Antony Loewenstein takes a very similar approach to the Beijing Olympics (at ABC Unleashed) as I recently did here.
Here’s the key quote:
Endless foreign criticism of China will achieve little. Some Western humility during the Games would be advisable, along with legitimate calls for the state to respect human rights.
Tim Wu, Columbia Law Prof and regular contributor at Slate picks up on a theme I wrote about on the eve of the Olympics:
So are the media just being a little mean to China? It does at times feel akin to if coverage of the Atlanta Olympics were focused on the failings of the U.S. […]
Well it’s 08/08/08 and the Beijing Olympics are now upon us.
Long term readers of ToK will appreciate that I’m something of a Sinophile, a predilection that isn’t particularly popular on either the left or the right in Australia at the moment.
While the human rights record of the Chinese government is obviously indefensible and deserves public […]
A great find from Tobias at Not a Hedgehog.
Jeffrey Wasserstrom and Kate Merkel-Hess of UC Irvine offer a Chinese reading list for George W Bush’s trip to China for the Beijing Olympics and include the following:
5. “Rudd Rewrites the Rules of Engagement,” by Geremie Barmé. Aussie Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has a long history of […]
BBC News Reports:
For the first time in nearly a decade China is issuing new banknotes without the image of Chairman Mao Zedong.
The 10 yuan ($1.5; £0.75) notes instead feature Beijing’s new Olympic stadium on the front, with an ancient Greek statue of a discus thrower on the back.
So if the Chinese can manage to get […]
I liked this recent post from Daniel Drezner citing recent survey research on public perceptions of China’s ‘Soft Power’ in Asia:
China, just months before it is set to take the world’s center stage during the 2008 Summer Olympics, still ranks below the United States as a multifaceted power in the opinion of its Asian neighbors.
The […]
I came across a charming documentary about Chinese Democracy (no not the G n R album) the other day called Vote For Me. Here’s the synopsis:
Is democracy a universal value that suits human nature? Do elections inevitably lead to manipulation? Please Vote for Me is a portrait of a society and a town in through […]
Christopher Patten (former governor of Hong Kong and current Chancellor of Oxford University) writes in today’s Times about the West’s relationship with China:
I find it difficult to understand why some people regard the rise of China as a threat. China’s success is good for the world. One of the main contributors to the rapid economic […]
I’ve been to a lot of great exhibitions this year in London, but I think the one I saw today, China Design Now at the Victoria and Albert, is the one that has aligned most closely with my own personal aesthetic tastes. It’s a design exhibition so it wasn’t exactly high art and was a […]
While I love stumbling upon cool new architecture in my home city, I have to say, there seems to be a steady stream of mind blowing design coming out of China. Check out the Zero Energy Media Wall in Xicui, Beijing and featured in Engadget today:
Following hot on the heels of Beijing Airport’s new Terminal […]