Assessing the impact of the 2008 Beijing Games: A view from Taiwan

Abstract

This survey assesses how educated young people in Taiwan perceived the impact of the 2008 Beijing Olympics on China's political system and its international relations. Among the questions that I sought to address in the survey are: do educated young people in Taiwan have a more positive image or perception of China, which they attribute to the 2008 Olympics? The Chinese government wanted the Beijing Olympics to provide a platform for China to be viewed as a modern nation: do educated young people in Taiwan view the country in this way? What is the legacy, according to this group of people, of the 2008 Beijing Games? In sum, I am interested in examining the views of educated young Taiwanese on the impact of the 2008 Beijing Games, in order to obtain a better understanding of how this generation views China. This exploratory study was conducted from 25 June to 25 July 2013 in Taipei, Taiwan.

Keywords::

• Taiwan
• perceptions
• Beijing Olympic Games
• Chinese government
• cross-strait relations

Acknowledgements

Since I conducted this survey while participating in the International Research Program for Field Study in Taiwan and China at National Chengchi University (NCCU), I would like to thank NCCU and its faculty, especially De-Sheng Chen, Scott Yi-Chun Lin and Yu-Shan Lo, for the opportunity. I would also like to thank Alan Bairner, Brian Bridges, Yale Ferguson, Rongbin Han, Guanyi Leu, Gregg Van Ryzin and Yang Jiang for their helpful comments and suggestions. In addition, thanks to Evelyn Li Primiano for translating the survey questions from English to the Chinese characters and tabulating the survey data.

Notes

^1. For more on the relationship between the Seoul Olympics and democratization in Korea, see Bridges (2012).

^2. Money was a non-issue for the CCP in its attempt to build outstanding facilities in Beijing for the 2008 Olympics – such as airports, subways, stadia and other infrastructure projects – with a total expenditure of more than US$40 billion (Gries, Crowson, & Sandel, 2010; Press Conference on the Beijing Olympics and the Beijing Economy, 2009).

^3. Although the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG) spent over US$1 billion solely on attempts to transmit a positive message of China during the Olympics, Chung and Woo argue that such outlay will not have long-lasting effects, for ‘the effects of advertising and promotional campaigns, unless continued, decay over time’ (Chung & Woo, 2011, p. 296).

^4. While both Bhattacharya (2005) and Economy (2005) offer more praise than criticism regarding Chinese international relations, they do point out concerns. Bhattacharya, for example, argues that the 2020 deadline for resolving the Taiwan issue and the Anti-Secession Law of 2005 show an aggressive side of China. Economy points out that there is concern among many in Southeast Asia about China's behaviour, specifically its lack of openness on a number of issues, the environment being one.

^5. Since I did not ask which, if any, political party in Taiwan the respondents supported, I cannot draw a relationship between party affiliation and the way in which people responded in this survey.

^6. On the topic of whether the Games made China more cosmopolitan, Susan Brownell (2008, p. 191) commented in favour: ‘The next generation of Beijing's top leaders [in municipal government]—and perhaps even leaders of the central government—will be more cosmopolitan because of the Olympic Games’. Only time will tell if this prediction will be correct. On the topic of cosmopolitanism, Nathan (1993) regards Taiwan as a ‘more cosmopolitan place than mainland China’ (p. 282).

^7. When a South Korean reporter asked the directors of the Beijing Olympics what they wanted as their message for the Opening Ceremony, Zhang Yimou, the general director of the Beijing Olympic Games Opening Ceremony, stated: ‘First of all, we wanted to show China's traditional culture and ancient culture … We all know that China has had 5,000 years of glorious culture. That was the focus of the display’’ (Press Conference on the Overall Operations of the Beijing Olympic Games Opening Ceremony, 2009, p. 57). This indicates the Chinese wanted to get ‘face’. Callahan (2010) argues that the 2008 Games resulted in a very positive Chinese view of themselves and their country.

^8. When asked by a member of the international press on 21 August 2008 about the non-economic impact of the Olympics on Beijing and China, Wang Hui, the moderator of the press conference, stated: ‘It is as yet too early to answer about the legacy left to us by the Beijing Olympic Games or the effects of the Beijing Olympics on China’ (Press Conference on the Beijing Olympics and the Beijing Economy, 2009, p. 13). Nonetheless, Wang Hui stated that the Beijing Olympics has been positive for China, adding: ‘In my opinion … the Olympic Games have made China more open’ (Press Conference on the Beijing Olympics and the Beijing Economy, 2009, p. 13).

^9. The findings of this question support those of Lau et al.'s survey in Taiwan, carried out in 2008, on the issue of national identity (Lau et al., 2012).

^10. In conducting polls both in Beijing and throughout China, independent organizations found that 90% of respondents or more consistently supported Beijing's desire to host the Games (Mol, 2010; Pew Global Attitudes Survey in China, 2008). In brief, it was not just a matter of Beijing hosting the Games; rather, the country was hosting the Games (Mol, 2010). While the vast majority of respondents to this survey indicated that they were not excited about the Beijing Games, the stadium erupted with cheer when the Chinese Taipei team entered the stadium for the 2008 Beijing Games, as the Chinese in the stands perceived the Chinese Taipei team as affiliated to China (Fan & Lu, 2012).

^11. According to polling conducted by Pew in China – not Taiwan – in the spring of 2008, 79% of Chinese stated that the 2008 Beijing Olympics are important to them personally. The idea that the Beijing Games are personally important transcends demographic groups in China (Pew Global Attitudes Survey in China, 2008).