a few seconds off an “bubble?” The button. The persistent robot already dicey arrival time at work, and you end up roaming the hotel and cursing an inanimate spraying a mist — rumored to be some COVID- object. preventing concoction — Not in Beijing. Late for dinner in the coming for the elevator? restaurant with the plexi- Press it. In an everyday world glass dividers as thick as hockey boards separating where so much is available you from your dining at a tap of a button, you companions? A press of the forget how satisfying the button at least gives that immediacy of acquiring illusion you’re doing every- things is — until that ability is taken from you. thing you can to make it. The “close door” button Feeling rushed to make the bus that will take you to restores that faith, if only the building about 250 feet for a moment. Go paperless! Read The Asian Reporter – exactly as it’s printed here – online! Visit <www.asianreporter.com> and click the “Online Paper (PDF)” link to view our last two issues. Here in Oregon, help is available. Through the Oregon Problem Gambling Resource (OPGR), gamblers and those who love them can get support from trained addiction counselors, often right from home. Treatment is effective. People are ready and waiting to provide better mechanisms to cope and to heal. And, best of all, it’s free. All it takes is a phone call, a text, or an online chat to get started. Reach out. You’re not alone. For more information, visit