Big Brother Meets the Terrace
By Max J. Rosenthal • Dec 4th, 2007 • Category: News & Notes, World Football Culture • 8 responsesWith the 2008 Olympic soccer tournament approaching, China is eagerly preparing to completely miss the point:
“Zhongguo, Zhongguo — ha, ha, ha. Zhongguo, Zhongguo bi sheng,” the crowd shouts, simultaneously beating yellow, stick-shaped batons to the rhythm. “Jia you, jia you.” Rough translation: “China, China — ha, ha, ha. China, China must win. Let’s go, let’s go.”
One of about 20 cheers approved by authorities, it’s drilled a half-dozen times, orderly repetitions practiced in a meeting hall darkened by stained gray carpet squares and wood paneling. Thirty red and yellow paper lanterns dangle overhead, casting faint light on government slogans papering the walls.
Welcome to the “Beijing Civilized Workers Cheering Squad,” a public-education program to teach sportsmanship, all part of a larger Olympic etiquette campaign to show off a polite, prosperous and powerful China.
…
“We are not going to shout profanities in front of foreigners because the Olympics is a show for foreigners,” said Lui Wei, a 21-year-old spectator attending a recent Guo’an game.
Said foreigners were off buying books on Chinese swear words and were not available for comment.
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I wonder if “You Suck Asshole” sounds any less dumb in Mandarin?
One more thing. Because Home Nations can’t talk to each other than it comes to soccer, UK won’t be taking part in this tournament and can’t see good young talent “Made in UK”. On the other note, Canada won’t be taking part in this tournament because “Application deadline for coaching job is December 7th”
That’s weird about Canada. What’s the full story there, Davyd?
As for Britain, the Olympics reasoning there is pretty political (and somewhat petty). I’m not sure what the current state of play is for 2012 (or at least, can’t remember it this late at night), but you’d think we’d scrape some sort of compromise together for London at least.
Not so much ‘missing the point’, more of a reflection of Chinese culture, especially the concept of ‘face’ and how vital it is not to lose face in front of strangers, especially guests, and especially when it’s the whole world.
… Ah, my people. So proud. I was supposed to go to some of the football matches next summer — until my dad decided he was going to retire and sit on his butt at home for the Games. Thanks, dad.
Linda makes a good point, though. I read the article and didn’t even blink, because I’m so used to hearing about this kind of thing. What will be interesting to see is how the fans actually react when the time comes. Discipline vs collective effervescence, Foucault vs Durkheim …
oh my god, that didn’t even make any sense. I’m sorry, it’s finals week and I haven’t slept for 48 hours.
[...] Polite chanting with the Beijing Civilised Workers Cheering Squad (Pitch Invasion) [...]
http://www.tsn.ca/soccer/news_story/?ID=223464&hubname=
You can read full story on Canadian Olympic team status, it makes me sad. Very, very sad after reading about US under 23 team, http://www.ussoccer.com/articles/soccer/index.jsp_2007-December%203,%202007.html