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clay dubeHow might hosting the 2008 Olympics impact China? How has awarding the games to Beijing already affected policies and practices there? How might the games and coverage of the games affect other people's attitudes toward China?
In 1964 Tokyo hosted the Summer Olympics and in 1988 Seoul hosted the summer games. You might be interested in the official Olympic report on those games:
The Winter Olympics were held in Japan in 1972 and 1998:
clay dubeDaryl Cagle's political cartoon website now offers a collection of recent cartoons on the 2008 games. The most consistent view expressed is disdain for China's human rights record and policies. Occasionally cartoonists also jab at businesses in the US and elsewhere who produce goods in China.
AnonymousI wanted to comment on one of these editorial cartoons that Professor Dube gave us the link to. There is one cartoon that shows 100+ Chinese people awaiting to watch the 2008 Olympics on 1 TV set. Well according to the CIA World Factbook as of December 2003 China was the top TV owning country in the world with 400,000,000 TV sets. Even though China's population is now reaching 1.3 Billion, that still amounts to one TV for every 3-4 people in China. Obviously, this cartoonist (Mike Lester from Rome News Tribune in Georgia) just decided to criticize China without even knowing anything about it and not even checking his facts. While editorial cartoons are meant to satirize and poke fun at political situations, I think it is irresponsible to make such a baseless stereotype. Imagine how many people saw that cartoon and thought that Chinese people really crowd around a TV and live primitively. Think about how many school age children saw that cartoon and assumed it was a fact that China was so far back in terms of technology. This is what we are up against as educators. To make it worse, we are limited by time constraints and in some cases district rules to teach only what is covered in the standards. Luckily for the participants in this program, we can change some of this and hopefully link China's economic and technological strength of the 500-1400's to the strength it has been regaining in the last years.
AnonymousI just finished reading "Censorship in China" where Jioa Guobiao discusses how information is constricted and I really wonder how the Central Propaganda Department is going to deal with censorship--the idea of keeping information and/or ideas, interviews, information from the worldwide viewer.
I think it will be very interesting to see how China reacts not only to the news events with the Olympics, but also with the political factions who will view the Olympics as an opportunity to demonstate their uncensored views with the world--in the hopes that they will be seen.
Also, I wonder how communication such as web service and/or telephone communications will be wired to be accessible not only to the Olympic Athelete, but also the onslaught of Olympic ticket holders.
I wonder what ideas will leak into China via the Olympics, or if there is another layer of censorship they will use in the hopes of not having the Western world sink into their soil.
It's very interesting that despite the supposed government's policy of isolating China, they are opening up their doors and welcoming all in 2008.
AnonymousDriscoll makes some very good points, and I too will be interested in seeing how the Chinese government deals with the Olympics. I think one thing they will try to do is limit travel to the Olympic sites. But, with television, and the influx of foreigners into their countries, I don't think they will be able to control all the Western and other countries influences on their society. It is not only Europeans and Americans they will see more of, but also Africans, Middle Easterners, and other Asians. Having personal contact with these different people will surely change some perspectives and expectations. I also wonder how the U.S. and other countries will react if the Chinese government uses highly repressive techniques to maintain control and reduce contact with foreigners. This could be a very interesting Olympics in many ways.
AnonymousThe cartoons were a wakeup call. Sometimes we insulate ourselves against everything but the immediate and close situations that we handle every day. In studying about China, I began to picture the beauty of its people and culture. Then, I realize that as large as the country is so are their problems -- just like us.
2008 Olympics -- the cartoons that most affected me were the comparisons to 1936 Germany and the Nazi regime. China assumes that the Olympics will shed an illuminating light on the fairness of its government -- other countries are hoping that the Olympics will create an opening into which enlightenment will cleanse China of its problems. The cartoonists are pessimistic of both theories. One sporting event cannot change China. Just as one event could not change the United States. It will take a large unified action in many arenas to instigate the changes necessary -- if that is what is needed. Human rights are in need of change everywhere. So, I guess handling everyday situations at school, at home, in the supermarket... are non-unified methods of small change that most people can tackle.
Anonymoushere is the official site:
the slogan is pretty interesting: new beijing/great olympics
It is a clean site with easy navigation.
there is an unofficial site focusing on the summer games:
http://www.beijing2008china.com/
it's not as nice as the official site. There is a sign our petition link-it didn't seem to go anywhere.
the why beijing? link led to a 404 file not found page. clearly, not the site to check out.
I wonder if the petition link had anything to do with this page calling for a boycott of the Olympics in Beijing:
http://www.rsf.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=174
Yet another human rights watchdog type of site is olympicwatch, which seems to be updated pretty regularly. Many of the links were fruitless.
Discussions and stories about the Olympics in Beijing should become more and more interesting as the date nears '08.
clay dubeMark Magnier, writing in the LA Times on 9/17/2005, says that a massive etiquette cultivation effort is underway in China. The aim of the campaign is to change public behavior so that those visiting China in connection with the 2008 Olympics will not be offended. Among the targets of the campaign:
public spitting
public urination
disregard for lines
slit pants for children (click here to see what is being referenced -- I took this photo on our teachers' tour of China in summer 2004)
Schools have been opened, television spots aired, and the message is being rammed home. The article can be read at (for the next week, anyway): "China Changes Course".
Here is another article about efforts to change public behavior:
International Herald Tribune, 2001
AnonymousI found the article in the LA Times today very interesting. They are bringing British Butlers to help with a massive program to teach the population manners! The Olympics do create some interesting and unexpected sides.
AnonymousI enjoyed the article, but wondered from people who traveled there if they had seen the behavior described as pretty common? Ultimately it sounded like this was a hopeless situation, but based on the observations of someone not trying to titillate and sell a newspaper, was their problem portrayed accurately?
clay dubeRobert Urkofsky raises an important point -- don't newspapers tend to focus on the unusual and when the place being discussed is perhaps distant and relatively unfamiliar, isn't it possible that the image fostered is a distortion?
In fact, there's much less spitting and public urination in big city China as there once was. In part this is because of campaigns such as the one Magnier describes in his LA Times article and in part because there's less smoking and coal smoke-fed air pollution (both leading to respiratory problems). But most Westerners will likely still take note because both phenomenon are more common in China than "at home".
Don't other cities try to burnish their images? Certainly San Diego's longstanding proclamation of itself as "America's Finest City" stands out. Haven't various mayors launched "smile" offensives?
Anyone interested in China and in this sort of thing will find Chen Jo-shi's story of "The Big Fish" in the collection The Execution of Mayor Yin (Indiana University Press, 1979) interesting. It tells of official efforts to make a particular market that was to be visited by foreign reporters look a bit richer than it in fact was. The stories are set in China during the Cultural Revolution (1966-76). Chen was born in Taiwan and went to grad school in the US. Wanting to join the revolution, she lived in China from 1969 to 1973.
[teachers beware -- a 1,006 word term paper is available on this book for $38 from academon.com]
clay dubeIn an Oct. 26, 2005 story, Knight-Ridder reporter Tim Johnson describes how people from Jakarta to Chicago to London are studying Mandarin and expressing an interest in things Chinese. The article notes, however, that few Chinese brands or personalities have the name-recognition of top Western entities. The complete article is below.
"As China rises, many rush to get on the 'Middle Kingdom' bandwagon"
Within your circle of friends and colleagues, what Chinese brands or individuals are widely known?
AnonymousThis evening the Discovery Channel is running an uninterrupted stream of programs on China. I just watched a program about the history of the Wall from Qin to modern times. Currently I am watching a program called China's Man Marvels which is all about the new buildings China that are being designed in China for the 2008 Olympics. They are amazing from the "Bird's Nest" stadium and the "water cube" swimming stadium, and the world's biggest television set to the controversial egg-shaped theatre near the Forbidden City. Another structure, the 800 million dollar "twisted doughnut" CCTV building is the most expensive building the world. It will stand next to the "termites's nest"--a tower of individual boxes which serve as hotel rooms. The program suggests that China is currently a playland for architects who are flocking there because they can find money to develop the most outrageous structures in the world. It suggests that China wants to dazzle the world in 2008 and is sparing no expense to create the most futuristic, massive, evironmental friendly eye-popping designs. I'm impressed.
The next program tonight is on China's Mega-Dam, the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River and the social and political ramifications of the project. This is China's biggest project since the Great Wall.
I am both excited and saddened that China is moving so fast and furious toward futuristic designs. While I am fascinated by modern architecture, what I treasure most about China is its ancient historical structures. It is difficult to reconcile these architectural pieces so near to the older treasures of China. I love them but I wish they could be isolated in their own mini-neighborhood somewhere in the outskirts of Beijing. But then, most of us got used to the I.M. Pei pyramid at the Louvre so I guess some day we will forget how Beijing changed it's face "overnight" for the Olympics.
Linda
AnonymousOne of the things I read about the 2008 Olympics which I thought was interesting, was the rush to install five star bathrooms in Beijing. The local officials are worried about not having proper bathrooms for the influx of tourists in 2008. The big push is to install better bathrooms. I didn't know there was a rating for bathrooms, but in Beijing, I guess there is. I can't to see what happens. I read about this in Newsweek a while back.
AnonymousI was over at Barnes and Noble the other day and I picked up a book on China's new architecture. I was blown away. The venue where Olympic swimming events will be held is out of this world. Not even Star Wars has scenery like it. Just as awsome was the amazing black glass Opera House. I was extremely impressed and I would recommend that the next time you are at a bookstore you check out some of these amazing places.