With all the news on the Olympics and what not, has your opinon of China changed? Quite frankly, China put in great efforts to try to impress the world, yet US media (for obvious reasons) have nitpicked everything from insignificant details in the opening ceremony to gymnasts been treated unfairly because of the tiebreak system. I recently came across a blog where 90% of the comments were negative (mildly racist). I find that quite astounding, it seems to me China is trying very hard to impress USA and the world, However, the more they try, the more they get attacked by the US media. In Australia, people are very positive about the Olympics, whether its the media who constantly praise the unbiased spectators and the sportsmanship shown in all the events (particularly in gymnastics where the girls all hug each other regardless of thier performance) to your average viewers. Everyone seems to be enjoying a great olympics. I want to understand how most of you guys feel about the Olympics and the new image of China. Does the fact that China has more gold medals than the US piss you guys off?
I don't really want to go into detail because I don't really follow Chinese politics that much. I just want to say that the Olympics and the great stadium and the way they've handled the games has nothing to do with people's criticisims of China, so I don't really think the games are going to do anything thing to change people's opinions
Apparently it is if you read some internet blogs/comments. Negative aspects of the Olympics reflects badly on China. For example, one recurring criticism has been "China used underage girls in the Olympics (not proven), those people have no decency and does not respect human rights".
A couple of points: 1) There has been a lot of praise too. 2) The scoring weirdness regarding tying in gymnastics has nothing to do with China. 3) The underage bit has yet to be sufficiently addressed by the Chinese (IMO). 4) The nitpicking in the opening ceremony is equal parts trivial (fireworks) and legitimate (fake minorities and institutionalized racism).
Love the Olympics, love the Chinese people, think their government sucks. Nope, not much has changed for me. DD
Why would the performance of China's athletes affect my view of China as a nation? I had the privilege of touring most of China for 3 weeks last summer, and that shaped/affected my views on a scale that the Olympics couldn't possibly. I see China much differently than I did before that trip; I don't see China differently at all following these Olympics. Evan
My opinion hasn't changed. The Chinese gov't has been great hosts, but only to control it's image, and in true form, they deport foreigners who unfurl free tiber posters / banners, arrest people who applied to legal protests, and many other disappointing things like supressing media. This reinforces what I think about the gov't. On the other hand, I was very happy to see how much the Olympics meant to the Chinese people. It's clear they truly want to be great hosts and indeed have been wonderful. I'm happy for them and I hope it's been everything they imagined. I'm also glad they are getting the most gold medals. I have a great deal of respect and admiration for the culture and attitude.
The more the Chinese people and China succeed. The more paranoid some people gets, as they perceive it as a threat to the US. So the olympics success would make more people resent China in this country. I am not sure about the opions of the rest of the world, it might be toally different, maybe some posters from the world can comment on this.
i think, the Chinese government needs to instititude a little bit more of Daoism. Non Action. the more they do, the more they mess up. if they just left everything alone, things would have been better.
Even Kam wouldn't touch them. They make Hannah Montana look like Elizabeth Taylor. Not proven, trust your eyes yo.
it's the cold war mentality still. people here don't understand that China is an allie of US even though it's communist government. there are a lot differences, but when all said and done, the some major interests of both countries are tied together at the moment. but they need to paint the picture of an 'evil empire', maybe that will unit people here more. i don't know why.
I try to be unbiased about the entire situation but it is hard because of what I have grown up with. I mean, I don't really know enough about China to have an opinion one way or the other.
You know, I am actually more sympathetic to China than ever. I have been very frustrated by the coverage of the US media; I perceive it as largely negative and nearly jealous, to the point of being embarrassing. I typically overreact to our media though.
The Olympics have changed my perception of China in one degree: they certainly know how to put on a show efficiently. They were spared the construction delays of Athens (albeit due to a massive influx of migrant workers who have since been expelled from Beijing, reportedly) and they produced easily the best Opening Ceremony that I've seen. It would have probably been even better to me if I'd had background knowledge of Li Ning like I did Muhammad Ali in Atlanta. If you're trying to come onto an American-based BBS and claim that the teeny tiny Chinese gymnasts were at least 16, you're fighting a losing battle. How do you explain the Chinese news reports from last year that show some of them being 13 years old and have since been changed to say 16? The USA did not deserve to win the gold metal in the team competition, but neither did China for breaking the rules.
If you have visited China in the 40s and 60s and 70s and today. You will understand what kind of changes we are talking about in China, the Chinese government is hardly the devil everyone here believes it to be.
it's part of the culture here. anything with the label 'communism' is evil by default. people don't even think before they judge.
the government 'people' in macau (i guess its still china) were significantly nicer to me than in hong kong. i didn't really have to EXPLAIN to them that I'm on vacation. the government 'people' in san fran, asked me "how was your trip?". that's my experience.
I have never visited Hong Kong or Macau. I want to visit Hong Kong, Macau is just a mini Vegas right?
