DBR on Beijing Olympics

[wisteria]

DBR does a great job updating everything Duke basketball. However sometimes DBR tries to take on topics that are simply too big and complicated. Today, DBR applauds the suggestion of taking Olympics away from Beijing (which I seriously doubt is feasible).

As a native Chinese, I would like to take the chance to express our feelings about the Olympics. (I understand it will probably be moved into other forums.)

The 2008 Olympics is not just important for us. It's almost everything for us in the last 8 years or so. Being here in US for a couple of years now, I realize that many Americans don't take Olympics very seriously. It's just a game. But for Chinese, over the last several decades, Olympics allowed the 1.3 billion of people to unite, to feel proud, to feel respected. Our ascend in Olympics performance came at the same time as our economy booming. It's very difficult to even begin to describe the importance of Olympics to every Chinese.

I still remember the day when the host choice was announced. We were all gathered on campus and when "Beijing" was announced the whole nation went wild. I still can feel that excitement. A national celebration followed.

Over the last couple years, we've put in SO MUCH effort in order to be a good host. A year leading up to now, you can hear nothing on the news but Olympics Olympics Olympics. It's a day we've been dreaming for decades. We yearn for a chance for people out there like you to have a look, to understand us.

I would like to invite everyone of you to China if I can. It's not what it's like in your imagination, or in your media coverage. We are a country just as great as the United States. We are nice and hardworking people. And in majority of cities, we have almost everything you have here. We love peace, too. We are not the "evil" nation that was frequently pictured in west media. Yes, we have a lot of problems, just as every other country. We are trying. If you don't like the government or you believe everything they tell you here about the government, at least think of China as a country of 1.3 billion of good people.

I'm not going to debate about political issues. We are always going to have different opinions. It simply appalls me that people are suggesting that they should threaten to move the Games away for their political purposes. I feel deeply hurt.

In the end, I would like to welcome everyone to go to Beijing Olympics. Or to visit China one day. The only way for the east and west to ultimately achieve understanding and peace, is to communicate.

[crote]

As a native Chinese, I would like to take the chance to express our feelings about the Olympics.


I believe you when you say the Chinese people have great enthusiasm for the games. That's great. No doubt on a personal level, individual Chinese citizens would be great hosts. That's not what this is about, though. Issue is being taken with the actions of the China's government, not the hospitality or commitment of its citizens.



I'm not going to debate about political issues. We are always going to have different opinions. It simply appalls me that people are suggesting that they should threaten to move the Games away for their political purposes. I feel deeply hurt.

The furor here is over the Chinese government's inability or refusal to meet certain agreed upon preconditions for hosting the games. You can call it a difference of political opinion if you like, but it's difficult to dispute that pollution remains a very serious health concern for athletes throughout China's major cities. You can dismiss their claims as politicized, but it's a fact that relatively non-partisan groups such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Reporters Without Borders continue to chronicle numerous violations of basic human rights within China. And you may simply say we have a difference of opinion, but it is immoral to call the atrocities committed by the Chinese government against Tibetans, Uyghurs, followers of Falun Gong, and countless others anything other than what they are.



The only way for the east and west to ultimately achieve understanding and peace, is to communicate.

It's very difficult to communicate when your government imprisons you for saying the wrong thing and censors all forms of media.

This isn't about petty politics. People aren't upset with the Chinese government's trade policy, or their stance on global warming. This is about issues which transcend the political, about basic moral imperatives. The IOC would be right to threaten China with consequences for their actions (and in some cases inaction) for the same reasons it was right to sanction Apartheid South Africa, and for the same reasons it is shameful it allowed the games to be held in Nazi Germany.

[dukeENG2003]

public policy board material perhaps?

[FreezingDevil]

This isn't just a matter of public policy. If Coach K develops a horrible respiratory condition due to the stifling pollution and is forced to take time off from coaching at Duke, I'll be looking at you China

[wilson]

wisteria, I sympathize with you somewhat. I am a lifelong Atlantan, and I likewise remember the jubilation when it was announced that we'd be hosting the Olympics. I also similarly resent some people's denunciation of the Atlanta Games as somehow inferior to other past iterations.
But I'm going to have to mostly agree with crote on this one. It's not that the Chinese government has continued (or perhaps in some cases ramped up) past practices; it's that it has done so in direct opposition to explicit promises it made in order to win hosting rights. Moreover, the Olympics aside, if China truly wants to participate in the world community and emulate the west as it admirably has in some regards, its government needs to recognize that its practices violate the spirit of most modern, free-thinking nations and are not at all inducive to "progress." I wholeheartedly agree with Sally Jenkins; it is a fallacy that the Olympics are apolitical. The Chinese should not be surprised at the current outcry, especially since recent happenings have been even more oppressive than the norm. It seems to me that the Chinese government is pointing fingers outward because it has realized that lots of people around the world aren't going to sit idly back and allow them to have their cake and eat it too.
With the Olympic spotlight has come considerable responsibility, and to my eyes, the Chinese government has not yet fully accepted that responsibility.

[bdh21]

To quote the great Bill Walton in reference to China:

"Without clean air and clean water what do you have?"

[weezie]

This isn't just a matter of public policy. If Coach K develops a horrible respiratory condition due to the stifling pollution and is forced to take time off from coaching at Duke, I'll be looking at you China


Not to mention KG and Kobe, et al.

[allenmurray]

It's not that the Chinese government has continued (or perhaps in some cases ramped up) past practices; it's that it has done so in direct opposition to explicit promises it made in order to win hosting rights.

With the Olympic spotlight has come considerable responsibility, and to my eyes, the Chinese government has not yet fully accepted that responsibility.


Once the IOC awarded the games to China they lost all ability to influence. After the games are awarded there is no turning back - the committment of money, construction, and organization is simply too much. The idea that promises were made is absurd. The IOC knew that any promises made were unenforceable. While the Chinese government has certainly shirked its responsibility, the IOC should have seen this coming.

[colchar]

Once the IOC awarded the games to China they lost all ability to influence. After the games are awarded there is no turning back - the committment of money, construction, and organization is simply too much. The idea that promises were made is absurd. The IOC knew that any promises made were unenforceable. While the Chinese government has certainly shirked its responsibility, the IOC should have seen this coming.

And shouldn't have decided, before the competition to host the games even began, to award the games to China (Toronto was told not to bother even entering a bid because the outcome had been pre-decided).

[allenmurray]

And shouldn't have decided, before the competition to host the games even began, to award the games to China (Toronto was told not to bother even entering a bid because the outcome had been pre-decided).

I agree completely. The human rights abuses, the Tibet situation, and the pollution were all well known. The idea that somehow these things would change by August 2008 was absurd.

[Exiled_Devil]

And shouldn't have decided, before the competition to host the games even began, to award the games to China (Toronto was told not to bother even entering a bid because the outcome had been pre-decided).

When China was announced, I was traveling over there for work. Instead of being excited for this country - with great people and amazing history - I cynically assumed that the motivation was to give key Olympic sponsors access to 1 billion customers. I haven't seen much since that assuages that concern, and now the Chinese government is misbehaving as well. It is disappointing all over. Not surprising, but disappointing.