Empty roads lead to Beijing

By Lucy Hornby

ON HIGHWAY 110, China (Reuters) - The 180-km (110-mile) ride to Beijing from the industrial town of Xuanhua, in the next province, involves four identify checks, three roadblocks and a baggage scan when passengers get off the bus.

Similar security is in place on most highways out of the capital in order to prevent any disgruntled Chinese from spoiling the Olympic Games with protests or embarrassing attacks.

Guards fingering automatic weapons man roadblocks at the border of Beijing with Hebei, a poor province that rings the capital, and with Tianjin, a port city. City day-trippers have to stop for their car trunks to be inspected.

Some sections of highway 110 are closed altogether, forcing what little traffic there is on to eerily empty sideroads.

"The word has come down from Beijing: for safety reasons, no videos on buses. Because of terrorists and to prevent Falun Gong from taking over the airwaves, we have to leave off the video," a bus driver told disappointed passengers heading for Beijing.

The banned spiritual sect is only one of the many causes that the Chinese government believes could threaten stability or disrupt the Olympics if given a voice.

While Beijing police have swooped down on any foreigners protesting for free Tibet or other causes, there have been few recorded instances of Chinese successfully protesting.

Three attacks this month in the ethnically divided far western region of Xinjiang have rattled security forces despite a tightened police and military presence there.

This week, police began checks for knives and other weapons at parks in Beijing after one American was killed and his wife and a Chinese tour guide injured by a knife-wielding attacker with a grievance at the historic Drum Tower.

In addition to the roadblocks and traffic restrictions around Beijing, armed officers guard railway stations.

Xuanhua itself, a grimy town with a Qing dynasty fortress, is taking few chances. All trucks and buses are diverted from a highway that runs a few hundred meters from a power plant, to avoid any bombing that might disrupt power supply to Beijing.

It has shut Internet cafes and the bathhouses where many Chinese with poor plumbing at home go to wash with hot water.

All bus passengers to Beijing need to register their nationally issued ID cards, explained a sign at a tent decorated with red bows outside Xuanhua's bus station.

A policeman called his boss to be sure a Reuters reporter with three forms of accreditation was allowed on the bus.

"Our company has told us not to take any passengers to Beijing any more," said a jolly taxi driver surnamed Liu.