OPINION> Commentary
Six years to remember in rebirth of a nation
By Qin Xiaoying (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-08-28 07:32

In the limelight of the entire world, the curtain of the 29th Summer Olympics fell in Beijing on Sunday evening. Every Chinese would be proud seeing the motherland's great success in hosting such a large sports gathering.

Different from our own festivals that only Chinese people enjoy themselves, this was an unrestrained revelry of billions of people from different nationalities. The holding of the Games has not only realized a long-honored dream of the Chinese people, but has also brought us chances to make friends and share the joy with others.

Immersed in the sense of great success and excitement left by the Beijing Olympics, we should not forget six specific years the Chinese nation experienced in the history of the Olympics. The six years served as the best eyewitness to the vicissitude of the Chinese nation and its connection with the modern Olympics.

First, the year 1932. In that year's Olympic Games in Los Angeles, Liu Changchun, as the only Chinese athlete, participated in the men's 100m and 200m sprint match. Despite his failure in the first round of the competition, the courage and endurance Liu exhibited moves our Chinese people till now. What China got from that Games, if there was any, was a humiliating cartoon on which a skinny "Sick man of East Asia" holds high the Arabic numeral of zero.

Not only reflected in the sports field, that year was also a year of political humiliation for the whole Chinese nation. Under the deliberate plotting and auspices of the Japanese imperialists, the Manchukuo, a puppet regime, was established in China's three northeastern provinces. The national industry and commerce began to develop, but the country was still under pervasive economic invasion of Western countries. Still in the midst of the dreadful "Great Recession" (1929-33), no major power in the world extended due attention or sympathy to the East Asian nation which was in domestic chaos and under foreign aggression.

The year 1953. It was the first time the People's Republic of China officially dispatched a sport delegation to that year's Helsinki Olympics. For the newly-founded socialist country, its national flag being raised high on the Olympic venue was also a victory.

After an eight-year war against Japanese aggressors and the following three-year war of liberation as well as its participation in the Korean War, the country's economy lay in a very difficult situation at that time. On the international political stage, the new socialist regime chose to be on the side of the Soviet Union, which was in a Cold War confrontation with the Western camp led by the United States. As a result, China was still being enveloped by Western blockade and troubled by their attempt to create two "Chinas" in some international organizations. It is not difficult to imagine that the country's sports strength at that time could not compete with big sports powers.

The year 1984. That year marked the People's Republic of China's return to the Olympic family. Chinese shooter Xu Haifeng won a gold medal in that year's 23rd Olympics in Los Angeles, the first gold medal in the country's Olympic history. At the Games, Chinese athletes scrambled a total of 15 gold medals. It was by no means accidental for China to make such a magnificent achievement in the sixth year after its adoption of the reform and opening-up initiative.

With its reforms accelerated in various fields from rural to urban areas and its booming economy, the country had seen a big improvement of its political status in the international arena. That year, we saw the visits of US President Ronald Reagan, and also of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. During her visit, China and Britain signed a joint declaration on the long-pending issue of Hong Kong.

The year 1993. A year China first suffered a setback in its bid to host the 27th Olympics. The country's successful holding of the 1991 Asian Games inspired its desire to host a bigger Olympic Games. The support of Deng Xiaoping, chief architect of China's reform and opening-up, and the encouragement of Juan Antonio Samaranch, then president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), also pushed the Beijing municipal government to take action toward the Olympic dream. Due to the domestic political unrest in 1989 and the upheaval in the Soviet Union and East European countries as well as a heated contention in China about what kind of path the country should go along in its reform and opening-up, some IOC members remained not determined to vote for Beijing.

The year 2001. A year of China's success in its bid for the hosting of the 2008 Olympics. In that first year of the 21st century, China established the general guideline on the development of the socialist market economy and was determined to integrate itself to global economy. The country's interdependence with the world economy was also on the increase.

A series of events that happened in China that year, such as the establishment of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the country's accelerated step to enter the World Trade Organization, and its successful launch of the Shenzhou-II spacecraft, which would lay a groundwork for the launch of its manned spacecraft, all marked China's increasing role in international affairs.

The anti-terrorist efforts by the international community after the September 11 event further hammered home to Western countries that all international issues, including fighting terrorism, would get nowhere without China's participation.

The year 2008. A year we cannot use more praises for the great success of the Beijing Olympics. Together with 1978, a milestone in China's reform and opening-up, the year will be forever remembered in the country's contemporary history. The excellent performance Chinese athletes achieved in this Games will change the world pattern in the modern Olympic field formed since World War II.

The author is a researcher with China Foundation for International and Strategic Studies

(China Daily 08/28/2008 page8)