Beijing Olympics: The starting Ceremony |History: The Roadmap to the Future--Asia

The starting ceremony was SPECTACULAR*.

Hands down, the ceremony was the top Olympics starting ceremony personally have seen. The Chinese went all out, and the ceremony showed that. This was long slated as China's 'coming out party' to the world, where China showed the world that China had arrived, and had reemerged as a (or the) global power. The ceremony masterfully tried to strike a balance between reassuring the world that China is a friend while also straightly demonstrating that China has traditionally been, and is, one of the greatest countries on the planet. As such, the propagandistic elements of the ceremony did not disappoint. However, there were also quite a few surprises, too.

Great job, China.

Propaganda
The ceremony was obviously a work of propaganda, but an enormously greatly crafted piece. Almost similar to Japan at the World Fair, the China performance displayed a China which sought to be a peaceful friend to the world, a threat to no other country. The performers enthusiastically greeted the foreigners in the drum segment. The movable type people showed that Chinese people can be as warm and friendly as any other people, and not repressively cold, something Chinese believe Westerners believe about them.

Parading the 'ethnic minorities' was smart, given the controversy over Tibet and human rights failings, as was giving prominence to the Sichuan earthquake. Having the Sichuan boy in the Parade of Nations was not dissimilar to the Americans carrying the September 11 flag at the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics.

Who wants to bet that Chinese media told the Chinese audience to applaud and greet with enthusiasm the UK, United States, and especially France? Returning antagonism with friendliness. Granted, the Chinese actually seem less anti-American than the Indians; and the applause for Iraq was kind of them, though whether this was supportive of the American effort or out of sympathy for the 'poor, occupied country' is debatable.

The lighting of the torch, too, was smart. The long scroll of Chinese history, and the long race of the Chinese people culminating up to this moment; quite touching. And the crowning achievement for that segment: showing the videos of the torch relay around the world, and putting to shame those who protested during the relays. While they were hurling hatred at China, the Chinese were collecting video to show the inclusion and common togetherness of all humanity. That the Olympics are for the world, and world played a part in the arrival of these Olympics. Playing the victim--excellent.

Surprises
There were also many surprises, however, which definitely bucked the propagandistic trend, though they could have simply been propaganda for domestic--rather than foreign--consumption. And the Chinese could be dually applauded and scrutinized for them.

To start off with, the drummers. Awesome would be the term to describe them--both the modern and old connotations.

The countdown from ten in both Arabic and Chinese numerals, was poignant, one of several features which boldly reminded people that China has been a developed and advanced nation longer than any other surviving one, and that there's a reason why there was a West. Because there was a matching East, and China traditionally was the main player in the East.

The foreignness of that segment, with the people with red lines running down their foreheads, and yelling in strange, high-pitched foreign words, had to make at least a few Westerners feel somewhat odd. One thing's for sure: those (mainly mainland European) Westerners so eager for China to usurp the global reins of power from the evil United States had to be a little put off by the bewildering exoticism and the realization that Chinese culture is still largely distinct from Western cultures. The evil United States is at least comprehensible and understandable.

But kudos to the Chinese. Considering they used to try to get rid of much of their pre-Communist, pre-modern culture, this Olympics has demonstrated a resurgence of traditional Chinese culture, and a China proud of its imperial history. At one point, the Communists went so far as to consider replacing the character system with the Roman alphabet (they opted for Simplified Chinese, instead). You should note that the Chinese national anthem is played using the Western eight-note octave system, rather than the traditional ten-note Chinese one. So, this ceremony demonstrated the resurgence of and respect for traditions, Confucianism and parts of Chinese history which the Communist Party used to discourage.

There were also things which did play into Western stereotypes about East Asians, and Chinese in particular.

Firstly, the massive numbers of drummers (and, later, other performers). China's huge population is what [peturbs] the West the most about China; the Chinese population is larger than that of the whole developed West. Seeing a bunch of Chinese banging drums (at least in the West commonly associated with war), had to be a bit perturbing to many Westerners.

Secondly, the precision with which the Chinese performed played into the stereotype of Asians being human automatons.

This was combined with the high degree of coordination, bringing up the idea of Chinese robots working in unison.

During the drumming, and at most parts of the artistic segment, the performers strikingly conveyed the idea of the preeminence of the collective over the individual. The Chinese worked as a group, as one comprised of many, working for the whole. This collectivism, while not necessarily being bad, is at odds with the cherished Western and American concept of individualism, individuality often taking preeminence over the group.

Even their T'ang Dynasty portion was bold, in showing the benefits of foreign contact--but foreign contact with India and Asia, not the West. In contrast, at least from what NBC showed, contributions of the West to China, including Communism, did not make a major appearance.

In tune with this, and sort of calling American President Bush's 'bluff' about how China should respect the freedom of religion, the ceremony demonstrated respect for two religions.... Buddhism and Taoism, both of which have a long history in Han China, and are not considered the threat Christianity is. Bush should use all religions if he wants to be clear.

The Americans
Bob Costas, with Lauer and NBC's China analyst beside him, came across as ignorant, and even quite rude, both toward the Chinese, and also to other nations, more than once somewhat mocking the garb of some countries. The little bit about the Chinese soldier carrying the Olympic flag was uncalled for (the earlier statement about the child and the soldier for the Chinese flag was more valid, though). Basically all home countries in every Olympics use soldiers to raise the flags; Bob Costas, who has been the main anchor for the Olympics for years, ought to know this.

President Bush's attendance is also notable. Apparently no sitting American President before Bush has attended an Olympics in a foreign country. That Bush did so for China demonstrates American recognition as China as a major power, and as the primary candidate to unseat the United States.

Once again, Team USA's uniforms were stupid. Enough with the lame hats, already. Now they're golfing hats rather than berets, but still. If Americans has to have hats, how about actually American hats? And the blazer and slacks combo was not all that impressive considering practically all nations used that. The fashion award would go to Sweden, whose Chinese-influenced dress paid homage to the home country and gave the Swedes a way to fashionably cool themselves (with East Asian style fans displaying the Swedish flag).

LINKS

Watch (part?) of the starting ceremony

Whether or not the ceremony had an effect in dispelling [peturbance] of China or creating more of it is yet to be seen. A goal of these Olympics was to show that China is modern country, a twenty-first century country. The thing is, that is largely not disputed. Many are ready to acknowledge than China is modern, that today China is a world power, and even that China can surpass the United States in overall power before the dawn of the twenty-second century. What's getting people's attention is whether China will emerge as a good superpower, or whether China will emulate the old West--and with a larger, more unified population than the West--and conquer and oppress, even slaughter, much of the world.

And it's going to take far more than a spectacular starting ceremony for the Olympics to answer that question.

*In the earlier post, guessed that NBC would be showing online live the starting ceremony. Such was not the case. NBC's executives were greedy, and some major Olympic shows will not first be shown on television.