Hongmei Li: Eager Olympic Sports Fans in China

When Western leaders are talking about the human rights issue in China and boycotting the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, China's response is always like "the Olympics are merely sport events. No politics should be involved." Such responses often encounter critical skepticism not just in the West and but also among Chinese critics. While it is true that politics have always been part of the Olympics in its history of more than one hundred years, let's forget about politics for a moment and look at the eagerness of the Chinese sports fans to watch the Olympic Games in Beijing. Today is July 25. This morning at around 8 AM, when I rode my bicycle to my workplace at Chaoyang Park, the competition venue of Beach Volleyball, I saw a huge crowd of people gathering around East Gate 4, some with umbrellas and others with... [read full story]