The Winter Olympics is happening right now in Beijing. It feels weird because we’ve only just had the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, even though yes that was delayed for one year due to the ongoing pandemic. Perhaps the Beijing winter games should have been postponed as well, seeing as spectators at events are still severely limited, and the athlete’s families aren’t able to travel with to China. The show must go on, I guess.
It certainly does not have the same awe-inspiring feel as the 2008 summer games, also held in Beijing. That was the first time China got to host an Olympics. I can remember how proud I was of my motherland as I watched the opening ceremony. Tears of pride gathered at the corner of my eyes as the Chinese national anthem played to the raising of the flag of five stars. The 2008 Olympics was indeed a coming out party for China on the world stage.
In contrast, the 2022 Beijing Olympics has an air of controversy clouding over it, especially if you’re watching from a western country. The NBC broadcast here in the States began with a discussion of the massive human rights violation happening in the Xinjiang region of the China. The Biden administration is diplomatically boycotting the games. Then there’s also COVID: a second straight Olympics with practically zero fan attendance seems like a failure of governance and policy.
Nevertheless, I tuned in to the opening ceremonies last Friday. You can always count on the Chinese to put on a great show (Zhang Yimou directing, too, once again), and indeed the ceremony did not disappoint. Perhaps this second time around was always going to feel less pomp and circumstantial than the first. The emotions of seeing my mother country hosting these winter games just isn’t as strong as the experience of 2008.
Because if the pandemic never happened, I might be in Beijing right now to take in the games in person. A once in a lifetime opportunity derailed by the COVID. Now that’s something we can all commiserate in.
Spring is here.