Radio Silence

Perhaps a clearer and more optimistic picture will emerge once the medals are won and the athletes are home. But much of the talk about exploring human rights and development issues during the Beijing Olympics faded to the background as soon as the first medals were handed out.

This interesting piece in today's National Post explores the sentiments of those living beyond the Olympic glare (you can read more China-related material on this blog here and here). It raises some interesting points and reminds us that in a country the size of China it is entirely logical to assume Olympics in Beijing are too far away to have a positive impact on China's far-flung regions. Rather the only potential for impact may well be in whether funds for those regions were diverted to help pay for the Olympics.

On a different scale, but similarily, I don't expect to see many people arguing how Vancouver hosting the Winter Olympics in 2010 will benefit Newfoundland, or Nunavut, or Saskatchewan for that matter. Perhaps we should re-think what we mean when we talk about what impact the Olympics will have on China as a whole.