For Asians, it will definitely be a massive cultural celebration, an affirmation of what "we, Asians" can achieve under the world's biggest spotlight.
[BEIJING 08]
Below, the China National Aquatic Center or better known as "Water Cube" and the National Stadium "Bird's Nest" in Beijing...breathtaking.
Ambrose Aban
Chief Blogger, QueerGam
Chinese people are everywhere. Go to the end of the rainbow and you will find Chinese food! (For here or to go?) Did you know that there are around 40 million ethnic Chinese living outside China? They are the largest émigré group in the world, and I am one of them (well I am from Malaysia but who cares, I am Asian. The Chinese actually comprise dozens and dozens of sub-ethnicities and even more nationalities. But if my fellow huayi (overseas Chinese) are anything like me, they will be watching the Beijing Games with anticipation and anxiety separate from their rooting interests in the outcome of any on-field competition. Not since perhaps Moscow in 1980 has there been so much intrigue about an Olympic host for its own sake.
For many Chinese, the curiosity goes beyond intellectual interest. As an Asian,I feel more like a nervous relative, waiting to see how my kin behave and how they will be received. It's like inviting your friends over when you were young. You pray your mom will make pork dumplings, char siu pau, for dinner, and not whole fish with head. You hope your friends will think the calligraphy on the wall scrolls looks cool, and that they won't think it's weird to trade their shoes for slippers inside the house. In short, you hope to avoid shame and to make a good impression.
One of the unique beauties of being a part of America is that each of our forefathers came from different lands, but here we all get to share the land of the Founding Fathers. The bond I feel with the Chinese has nothing to do with nationalism -- an admittedly convenient statement for me to make, given that nearly all criticism of the Olympic host has focused on its government. China's politics are, indeed, hard to overlook -- they loom as large as Mao's portrait does over Tiananmen Square. And as a gay man living in America, a beneficiary of the tradition of protest as an agent of social change, I understand that any self-respecting activist would be crazy not to use the Games as the perfect leverage. But my allegiance has more to do with filial piety -- loyalty to one's ancestors, a Confucian virtue that predates any Party philosophy by about 2,400 years and remains in Chinese culture today, both in the People's Republic as well as the world over.
For me, as a person who practices journalism, the Beijing Olympics will represent more than an opportunity for political statement, and more even than the world's greatest sporting event. So yes, for asians, it will definitely be a massive cultural celebration, an affirmation of what "my people" can achieve under the world's biggest spotlight.
Watch the opening ceremony on Aug. 8. I'm hoping to be misty-eyed:)
Below, the China National Aquatic Center or better known as "Water Cube" and the National Stadium "Bird's Nest" in Beijing...breathtaking.
Ambrose Aban
Chief Blogger, QueerGam
Chinese people are everywhere. Go to the end of the rainbow and you will find Chinese food! (For here or to go?) Did you know that there are around 40 million ethnic Chinese living outside China? They are the largest émigré group in the world, and I am one of them (well I am from Malaysia but who cares, I am Asian. The Chinese actually comprise dozens and dozens of sub-ethnicities and even more nationalities. But if my fellow huayi (overseas Chinese) are anything like me, they will be watching the Beijing Games with anticipation and anxiety separate from their rooting interests in the outcome of any on-field competition. Not since perhaps Moscow in 1980 has there been so much intrigue about an Olympic host for its own sake.
For many Chinese, the curiosity goes beyond intellectual interest. As an Asian,I feel more like a nervous relative, waiting to see how my kin behave and how they will be received. It's like inviting your friends over when you were young. You pray your mom will make pork dumplings, char siu pau, for dinner, and not whole fish with head. You hope your friends will think the calligraphy on the wall scrolls looks cool, and that they won't think it's weird to trade their shoes for slippers inside the house. In short, you hope to avoid shame and to make a good impression.
One of the unique beauties of being a part of America is that each of our forefathers came from different lands, but here we all get to share the land of the Founding Fathers. The bond I feel with the Chinese has nothing to do with nationalism -- an admittedly convenient statement for me to make, given that nearly all criticism of the Olympic host has focused on its government. China's politics are, indeed, hard to overlook -- they loom as large as Mao's portrait does over Tiananmen Square. And as a gay man living in America, a beneficiary of the tradition of protest as an agent of social change, I understand that any self-respecting activist would be crazy not to use the Games as the perfect leverage. But my allegiance has more to do with filial piety -- loyalty to one's ancestors, a Confucian virtue that predates any Party philosophy by about 2,400 years and remains in Chinese culture today, both in the People's Republic as well as the world over.
For me, as a person who practices journalism, the Beijing Olympics will represent more than an opportunity for political statement, and more even than the world's greatest sporting event. So yes, for asians, it will definitely be a massive cultural celebration, an affirmation of what "my people" can achieve under the world's biggest spotlight.
Watch the opening ceremony on Aug. 8. I'm hoping to be misty-eyed:)