{"id":695275,"date":"2023-10-03T14:51:08","date_gmt":"2023-10-03T21:51:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?p=695275"},"modified":"2023-10-12T16:49:34","modified_gmt":"2023-10-12T23:49:34","slug":"hangzhou-asian-games-competition-symbolism-and-heightened-security-measures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2023\/10\/hangzhou-asian-games-competition-symbolism-and-heightened-security-measures\/","title":{"rendered":"Hangzhou Asian Games: Competition, Symbolism, and Heightened Security Measures"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

After being postponed<\/a> for a year due to the 2022 COVID-19 outbreak and lockdown<\/a> in nearby Shanghai, the 19th Asian Games<\/a> are finally taking place in China\u2019s eastern seaboard city of Hangzhou. For the Chinese government, the stakes for the Asian Games are particularly high, for they represent a key \u201ccharm offensive<\/a>\u201d as the country emerges from three long years of relative isolation under the zero-COVID regime. The two-week event, held from September 23 to October 8, features more than 481 events with 12,500 competitors<\/a> from 45 nations and territories across Asia and the Middle East. Host nation China is leading in the standings<\/a>, with 270 total medals and almost half<\/a> (147) of the gold medals awarded thus far. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the first time in the Asian Games, esports have been included as competition events<\/a>, with teams competing in multiplayer games<\/a> such as Street Fighter V, League of Legends, and Arena of Valor Asian Games Version (also known as Honor of Kings). Despite a 2021 regulation limiting minors\u2019 online gaming to only three hours per week<\/a> and a recently mooted suggestion by Chinese cyberspace administrators to restrict minors to two hours a day<\/a> on their smartphones, China has the world\u2019s largest esports market<\/a>, in terms of both revenue and fans. Some fans were disappointed to learn that Chinese video platforms had been directed to limit esports streaming to only the semifinal and final events. As reported by Bloomberg, \u201cconcerns around internet addiction were at least in part behind the directive<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In March 2020, in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Vice-Premier Sun Chunlan’s visit to a Wuhan housing complex was greeted with cries from residents: “Everything is fake!<\/a>” During important international conferences, sporting events, or visits from high-ranking Chinese officials, it is now common for local residents to be forbidden from opening, looking out, or even standing near their windows. In the past, teachers have sometimes been dragooned into window-guarding duty<\/a> during official visits, a tedious assignment that is nonetheless described as \u201ca political task of the utmost importance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hangzhou\u2019s heightened security during the Games has caused some inconvenience to local residents and losses for delivery services<\/strong><\/a>. CDT Chinese editors have archived social media photos of windows sealed for the duration of the Games, and a video about delivery-service losses due to packages that could not be delivered. Some online commenters have said that the restrictions remind them of pandemic lockdowns, when packages went undelivered<\/a>, food deliveries were discarded<\/a>, and delivery drivers and truckers found themselves stranded<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n