Et in Arcadia ego
I'm an Olympics fanatic. Usually, I'll watch sports if I'm bored and it just happens to be on, but the Olympics are a different story. Winter or summer, I literally watch every single event broadcasted, from gymnastics and swimming to shot put, discus, and javelin. (The women look like men! It's fascinating.) There's something about the one-shot nature of competition that is inherently appealing. Coming in first in all of the trials is never a sure thing, and the only guarantee is that everyone wants to be first.This year, of course, the Olympics hold a special significance to 华人 everywhere. International focus is brighter than ever on Beijing and a lot of Chinese people are protesting the nature of it. It is unfair to China to claim that the Western media is unbiased. China is often painted as an oppressive prison where force rules and desire is a foreign incentive. While not perfect, it's far from the crushing and ruthless inferno as is claimed. It can hardly even be deemed Communist.
Most of my Chinese international classmates want to return to China after graduation instead of remaining in America. (I say "most" because while I don't know any personally, I'm sure there are some who do.) China is rather far, actually, from being lowest-ranked on the list of countries with the poorest human rights, but that's how it's often depicted to be. (In fact, it was dropped from the US list of worst human rights offenders.) Where is the backlash against Pakistan? Egypt? Yugoslavia? Okay, so maybe it's due to China's tremendous growth and emerging development as a superpower, maybe because other countries are frightened, threatened, envious. Maybe this casts a flattering perspective on the pervasive negative criticisms surrounding China- like people hating on the new pretty girl in the room, gossip led by the former prettiest girl. Rationalization does not always equate reason.
An important distinction to be made is that while the Chinese government is not particularly kind to dissenters, this treatment doesn't apply to the majority of the population. The other billion Chinese people (not a statistic, I'm just rounding) are fine. They are satisfied- except for those who are impoverished. And fine, there are a LOT of poor people. But in which countries is life pleasurable for those who are living in poverty? How do you improve conditions for 1.3 billion people at a time?
To be fair, choosing to host the Olympics inevitably results in more press, favorable or not. Recently, however, I read two articles in the New York Times that give an impression of China rare in the Western media, and possibly the most accurate yet.
The State Requests that Citizen Liu Win Gold - This article focuses on Liu Xiang 刘翔 (who I am obsessed with possibly more than Khalil), but also illustrates China for what it means to the average person.
China is not Stalinist Russia. Liu will not be exiled to some gulag if he loses. Liu’s China is a mass of contradictions, a weird mix of Socialist sports schools and Starbucks. He is supposed to win for the glory of the Communist Party, and for his corporate sponsors, too. He is living with his coach in a dorm even though he makes eight figures. Pressure is everywhere; coherence is nowhere to be found.Why China Has the Torch - A rare depiction of the everyday lives of the general population. It doesn't address issues like Tibet and political prisoners, but neither do these issues have a direct impact on the lives of the average Chinese citizen. Something to remember.
I am proud of the Chinese government because... it's not stupid, which is something to be noted when it comes to totalitarian governments. In its size, too, it is impressive that China has not descended into chaos and civil warfare. (One out of every five people in the world is mainland Chinese. It used to be one in four until population control was instated.) Generally speaking, it is not self-destructive. By the very nature of their mutualistic relationship, a government will never reach its full potential by disregarding the conditions of its citizens; the Chinese government works to ameliorate the welfare of the populace, and it is improving. Nothing is perfect, and objective achievements matter, but what wins commendations all on its own is sheer effort. China is proud, but it also wants to prove itself. To write off either of these actions as irrelevant is rejection of a foreign culture solely due to incompatibility and mob sentiment, an action both tragic and irresponsible in its speciousness.
And the Olympics have truly been beautiful.
Labels: ♡L, Beijing Olympics 2008, bias, China, human rights, Liu Xiang, media, nationalism, olympics, USA, xenophobia, 刘翔, 北京2008奥运会, 华人
posted by ♡ @ 11:22 PM
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