Cultures meet in US Olympic parties

US-China relations scored a resounding point at the grass-roots level as the Beijing Games opened on August 8. Across the states, Chinese-Americans organized local Olympic celebration events with support and sponsorship from NBC, the broadcast rights holder of the Games, the local media and municipalities.

"This is the place to be," Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter told the crowd gathered at the main stage. "This is a tremendous and signature event. We are looking forward to an exciting Olympics, and appreciate all the countries participating, but I just have to add in one time at least, go USA!"

Chinese Consul General Peng Keyu was also upbeat. "This is a 100-year dream coming true for the Chinese people," he said. "The Beijing Olympics will allow the world to see Chinese culture and traditions."

Theresa Andrews, an American swimmer, said: "It's about the spirit of competition and everyone executing their best performance."

Andrews said she was impressed with the way China has prepared for the Games so far. "I know that they are going to execute an amazing Olympic Games," she said.

On the west coast, similar celebrations took place in Sacramento, capital city of California, and Redwood City, just south of San Francisco. The One World One Night event in Sacramento drew nearly 10,000 attendees including Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi.

In the Midwest and southern US, large outdoor telecast was not the norm, but creative ways to celebrate abound.

During this weekend, former Olympic athletes will appear at an art gallery in the St. Louis suburb of Chesterfield to raise money for the US team and local charities with Olympic art.

Gold medalist Bill Toomey and other past competitors will sign autographs. Children, dreaming of future Olympic glory, will demonstrate judo and gymnastics. With ice hockey tickets as first prize, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch is also running a contest to predict medal winners.

An amazing Olympics may help open trade and travel between America and China, said William W. Uchimoto, an attorney from Philadelphia whose firm, Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney, was one of the sponsors of Evening of Champions, and he was pleased with the public response.

"The whole community was galvanized. America will fall in love with China like it never has before," he said. "And that will launch a new generation of US-China relations. Those relations will start taking place on a more personal level," Uchimoto said.

Kenneth Wong is a prominent businessman in Chinatown who helped organize the Evening of Champions.

"This is an event that comes once in a lifetime, and we thought wouldn't it be great if we could plan a special opening ceremony event here in Chinatown." Wong said on Friday's event and the Beijing Games has helped him connect to his heritage.

"As an American-born Chinese, it gives me a great deal of cultural pride," he said. "A country (China) that has been for years portrayed in the media as a third-world nation has really come into its own now."

This sentiment spreads across other ethnic groups as well. California's event organizers formed a committee of nearly 50 people from all major ethnic groups in the Sacramento area.

Organizing committee chairwoman Amy Tong said last Friday's celebration was a labor of love and tireless coordination between local community leaders and media sponsors, and that the end result was a great evening of entertainment for children and adults alike.

Joy Li from San Francisco, Maggie Lee from Atlanta, Greg Bailey from St Louis, Craig Urey from Philadelphia and David Chodack from Sacramento contributed to this article

(China Daily 08/14/2008 page11)