Regardless of the enthusiasm and criticism surrounding the Beijing Olympics, it is clear these Games have been a massive political project. Beijing’s slogan of fulfilling China’s “100-year dream” of hosting the Olympics refers not only to its Olympic bid, but also to its longing to become a world power.
The Beijing Olympics have represented many world firsts, from the highest spending and highest number of participating countries and athletes to the unmatched service of Olympic volunteers. Beijing International Airport completed its Terminal 3 especially for the Games, said to be the world’s biggest terminal. However, Beijing may also be remembered as the Olympics that expelled the most people from their homes.
The opening ceremony created more world firsts: the largest number of national leaders in attendance, the most expensive fireworks, the most performers and the biggest sports team China has ever put together.
What do all these world firsts tell the world? Do they reveal China’s wealth, manpower and modernization, or indicate the efficiency of its authoritarian rule? It is also worth asking how China will seek to improve its image after the Games.
The opening ceremony deserves consideration. Choreographed by renowned Chinese director Zhang Yimou (張藝謀), the celebration was a combination of money, technology, countless performers and carefully selected Chinese traditions. Still, all the visual and audio effects could not cover the lack of content. The present and future are the only things that can truly capture the hearts of a people, not history. China seems unable to provide the world with new ideas and imagination and failed even when it tried to link the legend of Chang E (嫦娥), the fabled lady who ran to the moon, to astronauts.
In considering China’s “peaceful rise,” some Chinese intellectuals ask how the US, with only a few hundred years of culture, can make effective use of the world’s cultural assets, while China, an ancient civilization with thousands of years of culture, cannot? They know that apart from political dominance, military strength, the economy and mass media, the US has built its cultural hegemony by exporting Western democracy and the “American dream.”
So what should China export to the world — the ideals of Mao Zedong (毛澤東)? The sensationalized utopianism that swept China during the Cultural Revolution has faded and revolution has been replaced with the flow of international capital. And what ever happened to “socialism with Chinese characteristics?” Even Chinese officials now admit this “theory” — a combination of Stalinism and capitalism — is embarrassing and unattractive.
During the opening ceremony, Zhang used the Chinese character he (和), meaning “peace” or “harmony,” as a centerpiece. Many proponents of Confucianism or socialism with Chinese characteristics claim that the most significant difference between the Chinese and Western civilizations lies in the competitiveness encouraged in Western societies and the harmony encouraged in China.
Regardless of whether this theory applies to Chinese history, the world is watching China’s self-proclaimed “peaceful rise.” Under an authoritarian government, a “harmonious society” is merely a slogan. In reality the Chinese need to face the tough competition brought on by the global market economy.
There is still a long way to go if China wants to use peace and harmony as ideological weapons in its rise to power. Soon China will have fulfilled its Olympic dream. But this dream is not yet a “Chinese dream” that will win the admiration of people across the globe.
Yang Wei-chung is a social activist.
Translated by Eddy Chang
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