Historical Backgrounds and Initial Thoughts

1968 - One Medal; One Message:
This Olympic season has been filled with hype, as the media has been focusing on Tibet, Human Rights Protesting, and Pollution. It seems that the Olympics always draws protestors and political action, but this trend has its historic roots. The 1968 Olympics in Munich come to mind first, as outlined in the accompanying picture. That moment forever changed those Athletes and sent a powerful message across the world. A wordless, but powerful position of acceptance, cultural awareness, and freedom. It seems to me that China is coping amidst substantial international pressure with its own cultural and freedom issues. Just as the US fought its historic civil rights battle in the 1960s, China today is eager to open its door to profits and economic development, but hesistant to allow for cultural, relgious, and political freedom.

Historical Background:
China is unique, its communist history dating back to the 1940s (1949-Chinese Communist Rev.) has led the country to limit the cultural diversity and cleansed its population of intellectual diversity (culture). The Cultural Revolution was a ten-year period, lasting from 1966-1976, aimed at ideological cleansing. It was focused on the intellectuals to remove the ‘bourgeoisie’ influence. They forced many into manual labor and thousands were executed. China has come a long way in the past 30 years, but the communist government of China is still strong in its ability to quiet government opposition and cultural diversity. This has been most widely seen with the Tibet crisis that took place this previous April. The coming entries won't focus so much on the politics of the olympics or human rights - instead they will address how the Olympics is used as a tool for cultural education within China and other participating countries.