Post by nathanael on Jul 8, 2008 8:29:07 GMT -7
Tim Johnson, from McClatchy, writes: "These will be no ordinary Olympic Games. They will be the most extravagant ever put on, designed to dazzle the world and display China's reclaimed status as a major world power." Either is this article prophetic, or it is alarmistic. Chinese flirting with the West, I always thought, is unnatural. The time will answer the questions we have, soon. There is something reminiscent in these Olympics of those in 1936. Germany was suddenly powerful and proud, and her stated goal was to humble the world. Nationalism was at its best, and architecture. The national pride was on the upswing, although Germany had had a few bad years. The problem here is far more acute: China is rising from many decades of non-status. And the transformation has been so brusque, that people have not had time to grow psychologically. And people are countless in China. The experience of the 1936 German Olympics is about to be repeated, on a macro scale. Like Germany, China expects to win on all fronts, not just in terms of medals. Germany's dream was soured by Jesse Owens, and that was it. But China has much more to lose and her expectations are much more skyward.