Fiery Olympiads
Broadcasting the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games Beijing 2022? It is a strong political message that China posted on the screens of television around the globe. That of a Chinese people in peace with itself which makes know towards what China wants to direct itself: a country confident in itself, generous, opened on humanity. The question is asked: is this pure propaganda, or is it the announcement of a future for which we can hope?
All the Chinese media and particularly the officious Global Times report on it: prepared for a long time, at the highest level of technology, the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games was a message addressed to the world so that it becomes aware that China, today at peace with itself, turns friendly towards the world.What is it really? The following lines are, for the most part, a compilation of excerpts from the Chinese press taken almost word for word.
The opening ceremony was designed to carry a message on all the television sets of the world: the opening to the world of a China that is sure of itself and wants to make it known. On the screens, a magical production, the Chinese aesthetics sublimated by the last technological achievements of the image in an astonishing spectacle which intertwined the tradition and the future in a single dazzling moment.
How far we are from the 2008 Games t because China no longer has to strive hard to showcase itself to the world so that the Westerners would stop considering it as "poor and pathetic". In 2022, it has peacefully risen to the rank of world leader, both politically and economically. Over the past fourteen years, Beijing has flourished. At the time of the first games, there were only two hundred kilometers of subway lines in operation. By 2021, the underground network will be 780 kilometers long. At the same time, the GDP per capita has risen from $9,100 in 2008 to $28,500 in 2021. The opening ceremony no longer has to show "who I am» but tell the world "what I am doing "and let people know "where we are going" in a relaxed and confident manner.
The opening ceremony was therefore conceived without pressure, since it no longer has to evoke the history of the country, from the past to the present, but to give an account of a present of solidarity and common future. These are symbolized by a symphony of circles in soft colors where green and blue dominate without any broken lines and wonderful sprays of light. the music is European, classical and it is a thoughtful choice. A romantic romance, not as France understands, China's romance is deeply embedded in its cultural maturity and confidence as well as the profound national pride. So, the opening ceremony featured no professional performers or celebrities, only ordinary people, the Chinese people in all their diversity. The focus on the people is a testament to China's open-mindedness, which enables it to face the world with more care and warmth.
The 2022 ceremony carries the spirit and philosophy of a global community sharing a common future for humanity, of a China that “present the world an amicable, affable and respectable image," Simply in a "trust that does not need to be expressed but flows quietly". This is a political message, and the media does not fail to remind it.
These games are being held at a time when geopolitical tensions between China and the West, orchestrated by the United States, are high, but the Chinese people are not bothered. They are self-confident. At the end of the show, during the performance of " Shining Snowflakes” by five hundred children with model lanterns of pigeons, we see the little pigeon that had fallen behind, brought back into the group by another pigeon. Like him, Taiwan, the child who got lost, will comes back home soon;
We have to wonder about the interpretation of this ceremony and what it represented. Is it only a sumptuous and artificial propaganda tool that we can forget or is it an open window on a near future that shows us where China wants to go? A country confident in itself that wants to be open to humanity.
Can we believe it, and should we be prepared for it?
Edouard Valensi,
