Olympics Update 08/09- Olympics Reservations

There have been comparisons between this Olympics and the Munich Olympics of '36, centered on the idea that an oppressive and illegitimate government, the Chinese in this case, will be given the ignorant approval of the world's mood-setting class, much as Hitler's regime was legitimized by Munich, much of the world approving of the Nazi government.

There are similarities with this, but a few important differences as well. Primarily, the international media is much more unified than it was in the nineteen thirties, and so, though the split between the Chinese propaganda (media?) and the western media is great, there is still western media operating in, and reporting on, China, in an investigative capacity that was not the hallmark of 1930's journalism. In short, I do not think the Olympics will make the stories of Sudan or Tibet go away, though they may suffer a lack of attention afterwards. But that's a main and important difference. It is only an analogy, and the insinuated aftermath of the analogy, that there is going to be a major world conflict in the next three years, is hopefully not likely.

As for the similarities: it was an odd experience watching the opening ceremonies, and I actually would not have written this unless I had the experience I did, watching it alone at home, but then in a large, hip crowd at a club's party. The (mostly westerners) cheered for the western countries, boozily and obnoxiously (I was in something of a bad mood because sick) but for no team as much as America, and China, screaming (while the chinese servers looked on) Go China, Go China, in Chinese they had learned in the last week (中国加油，中国加油，for those of you keeping score.)

With the general western business enthusiasm for China (something I will write about later for sure,) and the sort of "wow, look how elegant everything is," middle-classed China tour, the west perhaps is already disposed to think of China's rise as perfectly benign. True to its entreaties for peace and harmony, the theme of the (rather fantastic if also characteristically totally overblown) opening ceremonies, China, I think, will not have the militaristic forays typical of a rising world-power (whether or not China is actually on its way to being a world power I will be discussing as well later in the week.)

But, watching the ceremony (If anyone caught the way the Chinese flag is unfurled as it is raised, that is basically emblematic of the whole tone of official China (official being much broader, of course, in an authoritarian government, than in the west): ridiculous dramatized sentimentality and self-importance again, this is a description of formality, not of the people or the culture at large) I couldn't help but feel terribly conflicted. This has become the realization of the dreams of a billion freaking people, and watching some of the Chinese women around when the torch was (finally) lit, it was clear that they were moved, some nearly to tears, while the general mood itself was one of surreality, an odd dream. Chinese people are people, and I am happy for them, and happy for them to see some respect accorded their country, but it kills me to see it placed wrong, both from the outside and within. I could not help, while watching the ceremony, but feel that a giant mistake was made placing the games here. This peace, and the harmony of the Chinese society, comes at the cost of terrible repression, though officially, of course you would never hear this acknowledged, and it's difficult to get an admission, as a foreigner, that this is the case, though, as you get to know somebody, they are less reluctant to speak their minds and defend their country, which they always feel is under assault from us westerners. As my Chinese is getting more and more fluent, I am hoping to engage some Chinese people (already friends) in a discussion about what the word "peace" could possibly mean if it covers the beating and repression of anybody willing to point out that things aren't exactly fair.

China is a wonderful country with interesting people that has a lot to share with the world, but what is currently being offered is a fantasy, one that westerners are all too likely to accept for one reason or another. It is wonderful, after all, to be a foreigner in China, but I am glad my home is somewhere else, because what is happening now in this country is not sustainable (I mean in the sense that running through central park every night in the mid-80's was unsustainable,) and the dream of this country, and the dreams of its people, may well turn nightmares, all the more likely because stoked by the paternalistic government, at the end of which, hopefully, they will wake up, but don't count on it, it hasn't happened before. Again, I will probably write more about this later. I don't mean to be too pessimistic. What virtually every westerner assumes is going to happen, that the country will slowly become more and more liberalized, is possible. Anything, after all, is possible.

But even this dream is still a cruel and unending joke for the one billion people that live here in abject poverty, and if it becomes a nightmare for the rest of the 300 or so million, it will make all of our sleep a little more restless, and this is what bothers me about westerners glibly assuming the ascension of Chinese liberalism. The Chinese can make whatever arguments they like about sovereignty (this whole peace and harmony thing is in a way a great big deal: we, the chinese say, will not attack anyone else, as long as we're free to use our army as we please inside our own borders) but if the country hits a rough patch, it could well either implode, or explode, and neither of those are going to be good for the rest of the world, interconnected as we are all becoming. Even if it doesn't, the fact that national actions (pollution, for instance) are no longer restricted to national borders means what happens in China, doesn't necessarily stay there.

Also, a side-note, the odd sentimentality that surrounds children in this country was alive and well during the ceremony, if you watched, something else that makes me sick, not just because it's so corny, but because these kids, for whom everything is done, will be forced into a mind-numbing system for the next twenty years of their lives (if they're lucky) and will never have the chance to express themselves as free human beings, the most of them, at the least.

All in all, though, I had a good night.

Keep your eyes skeptical.

UPDATE: a good little essay about this from an actual Chinese-American.