On one level, the competition was a triumph of international amity and integration. At a time when China’s relations with much of the rest of the world are fraught — and attacks on Asians globally seem to be an almost everyday occurrence — viewers were given a stunning reminder of just how enmeshed the country and its people have become in the international system. Athletes of Chinese heritage won medals for countries ranging from the United States to Hungary, while within China, media coverage of the American-born skier Eileen Gu and the country’s largely naturalized hockey team led many to reflect on what it means to be Chinese.
tirsdag 8. mars 2022
For Chinese Abroad, a Winter Olympics-Sized Hangover
The curtain may have fallen on the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, but its ramifications are still being felt. All Olympics are political to an extent, and this year’s Games were colored as much by identity politics as geopolitics.
On one level, the competition was a triumph of international amity and integration. At a time when China’s relations with much of the rest of the world are fraught — and attacks on Asians globally seem to be an almost everyday occurrence — viewers were given a stunning reminder of just how enmeshed the country and its people have become in the international system. Athletes of Chinese heritage won medals for countries ranging from the United States to Hungary, while within China, media coverage of the American-born skier Eileen Gu and the country’s largely naturalized hockey team led many to reflect on what it means to be Chinese.
On one level, the competition was a triumph of international amity and integration. At a time when China’s relations with much of the rest of the world are fraught — and attacks on Asians globally seem to be an almost everyday occurrence — viewers were given a stunning reminder of just how enmeshed the country and its people have become in the international system. Athletes of Chinese heritage won medals for countries ranging from the United States to Hungary, while within China, media coverage of the American-born skier Eileen Gu and the country’s largely naturalized hockey team led many to reflect on what it means to be Chinese.
