The Beijing Olympic Games drew to a close early yesterday with a spectacular Closing Ceremony. Although the content of the opening and closing ceremonies was not to everyone’s taste, the ceremonies displayed remarkable feats of organisation and technology. On the whole the games have been well conducted, without any major disasters. The Chinese Olympic team has itself performed extremely well, and the net feeling of Chinese authorities must be one of satisfaction.
However, the staging of the games has not converted China into a pro-human rights nation. Before the start of the games, large numbers of people suspected of being dissidents, either by reason of their past actions or their ethnic origins or their religious beliefs, were rounded up and jailed or exiled. The games organisers promised to provide protest parks where those who wished to stage a protest could go, but all of the 77 applications to stage protests have been “mediated” or rejected.
On the other hand, numerous small gains have been made. Since 2001 the percentage of Beijing residents involved in physical activity or sport has increased from 35% to 50%. The exposure of Chinese culture to the rest of the world has increased, as has the exposure of other cultures to Chinese people. While the country has not been converted by the “Olympic spirit”, it has had a decent exposure to that spirit and the memory will linger for some time.