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“JCBs, not CPOs”: How Beijing prepared for the 2008 Summer Olympics

While he was Mayor of Beijing, Wang Qishan shared with Sebastian Coe how China approached the widespread demolition of housing in its capital city as the games neared

Diary

Wang Qishan during a UK-China Economic and Financial Dialogue at the Institute of Directors. Photo: Simon Dawson/PA Archive/PA Images

Watching the Winter Olympics in Beijing prompts memories of an exchange between Sebastian Coe, famed English middle-distance runner and two-time Olympic gold medalist, and Wang Qishan, then mayor of Beijing.

Coe had been invited to Beijing to observe preparations for the 2008 summer Olympics ahead of Britain hosting the Games in 2012. He was stunned to see the widespread demolition of housing in the capital city.

In the UK, Coe noted, this scale of destruction required CPOs, which, he explained, was short for compulsory purchases. Wang, who speaks fluent English, did not bat one eyelid.

“Oh, we don’t need CPOs in China,” he said, “we just use JCBs.”