Howard French writes in the International Herald Tribune:
Modern Olympic Games have long been about making statements, and, more indirectly, they have always said interesting things about the hosts’ self-regard. In this case, few will escape the impression of an overweening monumentalism in the way that China’s grand old imperial capital has been rebuilt for the occasion, with huge sums lavished on buildings that have been clearly designed with awe in mind.
Monuments, though, function on several levels, one of which is to ask questions. And the bigger the plinth or pyramid, the bigger and the more irresistible the urge toward puzzlement.
As the authorities here would have it, the Beijing festivities are a celebration of an unprecedented success story: the resurrection of the world’s largest country and one of its older cultures, and the placement of China on a breathtakingly fast track of wealth accumulation and economic advancement – all of this, of course, under the leadership of the Communist Party.
That’s plenty to chew on, and it doesn’t hurt that, as far as it goes, this story line mostly conforms to reality. Things don’t really become interesting, though, until one starts thinking in terms of what’s worked well and what hasn’t in China, and asking why.
