Evaluating the Impact of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games

Xu Xin teaches in the Department of Government at Cornell University and is associate director of the China and Asia-Pacific Studies (CAPS) program. Prior to joining the faculty at Cornell, Xu Xin headed the the China and the World Program from 2006-07. He was also formerly Associate Professor of International Relations in the Department of International Politics at Peking University in China, and Associate Professor of Asia Pacific Studies at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University in Japan. He was also a Visiting Research Fellow at the Japan Institute of International Affairs, an International Fellow at the Charles F. Kettering Foundation in the U.S., and a Postdoctoral Fellow on national security in the John M. Olin Institute for Strategic Studies at Harvard University. His current areas of interest include the Taiwan issue, East Asian security politics, Asian regionalism and multilateralism, and Chinas foreign policy. The nuances of the Beijing Olympics lie in the historical confluence of Olympic Idealism and Chinese Renaissance as well as its potential impact on Chinas relations with the world at the critical juncture of deepening globalization in the 21st century. China's successful hosting of the 2008 Olympic Games supports its push for harmony without uniformity both domestically and internationally. Internally, China's government insists on unity and externally, it rejects Western standards as being the ones all should be measured by.

Xu Xin teaches in the Department of Government at Cornell University and is associate director of the China and Asia-Pacific Studies (CAPS) program. Prior to joining the faculty at Cornell, Xu Xin headed the the China and the World Program from 2006-07. He was also formerly Associate Professor of International Relations in the Department of International Politics at Peking University in China, and Associate Professor of Asia Pacific Studies at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University in Japan. He was also a Visiting Research Fellow at the Japan Institute of International Affairs, an International Fellow at the Charles F. Kettering Foundation in the U.S., and a Postdoctoral Fellow on national security in the John M. Olin Institute for Strategic Studies at Harvard University. His current areas of interest include the Taiwan issue, East Asian security politics, Asian regionalism and multilateralism, and Chinas foreign policy. The nuances of the Beijing Olympics lie in the historical confluence of Olympic Idealism and Chinese Renaissance as well as its potential impact on Chinas relations with the world at the critical juncture of deepening globalization in the 21st century. China's successful hosting of the 2008 Olympic Games supports its push for harmony without uniformity both domestically and internationally. Internally, China's government insists on unity and externally, it rejects Western standards as being the ones all should be measured by.

Shen Dingli earned his doctorate in physics and was a postdoctoral fellow at Princeton University. He is a professor of international relations at Shanghais Fudan University. He directs the university's Center for American Studies and is and executive dean of the universitys Institute of International Studies. He is the co-founder and director of China's first non-government-based Program on Arms Control and Regional Security, at Fudan University. Prof. Shen teaches courses on nonproliferation and international security, and Chinas foreign policy and carries out research on China-US security matters and nuclear ties, regional security and nonproliferation issues, and Chinese and American foreign and defense policies. He is a member of the USCI board of scholars and publishes widely. Prof. Shen argued the success of the Games reaffirmed Chinas standing among world leaders. Chinas economy is now the third largest in the world. He believes that the domestic and international impacts of the Games are intertwined and cant be easily separated. He noted that this was a huge national event for China. Ordinarily the Games are hosted by individual cities and managed by non-governmental organizations, but in this case the reputation of the entire nation was at stake. In the U.S., taxpayers would complain if soldiers were deployed to train as performers for the Games. In China, people saw it as a matter of national credibility and understood the deployment. Prof. Shen also suggested that efforts to link the Games to the situation in Darfur was depicted by the Chinese government as unfair, but the protests did lead the Chinese government to change its policies toward Sudan, to quietly push for action to address the humanitarian crisis in Darfur. And many in the international community appreciated this effort. It was a useful experience for the Chinese government to act in response to criticism and then to see critics giving them credit for the effort. USC symposium brought together scholars and practitioners who shared research insights on China's public diplomacy strategies and the impact of these games on perceptions of China's soft power resources and global attitudes towards a rising China.

Daniel Lynch teaches in the USC School of International Relations and is a member of the USC U.S.-China Institute executive committee. He is the author of two books, Rising China and Asian Democratization: Socialization to Global Culture (2006) and After the Propaganda State: Media, Politics, and Thought Work (1999). He publishes extensively in academic journals and also in popular publications such as the Far Eastern Economic Review. Lynch is currently researching how Chinese political and intellectual elites expect China will, or should, change in the years leading up to about 2030. He is focusing on five interrelated issue-areas: domestic political processes and institutions; comprehensive national power and its implications for the country's role(s) in world politics; Party-state defense of cultural integrity and national identity under conditions of deepening globalization; development and diffusion of potentially transformative new technologies; and prospects for achieving sustainable development. Prof. Lynch discussed the presentations of Xu Xin, Jeff Wasserstrom, and Shen Dingli. He marked the distinction China's government makes between international and global realms, stressing that in electing to embrace the former and not the latter, China's authorities are denying the existence of truly universal values. Instead, they push for tolerance of differences among nations, arguing that harmonious interaction is still possible and desirable. Lynch also noted that it is extraordinarily difficult to use big events such as the Olympics to convey set images of a country. Once dispatched, images can be picked up and used by others in various ways.

Susan Brownell heads the Department of Anthropology and Languages at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Her first book, Training the Body for China, was based on her experiences as a member of the Beijing University track and field team in 1985-86, when she won a gold medal in the 1986 Chinese National College Games. Her most recent book, Beijing's Games: What the Olympics Mean to China, provides the historical and cultural context for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. She was the translator of the biography of China's senior sports diplomat and member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), He Zhenliang and China's Olympic Dream. In 2007-08 she was a Fulbright Scholar at the Beijing Sport University. She collaborated with the Beijing City government on Olympic education programs in primary and middle schools, and was recently named a "capital city advanced Olympic individual" for her contributions. In the lead-up to the Games she was interviewed by nearly 100 journalists from more than 20 countries.

Stanley Rosen teaches political science at USC and directs the USC East Asian Studies Center. He's also a member of the USC U.S.-China Institute executive committee. Rosen is co-editor of the journal Chinese Education and Society. He teaches courses on Chinese politics, East Asian societies, Chinese film and film and politics. He has written or edited seven books, the most recent of which are State and Society in 21st-Century China (co-edited, 2004) and Chinese Cinema at a Hundred: Art, Politics and Commerce (co-edited, forthcoming). His current research involves public opinion surveys, higher education reform in China, the Chinese film industry and its overseas prospects, the prospects for Hollywood film in the Chinese market, and value change among Chinese youth. Prof. Rosen discussed the presentations of Susan Brownell and Jay Wang. He noted that in advance of the Games, many in the Western press argued that the run up to the Games had amply demonstrated China's shortcomings in terms of ethnic relations, press freedom, and migrant rights. The Games themselves, however, received much acclaim. He noted, for example, that Zhang Yimou, the producer of the Games opening and closing ceremonies was named a runner-up to Barack Obama in Time Magazines Person of the Year selection. Steven Spielberg, who had withdrawn as an artistic advisor to the Games, wrote the Time magazine article celebrating Zhangs achievements.

Jian "Jay" Wang studies international corporate communication and public diplomacy and teaches public relations at USC Annenberg's School of Communication. He previously taught at Purdue University and the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He has published extensively on corporate social responsibility practices in emerging economies, Chinese corporate communication, health care branding, and corporate public diplomacy initiatives. He wrote Foreign Advertising in China: Becoming Global, Becoming Local and co-authored China's Window on the World: TV News, Social Knowledge and International Spectacles. He is a member of the USC U.S.-China Institute executive committee.

Barry Sanders is Chairman of the Southern California Committee for the Olympic Games. As Chairman, he led the recent effort to bid for the 2016 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. In September 2007 he received the Olympic Spirit Award from the United States Olympic Committee and the William May Garland Award from the Southern California Committee for the Olympic Games. He is also President of the Board of Commissioners of the Recreation and Parks Department of the City of Los Angeles and Chairman of the Los Angeles Parks Foundation. Following the 1992 riots, Sanders co-chaired Rebuild L.A., an effort aimed at improving inner-city conditions and ethnic relations. Sanders teaches about architecture as non-verbal communication and about public diplomacy at UCLA. Sanders recently retired as a partner with Latham & Watkins, where he practiced law for more than 35 years. During that time he headed the firms international practices group. He received the 2001 Lerned Hand Award for outstanding leadership in the profession. Sanders continues to be involved with a wide variety of community organizations, including those supporting the arts.

Four-time Olympic gold medalist, Janet Evans is recognized as the best female distance swimmer in United States history. In addition to her gold medals, she held six American records, three world records, 45 national titles, 17 international titles, and five NCAA titles. Evanss records have been difficult to beat, one of her world records still stands. She won medals at the 1988 and 1992 Olympics and also represented the United States at the Atlanta Games in 1996, serving as one of the final torch carriers. Evans is also a member of the Trojan family, having studied here. Each July, USC hosts the Janet Evans Invitational, a major swim meet.

Larsen Jensen is also a USC graduate. As a swimmer, he distinguished himself in the freestyle. He earned a silver medal in the 2004 Athens Olympics and a bronze medal in Beijing.

Jeffrey Owens teaches economics and economic history at Gustavus Adolpus College. His research and publications include work on returns to public investment in stadiums and sporting events. Among the most influential of these works is Estimating the Cost and Benefit of Hosting Olympic Games: What Can Beijing Expect from its 2008 Games? in The Industrial Geographer, and Bread or Circus? The Ethics of Economic Impact Studies. in Enterprising Worlds: A Geographic Perspective on Economics, Environments & Ethic. The 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing continued the pattern of escalating investment in sports venues and other infrastructure by host cities. It is commonly believed that mega-events such as the Olympics leave a large and positive economic legacy for host cities, but ex-post studies have found little or no evidence of such impacts. Although the Olympic Games are a catalyst for investment, this investment is largely ill-suited to contribute to long-term economic growth. There are early indications that this will be just as true for the Beijing Games as it has for other recent Olympics.

Kelly Crabb's is a partner at Morrison & Foerster, the international counsel for the Beijing Olympics Organizing Committee. He previously served as counsel for the Salt Lake Winter Olympics. He has extensive experience in Asia, Oceania, Europe, and Latin America. He is especially well-versed in handling broadcasting and other media rights. His responsibilities included overseeing contracts for licensed goods and working to curtail intellectual piracy. In addition to Olympics projects, Crabb has extensive experience in content rights acquisition and licensing; motion picture, television, Internet and other content production, financing, distribution and exhibition; music business contracts; commercial endorsements and advertising; live entertainment, sporting events and legitimate stage productions; and corporate mergers and acquisitions and joint venture transactions. His book, The Movie Business, was published by Simon & Schuster. Kelly Crabb discussed how the corporation formed by the Beijing Olympics Organizing Committee grows to multibillion dollar proportions, hosts the events, and then dissolves.

Barbara J. Walkosz teaches communication studies at the University of Colorado, Denver. Her research and teaching focus on the role of mass media in society, political and civil discourse, and health communication. She has also been examining how China is represented in leading American media outlets and in the emergence of new media in Asia. She co-authored the study Definition, equivocation, accumulation, and anticipation: America medias ideological reading of Chinas Olympic Games, which was published in Owning the Olympics: Narratives of the New China (2008). The 2008 Olympic Games provided an extraordinary opportunity for China to display its culture, ideology, and values to a global audience. The media coverage of the Olympics is the primary means by which these cultural displays were disseminated. As a result, the media had the potential to affect perceptions of China by the larger global community including whether China achieved its objectives of impressing the world and positioning itself as a legitimate member of the global community. The media frames used to represent the Olympics will be discussed in the context of four ideological spaces: definition, equivocation, accumulation, and anticipation. Each of these spaces allows the media to set up a tension between two options concerning a major exigence, something that the media identify as waiting to be done, a thing which is other than it should be. Prof. Walkosz explicates these spaces and discusses how each reassures media consumers.

Monroe E. Price heads the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Global Communication Studies at the Annenberg School for Communication. In that role he works with a wide transnational network of regulators, scholars, and practitioners in Europe, Africa, Latin America and Asia as well as in the United States. Earlier, Price founded the Programme in Comparative Media Law and Policy at Oxford University and remains a Research Fellow there. He also chairs the Center for Media and Communications Studies at Central European University. Price has served on the Presidents Task Force on Telecommunications Policy and the Sloan Commission on Cable Communications (both in the 1970s) and on the Carter-Sagalaev Commission on Radio and Television Policy (in the 1990s). Price has also taught at UCLA, the Cardozo School of Law in New York City, and has visited at Cornell and the University of Sydney among other places. His most recent book Owning the Olympics: Narratives of the New China (co-edited, 2008). Price is a fellow of the USC Center on Public Diplomacy. He contributed a number of Olympics-related entries to the Huffington Post.