China’s bubble Olympics kept reality at a distance

They did it — that much seems obvious. But what, exactly, was the “it” that they did?

China pulled off a logistically adept Olympics with very few mechanical glitches — no small affair in the pandemic era. It made that happen primarily by creating what it called, in inimitable Chinese government style, a “closed-loop system” — the now-renowned Olympic “bubble” designed to corral anyone affiliated with the Olympics and, just as important, keep them from infecting the rest of the country.

For these Games, the government made sure to put out the nice China. Inside the loop, all was amiable — fronted by young and enthusiastic volunteers, embodied by a cheerful fat panda mascot named Bing Dwen Dwen. The earnest men and women in hazmat suits were friendly, at least as far as one could tell underneath the masks and goggles and full-body plastic. Even the relatively few police encountered inside the bubble were, by Chinese law-enforcement standards, downright chatty.