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I was motivated to write something after reading a post on BBC News reporting Chinese reaction to the Olympic torch protests - which seem to be universally hostile to demonstrations in the west. I've no idea how representative the comments are, but since it's the good old BBC (who I trust beyond all reason), and given that Britain enjoys uncensored free speech, I'm prepared to believe they're at least commonly held views among Han Chinese.

The posts make several points, most of which made my blood boil. Grrrr:

Lets vent some spleen at these points, in order.

Perhaps the bigger question is, should we pay any attention to the opinions of someone who lives in a country where information, and thus opinion, is state controlled? Don't worry, I'm not gonna get all misty-eyed about the Dali Lama. But since the DL's image is banned, simply printing this page in China (including Tibet) would mean jail time (bird for petty, as they say back home). Thankfully little Picotrip is unlikely to get anyone banged up in China since you can't read it there, as I reported from Tibet in an earlier post.
Oh, and I've switched on comments, in the interests of free speech and the right to reply ;-) Let's see if we get any.


Labels: China, Tibet
 The White Charger said...

Not sure I agree with the Olympics being non-political.
I agree that they _should_ be non-political, but in practise they are, and always have been politically in nature.

Details about the Ancient Olympics Games are naturally somewhat obscure, and subject to a bit of romanticization (is that a real word?). Remember- these were pagan festivals celebrating physical supremacy between hostile, sometimes warring city-states.

As far as the Modern Olympics go, de Coubertin's motives for reviving the Games may have less to do with establishing a non-political platform for the celebration of sporting excellence, and more to do with some kind of non-military one-up-man-ship, to "pay back" Germany for France's embarrassing defeat during the 1870 Franco-Prussian war, when he was a kid.

Hmm.... That does sound somewhat political to me...

Having said all that, I totally agree with the rest of what you say :)