Olympic triumphs have strengthened national pride and Beijing’s global role, academics say
Woods Lee Sep 03, 2008
The 17 days of the Beijing Olympics were undoubtedly a big success on many levels.
The hi-tech opening and closing ceremonies presented to the world a picture of China’s history and modern achievements; the usually smoggy skies cleared; and a string of world and Olympic records were set.
The period bore testament to the capital’s much-improved natural environment, and the quality of both the competition venues and the behind-the-scenes organisation.
What’s more, there were no serious disruptions, the feared boycott by foreign leaders did not materialise and, to cap it all, China towered over the traditional sporting superpower, the US, with 51 gold medals.
Chinese people were elated at the gold medal total. They were moments for mainland residents and athletes to celebrate, and there was a new confidence in the air.
But some observers see a fine line between that confidence and blind nationalism. They ask whether that feeling might somehow have an impact on Beijing’s foreign policies.
Critics maintain that signs of nationalism are evident in the public’s hypersensitivity about national dignity during the Games:
* When some US athletes arrived in Beijing wearing masks because of the pollution, netizens felt insulted and called for tit-for-tat action against US competitors. * When US media published the medal tally showing the US first in the overall medal count rather than the number of gold medals, which China led, some said Americans were showing contempt for China. * And when former Chinese women’s volleyball coach Lang Ping led the US team to a silver medal, some accused her of betraying her motherland and forgetting she was Chinese.
After the curtain fell on the Games, state-owned television stations replayed footage of Chinese athletes’ gold medal performances almost around the clock - another effort by Beijing to hype up nationalism, say critics.
China Institute of International Studies researcher Lu Guozhong says the country’s reaction to its Olympics success is completely natural and proper.
“Westerners are always accustomed to interpreting Chinese behaviour in their habitually lopsided way,” Professor Lu said.
“The US government welcomed their athletes home as if they were heroes and with pomp and celebrations. We can also call that a type of nationalism, can’t we?”
Renmin University international relations professor Shi Yinhong said the public’s patriotic impulse had justifiable reasons.
“The enormous success of the Olympics greatly strengthened the Chinese people’s long-cherished patriotism, and both the people and the government have shown an increased confidence in China’s social values and the systems they are based on,” Professor Shi said.
He said it had also encouraged the Chinese to reassess some of their abandoned traditional cultural values and to have more confidence in their national power.
“From the Olympics success, we find that no one culture or civilisation is absolutely superior to any other,” Professor Shi said. “In the past, Chinese culture might have been seen as somehow not quite fitting into modern development, but now the reverse has proved to be true.
“The success of the Olympics - although westerners might regard it as a success for an autocratic and totalitarian state - will considerably rattle the superiority complex western countries have about their values and social systems.”
But Professor Shi sees an irony. “A successful Olympics is actually a peaceful challenge to the western powers, [but] one result could be that the psychological gap between the west and China might have widened because of the Olympics.”
Nevertheless, he does not think China is on a collision course with the west.
“A more confident China may not behave as hypersensitively as before, and accordingly, its communication with and its foreign policies towards the west could be more reasonable and more predictable than in the past. And China might find it easier to learn from western cultures and be more willing to compromise in international affairs,” he said.
“[But] western countries cannot expect China to quietly swallow criticism and blame any more in the post-Olympics period. Self-confidence derived from the successful Olympics will inject more psychological strength into Beijing and make it more prone to fight back.”
Brian Bridges, head of the political science department at Lingnan University in Hong Kong, says the success of the Olympics has swollen national confidence and raised the spectre of nationalism, but it should also give the country more assurance to play a bigger role in world events.
“Different from the low-profile tactics taken in China’s late leader Deng Xiaoping’s era, China is emerging on the international stage more actively in regional issues and world affairs,” Professor Bridges said.
He says President Hu Jintao’s visits to South Korea, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan immediately after the Games are examples of Beijing leveraging on post-Olympics goodwill to resolve regional issues.
Nevertheless, foreign unease over the swirling national pride has prompted Beijing to try to head off renewed talk of a “China threat”.
“This Olympics is indeed a big success, but that does not mean the status of China in the world has changed,” the Foreign Ministry said last week. “China is still a big but developing country ... Compared with developed countries, we still lag far behind in all aspects.”
While success is relative, one thing is for sure: the government was a winner from the Games, reaping much-wanted legitimacy.
“The trust and support won from the people is the biggest achievement the government has received,” Professor Lu said. “This is good. It might provide more confidence and assurance for the government to roll out further economic, and even political, restructuring in the post-Olympics period.”
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Wave of patriotism emboldens nation
Olympic triumphs have strengthened national pride and Beijing’s global role, academics say
Woods Lee
Sep 03, 2008
The 17 days of the Beijing Olympics were undoubtedly a big success on many levels.
The hi-tech opening and closing ceremonies presented to the world a picture of China’s history and modern achievements; the usually smoggy skies cleared; and a string of world and Olympic records were set.
The period bore testament to the capital’s much-improved natural environment, and the quality of both the competition venues and the behind-the-scenes organisation.
What’s more, there were no serious disruptions, the feared boycott by foreign leaders did not materialise and, to cap it all, China towered over the traditional sporting superpower, the US, with 51 gold medals.
Chinese people were elated at the gold medal total. They were moments for mainland residents and athletes to celebrate, and there was a new confidence in the air.
But some observers see a fine line between that confidence and blind nationalism. They ask whether that feeling might somehow have an impact on Beijing’s foreign policies.
Critics maintain that signs of nationalism are evident in the public’s hypersensitivity about national dignity during the Games:
* When some US athletes arrived in Beijing wearing masks because of the pollution, netizens felt insulted and called for tit-for-tat action against US competitors.
* When US media published the medal tally showing the US first in the overall medal count rather than the number of gold medals, which China led, some said Americans were showing contempt for China.
* And when former Chinese women’s volleyball coach Lang Ping led the US team to a silver medal, some accused her of betraying her motherland and forgetting she was Chinese.
After the curtain fell on the Games, state-owned television stations replayed footage of Chinese athletes’ gold medal performances almost around the clock - another effort by Beijing to hype up nationalism, say critics.
China Institute of International Studies researcher Lu Guozhong says the country’s reaction to its Olympics success is completely natural and proper.
“Westerners are always accustomed to interpreting Chinese behaviour in their habitually lopsided way,” Professor Lu said.
“The US government welcomed their athletes home as if they were heroes and with pomp and celebrations. We can also call that a type of nationalism, can’t we?”
Renmin University international relations professor Shi Yinhong said the public’s patriotic impulse had justifiable reasons.
“The enormous success of the Olympics greatly strengthened the Chinese people’s long-cherished patriotism, and both the people and the government have shown an increased confidence in China’s social values and the systems they are based on,” Professor Shi said.
He said it had also encouraged the Chinese to reassess some of their abandoned traditional cultural values and to have more confidence in their national power.
“From the Olympics success, we find that no one culture or civilisation is absolutely superior to any other,” Professor Shi said. “In the past, Chinese culture might have been seen as somehow not quite fitting into modern development, but now the reverse has proved to be true.
“The success of the Olympics - although westerners might regard it as a success for an autocratic and totalitarian state - will considerably rattle the superiority complex western countries have about their values and social systems.”
But Professor Shi sees an irony. “A successful Olympics is actually a peaceful challenge to the western powers, [but] one result could be that the psychological gap between the west and China might have widened because of the Olympics.”
Nevertheless, he does not think China is on a collision course with the west.
“A more confident China may not behave as hypersensitively as before, and accordingly, its communication with and its foreign policies towards the west could be more reasonable and more predictable than in the past. And China might find it easier to learn from western cultures and be more willing to compromise in international affairs,” he said.
“[But] western countries cannot expect China to quietly swallow criticism and blame any more in the post-Olympics period. Self-confidence derived from the successful Olympics will inject more psychological strength into Beijing and make it more prone to fight back.”
Brian Bridges, head of the political science department at Lingnan University in Hong Kong, says the success of the Olympics has swollen national confidence and raised the spectre of nationalism, but it should also give the country more assurance to play a bigger role in world events.
“Different from the low-profile tactics taken in China’s late leader Deng Xiaoping’s era, China is emerging on the international stage more actively in regional issues and world affairs,” Professor Bridges said.
He says President Hu Jintao’s visits to South Korea, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan immediately after the Games are examples of Beijing leveraging on post-Olympics goodwill to resolve regional issues.
Nevertheless, foreign unease over the swirling national pride has prompted Beijing to try to head off renewed talk of a “China threat”.
“This Olympics is indeed a big success, but that does not mean the status of China in the world has changed,” the Foreign Ministry said last week. “China is still a big but developing country ... Compared with developed countries, we still lag far behind in all aspects.”
While success is relative, one thing is for sure: the government was a winner from the Games, reaping much-wanted legitimacy.
“The trust and support won from the people is the biggest achievement the government has received,” Professor Lu said. “This is good. It might provide more confidence and assurance for the government to roll out further economic, and even political, restructuring in the post-Olympics period.”
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