BEIJING — In the aftermath of a dazzling opening ceremony dubbed by the world’s media its “coming out party,” China appears to be experiencing a premature hangover. Less than a week after Beijing claimed center stage for the inauguration of the 29th Olympics, a growing chorus of Chinese and foreign voices is criticizing the ceremony, albeit for slightly different reasons. Among Chinese critics, the consensus is that the the ceremony did not live up to artistic and cultural expectations, while Western commentators have tended to focus on the symbolic meaning of the ceremony, and the methods by which it was [...]
BEIJING — The games of the 29th Olympiad are shaping up as a coming out party for China, a country that seeks to show the world it has arrived as a 21st century power. But China remains a country of contradictions — an ancient culture amid restless ambition to create a modern society, poverty alongside ostentatious wealth, and political repression in parallel with economic openness. On the eve of the opening of the games in Beijing, journalist and photographer Iason Athanasiadis visited Beijing and the northern city of Shenyang. A man walks past Shenyang’s central train station in northern China [...]
When the Olympic Games begin in Beijing on Friday, it will be just about impossible to avoid getting caught up in the excitement. The world’s collective eyes will become fixed on Beijing, or rather on television screens beaming images from China’s meticulously organized games. Behind the human drama and dazzling athleticism, however, will continue to loom troubling truths about the Olympics: truths not just about these games, but about the entire exercise, the organization that runs it, and the way the spectacular event has been manipulated over decades for political purposes. The Olympics long ago became the ideal platform for [...]
