China, Tibet, Olympics: A symbolic torch and more heated debate
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In the battle of symbols surrounding China’s hosting of the Olympic Games this year, the Olympic torch, its flame burning brightly, represents the spirit of competition, or brotherhood among nations, or of the legacy of the international sporting event that dates back to ancient times, or the potential for world peace or [fill in the blank]. For the image-conscious communist government in Beijing, the honor of being able to host the games at all is a very big deal; certainly it symbolizes how far China has come in such a short time. In just a little more than two decades since the late Deng Xiaoping launched ambitious, new economic reforms, China has catapulted itself from a country where millions of rural poor wondered where their next bowl of rice might be coming from to the world’s factory and a net exporter of foodstuffs. (Similarly, the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo showed the world that Japan, rebuilt and reborn, had emerged from the ashes of war and had resumed an honorable place on the world stage.)
admin @ April 7, 2008