Right ways to react

The Chinese people have absolutely no reason to either unnecessarily underestimate themselves or be unreasonably conceited while deciding how they should react to what the rest of the world says about the Beijing Olympic Games.

A survey conducted by China Youth Daily suggests that 65 percent of the surveyed care about how the rest of the world think of the Beijing Olympics.

It is quite natural for the Chinese people to have such a concern as the Olympics is an international event that China has never hosted before. A sporting event as it is, athletes and sport fans from all over the world will have a chance to see with their own eyes the city of Beijing and the life of its people.

Opinions about the Olympics, about Beijing and about China will undoubtedly be diverse when thousands of journalists from all over the world come to Beijing.

There may be some criticism about certain aspect of what Beijing has done for the event. And it would be unnatural to expect such a big world event to be organized in such an impeccable way that it leaves nothing to be desired.

Rather than being considered an affront to our dignity, any well-meaning criticism will be taken as stimulation for the host city as well as for the host country to do a better job right now and in the future.

Compliments will certainly pour in on the spectacular job Beijing has done including the detailed preparations for competitions and for a comfortable stay for the athletes.

As citizens of the host country, the Chinese people have enough reason to feel proud when the arrangements make our guests feel happy and at home. But at the same time, this pride should stimulate us to do an even better job.

This should be the right reaction to what the world will say about the coming Games and its host country.

With more Chinese developing the right attitude in reacting to both compliments and criticism, the country can harvest rich benefits on the sidelines of the Olympics when it comes to the qualities of its citizenry.

With this attitude, more Chinese will realize how important it is for a citizen to do well whatever he or she is doing. This realization is crucial when it comes to how a country presents itself on the world stage.

Such an attitude will help more Chinese learn to cultivate civilized manners not only for their increasingly frequent international tours but also for a decent life at home.

(China Daily 08/06/2008 page8)