March
2008 Issue
McCaffery goes behind the Great Wall and discovers a country
of nationalized bliss.
By Aidan McCaffery
Last month I spent two weeks in China. I found the Chinese to
be kind, hospitable and excited to be hosting one of the world's
most
celebrated sporting events. As British cynicism towards the 2012
Olympics starts to grow, I long for some good old fashioned, state
controlled TV to inject some enthusiasm into the British public.
I know nothing about sport. Football, cricket, rugby, American
football, baseball, er… rugby. Yes, I know so little about
sports that I even struggle to come up with a comprehensive list
of sports I know nothing about and then start to repeat them. This
lack of knowledge extends to the Olympics. I couldn't name any
athletes, and would be hard pushed to name five Olympic events.
So much so that when I visited China last month to see a school
friend I felt compelled to ask, "So, does China have any pre-existing
athletic stars going into the Beijing 2008, or will the games make
the stars?" (That's right, I hadn't even heard of basketball
superstar Yao Ming). He laughed and replied, "Yes, China does
have stars. But the real star of the Beijing Olympics is the Communist
Party of China."
Make no mistake; the Beijing Olympics will be ready on time. There
have been no Athens style delays in the construction for new Olympic
buildings (although there have been alleged cover ups of deaths
in the completion of the Beijing National Stadium, a.k.a the Bird's
Nest). The city's subway network is growing bigger by the day.
© Olympicblogspot.blogspot.com
And the people are incredibly enthusiastic
about the whole thing. As my friend explained to me, the Chinese
see it as their country
becoming part of the rest of the world again. Of course, as a cynical,
freedom of speech devouring Westerner, it's hard to take such excitement
with anything more than a pinch of salt and a granule of skepticism,
especially the way the upcoming games is sold through the state
controlled television networks. However, as we wined and dined
with various locals I began to find this CPC-encouraged enthusiasm
quite endearing, and for a brief moment, a brief, brief moment,
I almost longed for such optimism in the UK.
You see, the problem with England is that even in our happiest
moments, we can be quite a cynical bunch. Our excitement at 'winning'
the 2012 Olympics was confined to the day we won it. True, the
following day London experienced a major terrorist attack (always
a mood dampener), but I believe that our excitement would've waned
anyway. As the crowds departed Trafalgar Square and the following
day's news media became filled with footage of people celebrating
in the streets, it quickly became evident that we were excited
for two reasons, neither of which had anything to do with hosting
one of the most prestigious sporting events in the world.
The first was that we never win anything, and now he had. Since
1966, our national football team has never won the world cup, or
even got to the final, and have never won the European cup. At
the time, we hadn't won a major cricketing cup or the Ashes since
1989. Tim Henman, the great British hope, had failed to deliver
a major tennis prize despite being the UK's joint most successful
open era player. And we've never won the Baseball World Series.
Although that might be because the 'World' of its title is, presumably,
ironic. And so winning the Olympics was a massive coup for us,
even if the only thing we'd won was the right to host the games.
This in itself isn't so cynical. I view it as a poor bowling player
getting excited when they manage to knock over more than one pin,
even if they still only score in the single digits. It's endearing.
Advertising poster for the 2008 Beijing
Games.
What is slightly more dubious is that our elation did seem, at
least in part, due the fact that we'd not only won something, but
that in the process we'd beaten the French to the prize. If there's
anything England loves more than beating the Germans, it's beating
the French. And I'm sure even our most impassioned celebrators
don't know why. I remember the days following our victory the newspapers
were filled with hoards of anti-French jokes. Most of them were
poor, the kind where the jokes aren't really about the French but
whoever happens to be in the country next to you. You know, "how
many <insert foreign nation of your disliking here> does
it take to change a light bulb?' That's English enthusiasm for
you: excitement based on petty one-upmanship and an ancient rivalry,
which no one really understands. And we're supposed to be multi-cultural.
What's worse is, while I was speaking to Chinese people and experiencing
their enthusiasm for the year ahead of them and what it means to
their society and the city, I had a flash forward of my life for
the next four years, which will basically consist of watching and
reading news reports of people moaning that the city transport
links will be slightly compromised by construction for the Olympics.
Yes, I predict the excitement of 2005 will dissipate quite quickly
when we realize planning for 2012 might actually involve an eleven-minute
detour via the Piccadilly line. Maybe it's a good thing. Clearly
we hate the French, but not enough to feign happiness as we endure
seven years of minutely obstructive construction work and pretend
we think it's a good thing.
If it drains the cynical blood out the Englishman and replaces
it with some good, inoffensive Chinese optimism, then give me state
controlled television any day. Preferably before the next series
of The X Factor begins. Although without all those bad Chinese
soap operas about monkeys misbehaving in palace courts.
Send comments on Aidan’s column
to a.f.mccaffery@gmail.com
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