2008 was set to be a big year for China: the Big O was set to blow with a bang, digitally enhanced or not, sweeping away the spider webs of old China and revealing the strapping New China to the rest of the world.

Most Chinese do not realize that the rest of the world already understands they are a modern nation and are in fact scared of the wakened dragon with the big appetite and big claws, billion and a half people population, and a GDP headed into orbit next to Chang’e the Chinese space shuttle. A massive national inferiority complex permeates China and, like the little guy in a fight, China feels the need to hit harder, faster, and first. In many situations this determination works in China’s favor, many of the immigrants who came to the United States brought with them this desire to succeed and to die in a bigger house than the one they were born in and this powered America’s rise in the 20th century.

But the Chinese don’t get that they are no longer the little guy in the fight. They have the 3rd largest economy in the world and the move of much of the population from peasant to privileged middle class has been one of the mot remarkable socioeconomic transformations in the history of the world.

Another thing the Chinese don’t seem to grasp is that the Olympics aren’t the same big deal to the rest of the world that they were for China. In London when they mention the Olympics the ground doesn’t shake and repave itself, beautiful modern buildings don’t sprout out of the ground, and the average Brit couldn’t care less.

Two of 2008’s top 10 events played important roles in the pre-Olympic global courtship. One almost ruined the mood and the other served to restore the rose-colored glasses to western faces.

 

On a journey apparently designed by a manic four year old the Olympic torch really was, naturally, the biggest, longest, and most over the top in the history of the event. Although, relay history is actually rather short having only been thought up in 1936 by the Nazi propaganda machine for the infamous Berlin Olympics.

For weeks on end video was shown in China of shorts wearing torchbearers jogging along roads lined with spectators, specially designed aerodynamic torch in one hand while waving mechanically with the other. When the unbalancing movement brought the torchbearers off center they were gently steered back by the tall, gloved, fanny-pack wearing men jogging easily alongside.

The problems began when a torchbearer was rushed by French protestors. Touching off another wave of anti-French sentiment that continues to this day, the incident confirmed China’s worst fears. The westerners were indeed out to get them, just look at the footage of the wheelchair bound torchbearer being tackled by those uncouth Parisians.

The torch came to San Francisco but failed to burn a path through the hordes of protestors urged on by, amongst others, Congressional Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi. As the torch relay went on burning shoe rubber and carbon (the torch had its own plane and hotel room) and pressure mounted on leaders to boycott the opening, the second event happened.

The Wenchuan earthquake struck Sichuan province on May 12 with a horrible vengeance and series of crippling aftershocks that killed tens of thousands, injured many more, and destroyed cities and villages across the province.

Viewers around the world watched with shock as the images of death and destruction rolled across their screens. These same viewers, some of them whom had criticized the Chinese government during the 3.14 protests in Tibet, watched with awe and admiration as the Chinese government mounted an impressive and immediate rescue effort that sent troops and volunteers into Sichuan.

 

 

Those who watched with disgust and disbelief during Hurricane Katrina when American President Bush flew over New Orleans only after public outcry forced him to end his vacation early – two days after the levees broke – were grateful when Wen Jiabao boarded a plane to Sichuan just 90 minutes after the first quake. The Chinese government’s organized and immediate response to the quake and the Energizer Bunny performance put in by Vice Premier Wen who seemed to be everywhere in Sichuan all the time talking to anyone he could find, did wonders to not just restore but build the world’s faith in China. Donation money poured in from around the world, Chinese citizens donated huge amounts of money and effort, and even the torch relay protestors thought it would be best to stay at home for a while.

2008 will not be remembered by those outside of China as the year of the Tibet 3.14 incident, or a year when endemic corruption was rooted out and exposed by netizens, or even the year of the Edison Chen celebrity sex scandal. For the rest of the world 2008 will be the year China mounted the most expensive Olympics in history in stunning venues packed with helpful volunteers; the year China showed the world how to respond to a crisis within one’s borders; and the year China completely stomped everyone in the Olympic gold medal count.

 

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