The Beijing Games, National Identity and Modernization in China

Abstract

Modern Olympics have always been about national prestige. The 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing was a good illustration. The unprecedented support level to the Beijing Games from the government to the public reflects the sense of national identity which is motivated by the memories of past grandeur and humiliation and the keenness to build a new, vigorous, modern and strong nation in the world. Through examining Beijing's two Olympic bids, construction of infrastructural facilities, the choreography of the Games' Opening Ceremony and the widely publicized Olympic slogans, this paper explores the complicated relationship between national identity building, modernization drive and the Beijing Games. It claims that Olympic victory has been regarded as the public embodiment of national strength and symbolic of China's emerging status in the world.; the building of a new national identity has been closely linked with modernisation which is inseparable from the ongoing globalization, urbanization and migration in the country. In addition, the Games facilitated China's modernisation in industry, communication, transportation and management. The Games was not just the dream fulfilled, but a future vision.