Yi Jianlian, Chinese basketball player, leads Team China into opening ceremony of London Olympics. [File photo]
There is a time difference of 8 hours between London and Beijing and the two cities are more than 5000 miles apart. However, due to an increasingly interconnected world, the Earth has become flat. Factors such as time and space pale into insignificance when China's gaze is turned on the London Olympics.
The London Games have provided ample topics of discussion on a range of subjects, from the perennial chat regarding countries' standings on the medal table, disagreements about judges' decisions and gossip about athletes, to broader discussion about human values, sportsmanship, and reflections on the competition system. The topics have extended their reach beyond the confines of athletics to touch on the transition of China.
The Olympic Games offer us the opportunity to reexamine ourselves. From Athens, Beijing, and then to London, in the face of Liu Xiang's ups and downs, Chinese people have had to try and balance out those two imposters, success and failure. When Yu Yang and Wang Xiaoli were disqualified by the Badminton World Federation, we had to assess the gap between the contest rules and the Olympic spirit. We had to learn to distinguish between process and result.
The Olympics also offers China the opportunity to reassess the world. Chinese feelings of patriotism have been transformed into a victim mentality by incidents such as Chen Yibing's silver in the rings, which some felt was worthy of gold, and some western media leveling unsubstantiated accusations of doping at Chinese swimmer Ye Shiwen. How can we deal with these growing pains?
Aside from such discussions, we have also had cause for deep reflection. The rules, ethics and interests of competitions in the sporting arena are a microcosm of the conflicts which are played out in everyday political and social life. Rise and containment, integration and exclusion, lose-lose and win-win situations, the conflicts in the Olympic arena are simply a milder version of those we see in international relations on the world stage. For Chinese people, these topics concerning the past, present, and the future are excellent subjects which offer the chance for self-reflection, reflection on others and the world as a whole.
No matter what perspective people hold or how intense the debates are, the discussion itself has great significance. The concepts are increasingly diversified and the public are always keen to offer their comments. The Olympics, therefore, are a barometer by which a society's improvements can be measured.
Full disclosure of information and tolerance of different perspectives and opinions have led to greater openness, participation and reflection on these different subjects. Such comprehensive and inclusive discussions increase people's understanding of the sports and their rules and the spirit of fair play. It's like a lecture on ethics where people learn to understand problems with a broader vision and from more angles. At a time when Chinese society faces occasional extreme situations and episodes of irrational behavior, such an ethics lesson is just what is needed in order to foster more open-minded and rational thinking.
We cannot, and do not need to force everyone to think the same way. However, diversity dictates that we must reach a consensus through open discussion. Athletes' training methods can certainly be questioned, but individual efforts are worthy of praise; Loopholes in competition rules can be questioned, but the underlying principles of fair play and "faster, higher, stronger" should be adhered to. After all, the clash of ideas leads to improvements, just as the clash between athletes leads to new levels of human excellence.
Hopefully, the London Olympics, whose motto is "inspire a generation," will inspire China to continue to grow on its path of modernization.
