Product Description

Already the world has seen the political, economic, and cultural significance of hosting the 2008 Olympics in Beijing - in policies instituted and altered, positions softened, projects undertaken. But will the Olympics make a lasting difference? This book approaches questions about the nature and future of China through the lens of sports - particularly as sports finds its utmost international expression in the Olympics.Drawing on newly available archival sources to analyze a hundred-year perspective on sports in China, "Olympic Dreams" explores why the country became obsessed with Western sports at the turn of the twentieth century, and how it relates to China's search for a national and international identity. Through case studies of ping-pong diplomacy and the Chinese handling of various sporting events, the book offers unexpected details and unusual insight into the patterns and processes of China's foreign policymaking - insights that will help readers understand China's interactions with the rest of the world.Among the questions Xu Guoqi brings to the fore are: Why did Mao Zedong choose competitive ping-pong to manipulate world politics? How did the two-China issue nearly kill the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games? And why do the 2008 Olympics present Beijing with unprecedented dangers and opportunities? In exploring these questions, Xu brilliantly articulates a fresh and surprising perspective on China as an international sport superpower as well as a new "sick man of East Asia." In "Olympic Dreams", he presents an eloquent argument that in the deeply unsettled China of today, sport, as a focus of popular interest, has the capacity to bring about major social changes.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #535762 in Books
• Published on: 2008-05-13
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 392 pages

Clifford Coonan, Irish Times, 03/05/08
Where Olympic Dreams scores highest is in describing and explaining the importance
the Olympic Games have for China's self-esteem, its sense of belonging on the
international stage, and how successive leaders have focused on the powerful political
platform that the Games provide."

Guardian, Michael Rank, 26 July 2008
[T]his highly readable book traces the history of China's sporting ambition, from an
obscure lecture in Tientsin in 1908 to the `high quality Olympics with Chinese
characteristics' that are to open in Beijing next month. [...] This book focuses on the
tricky negotiations involving Beijing, Taipei and the IOC over participation, often in
fascinating detail [...] [A]lthough this book is unlikely to win many gold medals, it is a
useful introduction to an awkward topic that simply won't go away.

Times Higher Education, Steve Tsang, 25 July 2008
This well-research and perceptive book puts paid to the idea that it is the Chinese
Government's policy to separate politics from sport in general and the Olympics in
particular. [...] Xu's highly readable book not only tells the story of the Beijing Olympics
and how they are inextricably intertwined with politics, but also gives an historical sweep
in explaining how modern sport came to be embraced in China and how it has always
been mixed up with politics. [...] This is a thoughtful and highly informative book that all
interested in the Beijing Olympic will find rewarding, and it should be required reading
for journalists covering the 2008 games.