19 Comments Add your own

• 1. Brandi Eng-Rohrbach  |  November 8th, 2007 at 1:39 pm

  The Olympics is for China, the greatest promotional tool ever. There is few events publicized worldwide as much as the Olympics. Thus the Olympics is more or less an advertising tool for China. It is meant to coincide with their emergence as a world leader.

  Advertising is always about putting your best foot forward. This means you may have to create a facade to downplay your weaknesses. When I was in Beijing last summer all the buses were brand new and I asked someone why this was. Their response was that it was for the Olympics and that the old buses had all been transfered to smaller towns. This just shows the extent to which Beijing and the Olympics is mainly about image for China.

  It is a unique type of advertising, however, because it is for a nation. Thus it constitutes the promotion of nationalism. In a time of change in China this is important for keeping peace and unity. Thus the Olympics is also a form of advertisement towards the Chinese people as well.

  Regarding the environmental implications, China is an environmental disaster like Britain in the the late 19th century. China’s solution to pollution is merely shutting down the city for a month or two before the Olympics in order to make the city appear clean. This is a huge disruption to traffic and business in Beijing and obviously not a long-term solution. I think China’s only concern with the environment is that in which it interferes with business. If having a bad environment hurts the business of the Olympics than it must be made good. China will always continue to have environmental problems if it remains the factory of the world. If more manufacturing moves to India then that will become the next environmental disaster. We have only made our environment largely better by outsourcing all manufacturing to countries. Thus our good environment is more or less a facade. Behind that facade our consumption is polluting rivers in China.

• 2. Brandi Eng-Rohrbach  |  November 8th, 2007 at 1:43 pm

  Just to clarify I feel that the Olympics is about advertising outwards (to other nations) and inwards (to China). It is a double edged samurai sword.

• 3. Chris Carr  |  November 8th, 2007 at 2:35 pm

  Brandi, related to your comments, you may enjoy this recent podcast with Erica Kerner who is the Director of Beijing 2008 Olympics for Adidas, on the China Business Network.

• 4. Rob Belloni  |  November 9th, 2007 at 1:05 pm

  The more I read about China, and their massive initiatives, the more I am struck by the absurdity of it all. There is a constant refrain from Chinese leaders that they are “showing the world” how great the country is through these buildings and projects (the Olympic buildings, Three-Rivers Dam, green wall around Bejing, etc).

  My question is - does the world care?

  I don’t think America cares. I doubt that any of the world’s developed nations care. It’s as though China is a child at the playground trying to make the biggest sand castles in the sand box to show they are the best. Meanwhile the other kids stand by wondering what they are out to prove.

• 5. Chris Carr  |  November 9th, 2007 at 4:50 pm

  Part of their “bigness” or fixation with it may be driven by physical circumstances — e.g., how does one or a building stand out in a country of 1.3 billion? Gotta go big or not at all.

  Some in China also view said objects as examples of what community and teamwork can accomplish and they are proud to show them to the world.

  Also, after a country is down and out for almost two centuries they are anxious to show they are ‘back’, and do so in a big way (see/refer to Dr. Morris lecture material; and come back and give these articles another read).

  Possible American parallels: pro sports stadiums, the Twin Towers, Hoover Dam (built decades ago when big was defined differently than today), St. Louis arch, Disneyland (!!), battleships and aircraft carriers, Super Bowl Sunday, the Washington Monument, Golden Gate Bridge, etc.

  Something to consider — the countries and firms (the smart ones, anyway) that want to stay in business over the long term have little choice but to care about seemingly odd things like this; as to do business and form alliances effectively with Chinese (or Indian) firms and entrepreneurs, gotta understand where they are coming from and adapt. See related post on globalization I will likely let fly this weekend.

• 6. Rob Belloni  |  November 9th, 2007 at 8:40 pm

  Dr. Carr - Do you think those in China who extoll the team work and collaborative achievement aspects of these “mega-projects” realize how these initiatives are used as propaganda tools? I have to think that they do.

  Do you think that they gaze upward at this new CCTV building with pride and a sense of national unity - or do they feel like Winston in 1984, staring up at the Ministry of Truth towering, “vast and white above the grimy landscape.”

  In any case, I think you will enjoy the blog post I submitted earlier today about the Three Gorges Dam. Ironically I drew comparisons between that project and the Hoover Dam to illustrate some of the uncanny parallels. I make no claim to American perfection in this world, and I look forward to your opinions on it once it is posted.

• 7. Brandi Eng-Rohrbach  |  November 10th, 2007 at 4:15 pm

  That podcast was interesting. It made me remember that the Olympics is also an excellent opportunity for companies to be able to target the Chinese market and plug into the nationalism. I like that in the podcast she calls it a China Coming-out party. China get to show the world they have finally arrived not just arriving. I thought the thing about the queue day where they practice standing in line one day a month was amusing. So i guess the government is even trying to get the population to put their best foot forward for the China commercial known as the Olympics.

• 8. Dena Malloy  |  November 10th, 2007 at 6:14 pm

  I think that hosting the Olympics is (and should be) a great source of pride for the Chinese people. That having been said, I believe it is in China’s best interest to improve their country (or at least Beijing) before they are in the spotlight of the world. If elite athletes are having asthma attacks while competing in their events because the air is horribly polluted, China’s image will suffer. If 200 athletes are unable to complete in their event due to food poisoning, China’s image will suffer. If members of the international press are beaten, detained, or otherwise prevented from freely reporting, China’s image will suffer. Perhaps the Olympics should be used as a tool to promote change after all. . .

• 9. Chris Carr  |  November 11th, 2007 at 4:25 pm

  Rob,

  Re: your question, a good one, and an ideal one to ask people you meet at English Corner this year if we can fit that in. I suspect you will find that the younger they are, the more nationalistic they are (see/refer also to Tank Man post and video listed in your syllabus as a required watch).

  Look forward to your blog post (my student assistant will load that when she/we return to the office next week).

• 10. Deanna Haskell  |  November 11th, 2007 at 6:18 pm

  The Olympics showcases nationalism of all countries involved, but the spot light is on the host country. It seems that if the Chinese governement is using the Olympics as a sort of recoming out event, then they would want to showcase that they are keeping up with the times technologically speaking. Therefore I see why they would invest in new buses and new infrastructure, however , this investment may actually be making living conditions worse. Increased building leads to increased pollution, which in turn leads to health hazards for athletes and for the local population. China may be showing the rest of the world that they are “developed” but they are also showing them the environmental disater they have created. It seems to me that the olympics may send the message that they are not really ready for the spot light. This is obviously not the Chinese government’s intention, but it is still a real possiblity. Hopefully people will go to China and see real first hand the effects of industrialization and try to prevent them in their own countries.

• 11. Nic Marlin  |  November 12th, 2007 at 1:52 pm

  The 2008 Olympics has put a huge spotlight on Chinese environmental pollution. Before China secured the Olympics, it seemed like people did not think much about China destroying their country. The conversation was something like, “isn’t that just what happens to developing industrial societies?” I have seen numerous reports in the last year about the crisis in China. I just watched a CNN special, “Planet in Peril,” that largely focused on the pollution in China and the devastation it has caused to the people there. Polluted rivers from mining has caused cancer rates to soar in some villages, where as many as half of the working men have died from the toxins. In one village the payment to alleviate for the death of many was about a dollar per family.

  This focus on China’s pollution is just the beginning. As a former elite athlete, I know that performance in this Olympic Games will be severely impacted by the pollution. Once after training at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs for three months, I went straight to a World Cup competition in Mexico City. It took a week of training before I could even make half of my routine, which was perfected a week prior. My eyes burned, I had trouble breathing, and my performance was horrible. I bet this will be one of the first years that not many Olympic records will be broken.

• 12. Simeon Trieu  |  November 12th, 2007 at 4:30 pm

  After reading this article and Ashley’s commentary, I must comment on a few critical points. First of all, Chinese schools do not teach much about teamwork. From an early age, they are taught to achieve much.. but as an individual, not as a group. Although, there is a strong sense of community and patriotism on a country level, it is not reflected in their academics or workplaces in a personal setting. It will be interesting to see how the country can be brought to work together to achieve these ambitious goals. On one hand, they have the commitment to uphold from their initial bid, and on the other, their proposal was intentionally vague and sometimes idealistic. I believe that China does have the power, resources and people to complete the tasks they have committed to.. but only if they can learn to work together more as a team. It will involve some change in their natural behavior.

  Next, please notice that this article stated that “…IOC officials are already pointing out how the Beijing Games have apparently inspired more volunteerism, still relatively rare in modern Chinese society.” But why is it relatively rare? And why is it now that they have a surge of volunteers? I would argue that their sense of patriotism is coming out, and it gives them purpose that they did not have before. After going through two revolutions in the past half century, the people have lost a lot of faith in their government. (This is why many environmental issues and human rights issues are often ignored by their own people. They feel powerless to do anything about it.) The olympics gives them something to work towards, and we will see much more passion and volunteerism come out of this summer event.

  Finally, I have to disagree with Mr. Dick Pound when he says, “Having the Games there and having the media attention was a tremendous influence on the move towards a genuine democracy.” Democracy is not the goal here, and the Chinese government would be foolish to pursue such a proposal. This relates to Prof. Carr’s note that China has 1.3 billion people. How do you propose that democracy would work in China, Mr. Pound? Democracy is a terribly inefficient form of government, and no government is perfect. So, why try to change China into a democracy when it’s not even better than its current form of government? As Winston Churchill stated quite well, “Many forms of government have been tried and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others that have been tried from time to time.” I’m not a China lover, and I don’t like China’s flavor of communism (or socialism.. or whatever they claim they are now). But, I don’t think democracy would work there. Consider the US House of Representatives. The framer’s intentions were that each member of the house would represent the people of a certain locality, and so, they mandated that one in every thirty-thousand people would be electable as a representative. Each bill that passes through our system must be viewed by the House of Representatives, the Senate, and even the President. A bill can spend months, even years before becoming a law. Now take China. 1.3 billion people. That’s nearly 44,000 representatives. Try to get everyone’s voice to be heard in that congress to have equal say. It’s ridiculous to even suggest. China has always used emperors and communism for a reason throughout history. Yes, it does take away representation, free speech, and other human rights, but what is the alternative? We should complain about our inability to come up with a better solution before we complain about freedom of speech, human rights and other “abuses” in China.

• 13. Chris Carr  |  November 12th, 2007 at 4:42 pm

  My apologies to Simeon. He submitted his comment several days ago and for some reason it got caught up on the spam que, which I had not been checking. Sometimes this will happen, folks; e.g., a certain letter combo in a submitted comment will pull it into the spam filter.

  Also, there can sometime be a delay in the upload of the blog POSTS you submit …. my student assistant who loads them is in the office two days a week (only), sometimes yours are in line behind others that came in, I often try to space them out so everybody’s post can be digested and reviewed and commented on by others, my hold of loading them because they time well with another post that’s coming, etc.

  We will continue to post things as quickly and efficiently as we can. Overall, the system works well.

  Some good discussion on this thread and blog post. Good job. That’s the way it works, and this part of your learning in this facet of this course will continue to be correlated to effort and commitment given.

  The alternative that I reiterate in the syllabus and FAQ document …. happy to call multiple class meetings in the evening or on Fridays to discuss such items and current events in person and/or have people hand in assignments in person during said physical class sessions if folks wish to go there. So, pick your poison …..

• 14. Chris Kirk  |  November 19th, 2007 at 1:40 pm

  The challenge of hosting the Olympics probably could not have come at a better time for China. Just as the country is comming to the forefront of the world economy it is faced with presenting the world with its “best side”. The issues that have been in the news with regard to reporting in a country that does not completly support free speech and the polution probelms are simply showing the world that China is not yet perfect and is still struggling with the issues that every developing country has delt with in the past. I think that instead of dwelling on the negative aspects of the Olympics, China can use this as a good way to benchmark the progress that has been made in the last decade. The Olympics may be the biggest challenge for the Chinese in a long time becasue the world will be focused on this evolving country for two weeks, critiquing how they handle adversity. If the Chinese provide a unified front as a country and handle the Olympics without major controversy, it may be the best thing to ever happen to the country. And lets not kid ourselves….there is no way that China is the only country to provide false promises in an attempt to get a bid for the Olymipics.

• 15. Shasta Palmer  |  November 19th, 2007 at 9:15 pm

  Reading this article was a good wake up call for how bad things really are, and could be. The pollution statistics are astounding, and make me wonder what can be done. All that pollution is not staying over there, and if we don’t clean up our act and somehow help them with theirs in a few years we may all be wearing activated charcoal masks. I think it is great that they say they will clean the air, promote the development of the society as far as human rights and democracy. However, this really doesn’t mean anything if they cannot live up to their promises. I guess it if at least makes them strive for those goals, there is something to be said for that. Just as setting stretch goals in an organization can make things happen, maybe these stretch goals will too. I don’t think it is fair that these promises were made, and the plan is to compensate for what cannot be done is drug the athletes and give them masks. I mean it’s great they are giving them something, but the idea of going to compete and being given pain killers and asthma medication would bother me after putting so much work into keeping my body in top notch condition to compete. A contract and proposal is a contract and a proposal, which is signed agreement that should be met. If they had any doubts they may not be able to produce the results, the results should not have been put in the proposal. If a contract isn’t met, what’s the point in having one?

• 16. Robyn Bowie  |  November 25th, 2007 at 10:19 pm

  The first thing I thought upon reading this article was disbelief that China actually has an Office of Weather Manipulation and expects it to be able to help keep rain away. I had no idea that China has the largest rainmaking operation in the world. I did not even know that it was possible to control the rain that way. My question is whether or not the chemicals they are firing at the rainclouds are damaging to the environment. An article I found called China Rolls Out The Big Guns, Aiming For A Dry Olympics claims that China has found no evidence of pollution in the rainfall. However, China is going to have to do a lot to downplay their pollution problems without the added chemicals from their rainmaking machinery. Although It is nice to see that they may do some drastic things a few months before, it is certainly not a long term solution. Mostly I am happy to hear that because I’m hoping we won’t have to experience the horrible pollution I’m expecting when we head over there this June. Unfortunately, it seems if China does do something as drastic as shutting down all transportation our trip may be more interesting than I thought.

  Obviously the Olympics is all about China putting on a show and they are willing to do whatever it takes to make it at least appear they kept up with their promises. Although it does seem to be having some good effects such as new buses according to Brandi, the Olympics should not be the only reason for these positive changes. My question is will we see the city of Beijing as well as China as a whole continue to try to better itself even after the Olympics? That would certainly be nice to see, but it seems as thought they may need some sort of spectacle to strive towards.

• 17. Robyn Bowie  |  November 25th, 2007 at 10:22 pm

  Sorry about the link, I don’t know much about HTML. Anyway, the article is called “China Rolls Out the Big Guns, Aiming for a Dry Olympics.” That is what is supposed to be written in between “called” and “claims.”

• 18. Andria Greenlee  |  November 26th, 2007 at 6:31 pm

  I think now is a great time for the Olympic Games to be hosted by China. The news has been flooded in the last few years with a variety of controversial issues associated with the growing country. However I think it is important to keep in mind that the Beijing Olympics should also be a celebration for the millions of Chinese citizens whose lives have been improved due to China’s economic development. I am currently reading The Elephant and the Dragon which begins by talking about the transition from Mao to Deng communism. Deng Xiaoping has worked to modernize China by lifting many of the restrictions from Mao’s rule that had stifled his citizens. As a result of the economic boom that has followed, Chinese citizens have been exposed to endless opportunities. While I don’t agree with the negative impact that has resulted on our environment, or the heavy controls on human rights, I think that the international visibility on China will put pressure on officials to improve on both issues.

• 19. Simeon Trieu  |  February 27th, 2008 at 8:34 pm

  The WSJ has an article up on polluting factories and their fate in the hands of the communist government. They are actually shutting down factories in preparation for the Olympics. This is their solution to a possibly embarrassing problem. Although it’s not a terribly creative solution, it will clear up a lot of the air pollution. It also illustrates the advantage of swiftness that a communist government has over a democratic government in initiating policy. This process would’ve taken months, if not years, to implement in a democratic society. Now, whether this plan actually works and cleans up the air remains to be seen…

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