On The Turning Away

You could be forgiven for thinking that the media are competing for gold in China bashing, as if spurred by Michael Phelps‘ epic success. What else can explain they’re abuzz with ‘fake’ footprints of firework and ‘miming’ child singer?

UK’s Telegraph scooped the computer generated fireworks but it pales in comparison to the human interest story, as every newspaper worth its salt has duly reported the “sleight of voice“. Some even go so far as to connect the 9-year-old girl’s lip-syncing (to another girl’s voice) to the fabricated fake dumpling fillings of cardboard, surfaced last summer in the height of another bout of China bashing.

Perhaps they’re too caught up in the Olympic fever, reflexively making a mountain out of a molehill. But what they fail to highlight is the fact that both controversies came to light in the Chinese media. The main reason given by the producers of the opening ceremonies, it seems, was aesthetic in nature. Then there’s such a thing as reading too much into the Chinese psyche – obsessiveness with perfection, control freaks, and worse yet, paranoia.

It’s nothing short of mind-boggling that the Chinese people’s desire to impress the rest of the world with their new-found confidence, economic achievement and genuine hospitality seems lost on many observers. Professor Victor Cha at Georgetown University, a former Bush administration Asia specialist, warns before the start of the Games:

“A good Olympics will boost pride but if it goes badly it will play into the idea that the west has always tried to keep China down and now that they have their moment in the sun, it is still trying to keep China down.”

The media’s bull’s-eye, Michael Phelps, shows his winning personality off the water. At a press conference, he was extremely gracious towards a Chinese journalist when the interpreter was out of sight. The question Phelps insisted on knowing turned out to be “Are you good at mathematics?” The swimmer extraordinaire smiled and answered, “No, I was horrible at math.”

Perhaps the media can take a cue from the athletes.