In the August of 2008, the city of Beijing in the People’s Republic of China had the auspicious opportunity to host the Summer Olympic Games. This was a big opportunity for the country to emerge into the international stage as a nation that can handle big public displays and events that have been hosted in Europe and the US and some other developed countries for quite a while. In the run-up to the Olympics, the North American press saw many articles about the coming Olympics and its organization by the Communist Party of China. The paper is an attempt to identify the trends and the manner of the reporting one month prior to the Olympic Games using the New York Times.
Before the Olympics started, there was already a great deal of talk surrounding China’s human rights record and some were touting this as the event to pressure China into changing its policies to provide fundamental human rights to its citizens. As Edward Said pointed out, one can see many elements of bias about the Orient in some of the articles. In an August 22 article, the Chinese authorities are lambasted for their efforts to improve the English used in restaurants and hotels and sometimes delivering pre-fabricated signboards to various places of commerce (Terrill). This has been highlighted along with the nature of punishments for those who falter. In the context of the subject, the author is correct about some of the extreme measures of censorship being adopted by the authorities but the whole vein in which the articles are written speaks of a marginalizing attitude. Every country that hosts the Olympics wants to present itself in a good manner and if extra harsh efforts are made by the authorities on the part of China, it could be considered in a good way as well. It definitely does not harm anyone.
The same argument can be extended to some of the reporting about the steps China took to hide unsavory parts of the city from the eyes of tourists. An article on July 29th (Hooker) and one on August 9th (Yardley) talk of the Chinese steps to hide areas around important tourist centers with shielded walls and bulldozing the slum houses that may be present around some parts of the city. The accuracy of the reporting can not be doubted here since some of the steps being taken here can be said to be repressive. In particular, the case presented of the demolition of the house of a Chinese-Australian woman who had to climb on the bulldozer to stop it is truly heart throbbing. However, the articles go further in terms of describing this to be the norm in Beijing. It takes a stand that portrays that such communities and their existence are the true faces of China and the Chinese attempts to hide this face shows that the glamour portrayed in the construction work and the ceremonies in the lead-up to the Olympics is just a show. The article accepts that numerous Olympic hosts have pursued makeovers of the city before the tourists start coming in. However, China is singled out in terms of needing a “whitewash” over the makeover which suggests that unlike the other countries; China really does have a pervasive problem. This points to a little degradation of the orient and a generalization of China with the other countries such as India and those in Africa which do not enjoy the same economic muscle and the rise in economic and health standards as China does.
Another focus of criticism has been the amount of pollution in Beijing. The Orient’s industrial centers are perceived as being many polluted areas with smog everywhere. This is supplemented with news of African people living in very putrid conditions sometimes, urinating in the open, and also visions of India with the population problem and naked and hungry children running around. The thinking related to that manifests itself in the reporting about China. The Chinese Olympic bid promised it will try its best to maintain clear skies for the Olympics and make sure pollution is not a problem. In this regard, an article on July 29th titles “Blue Skies Hard to Achieve in China” (Yardley) talks of Chinese failure to rid the city of humungous smog overlapping the city skies. Here what is betrayed is the sense of deprivation in China and how a basic need such as clean air can not be provided by the authorities. The subject in the articles is the Chinese people and the way in which they can not enjoy a clean environment but it goes further than that. It in a way asserts the western dominance in terms of being able to provide a clean environment for the people and where the Chinese are deprived, the West is successful. It ignores the good things in terms of the environment that have been done where you don’t see the “open urination” and the naked children running around. The judgment of China is based on the same mentality even though it has made wonderful strides towards growth and prosperity and as such is not a dependent country at all.
These individual articles aside, the general vein being taken with regards to criticism about China speaks of a mass conspiracy against the Chinese people by the authorities and a sense of deprivation and backwardness with regards to rights and privileges (Jacobs). It is an accepted fact that China has big buildings and a massively growing economy. The mindset thus appears to be towards showing the human rights and other social areas lacking to show that the Asian giant hasn’t made that big a leap over the west as it appears. It puts the whole Chinese under one category as suffering under the system. This falls in line with what Edward Said speaks in his book. Aside from the picturesque characters offered to the Occident readers in the exotic fiction of writers, showing China as a massive celebrating land with dragons and little Chinese faces with makeup and firecrackers along with people wearing colorful eastern garments, the nonwestern knew to Westerners is precise as Orwell says about him. He is either a figure of fun or an atom in a vast collectivity designated in ordinary or cultivated discourse as an undifferentiated type “called Oriental, African, yellow, brown or Muslim.”(Said 252) To such abstractions, Orientalism has contributed its power of generalization converting instances of civilization into ideal bearers of its values, ideas, and positions which has been identified in these “others” and transformed into common cultural currency (Said 253). This is manifest in the articles in the New York Times. It can not be contested that there are serious problems in China ranging from the suppression of parts of its population to the problem of migrant workers and pollution in Beijing. This however has to be taken in view of the achievements of China. There is also a significant group of people that are benefiting tremendously from China’s rise. The very article that bombards China with criticism about its approach also adds the comment of one Chinese elderly who says things are still better than the days of the Cultural Revolution (Jacobs). Even that point is presented as if the person is ruing the situation in China. It could very easily be interpreted as a sign of the enormous progress China has made in the past. Large sections of its population have been transformed and health care has risen to a great extent. Considering the days gone by, China is already much further than it was before. The only difference is that it does not espouse a system that works in the west which is a point of conflict. That system appears to be working for China, as is evident from it being the fastest growing economy in the world and its relative position in the world today. Coming to more recent times, China has even withstood the current financial crisis where most of the West has gone into economic recession. This speaks miles about the Chinese model and the fact that it may be working very well as an alternate system. The set of “Asian values” claimed to be espoused by China are paying dividends for the country and whereas suffering may be there, coupled with repression, it does not spread to the entire population, as it’s shown to be in the case of the articles in the buildup to the Summer Olympics.
Another important case is the reporting done with regards to China’s flamboyant opening ceremony. The August 8th article with regards to the Olympics opening ceremony is title “China’s Leaders Try to Impress” (Yardley). The title with the word “try” already speaks of a very dismissive view. Going through the article, one gets a sense of the acceptance of the grandeur that the Chinese were able to bring about with their cultural representation and high-budget display. However, it becomes tainted with the view that without the western defined social indicators being good. China’s progress and growth are secondary. There is a sense of pushing down the Asian dragon. As Said reports John Buchan commenting in 1922 “The earth is seeing with incoherent power and unorganized intelligence. Have you ever reflected on the case of China? There you have millions of quick brains stifled in trumpery crafts. They have no direction, no driving power, so the sum of their efforts is futile and the world laughs at China.” (Said 252) Now, China has risen and it is organized and the world no longer laughs at China. It showed that by its display in the opening ceremony, in a way symbolizing its rise. However, the vein of the article shows this as an attempt at impressing the West and only secondary until progress is made into indicators that are based so much on western derived values. This is further antagonized considering that many other countries in the world have similar problems of human rights as China but they are not the focus of this much criticism. The Western media seems bent on teaching China alone to mend its ways.
Considering the times Said described as the peak of Orientalism, we can see however that some things have changed. Not all the coverage about China was about its human rights record or its failures and the misfortunes of the people. There were articles like the one on August 12th which labeled the Beijing Olympics as being bigger than the one in Athens. It also spoke of the marvelous facilities and the competition fostered in Beijing between the Olympics, mixed with a unique flavor of Chinese flavor (Vecsey). One article highlighted NBC’s claim that coverage for this year’s Olympics was bigger than ever before and that this was an indicator of the success of the organization of the event (Sandomir). We have to take the current times into context as well. In an era with a clear definition of human rights and various treaties ratified that support fundamental human rights and the post-modern philosophy, we can assume that human rights do have a large influence on today’s people. China does have a bad record in this regard and given the enormity of the event, perhaps no better one would be available when China would open itself and be prone to criticism regarding some of its policies. In this regard, it could be defended that the media is right in focusing on this issue. However, there is still a taint of looking down upon that Chinese progress and not focusing on the upside which speaks of the still present bias among the West and an element of generalization with regards to the Orient and its study. This is very much in tune with the words Said uses to end his book that “although the animosities and inequities still exist which saw Orientalism as a cultural and political phenomenon, there is now at least a general acceptance that these represent not an external order whose end may be at hand.” (Said 355).
References
Said, Edward. Orientalism. London: Penguin, 1977.
Terrill, Ross. “In Beijing, Orwell Goes to the Olympics.” The New York Times. The New York Times. 2009. Web.
Hooker, Jake. “Before Guests Arrive, Beijing Hides Some Messes.” The New York Times. The New York Times. 2009. Web.
Yardley, Jim. “Little Building Defies Beijing’s Olympic Ambitions.” The New York Times. The New York Times. 2009. Web.
Jacobs, Andrew. “Olympic Message to Some in Beijing Is ‘Please Leave’.” The New York Times. The New York Times. 2009. Web.
Yardley, Jim. “China’s Leaders Try to Impress and Reassure World.” The New York Times. The New York Times. 2009. Web.
Sandomir, Richard. “Beijing Olympics a Bigger Hit than Athens for NBC.” The New York Times. The New York Times. 2009. Web.
Vecsey, George. “Postcard From Beijing: Warriors on the Olympic Green.” The New York Times. The New York Times. 2009. Web.