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Olympism and Nation-Building from a Cultural Perspective Beijing Olympics and the Traditional Hutong Neighbourhood Final Report

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Olympism and Nation-Building from a Cultural Perspective Beijing Olympics and the Traditional Hutong Neighbourhood Final Report Olympism and Nation-building from a Cultural Perspective Beijing Olympics and the Traditional hutong Neighbourhood Final Report to the Olympic Studies Centre, IOC, Lausanne, Switzerland Submitted by: Jialing LUO Department of Social Anthropology University of Cambridge August 2010 Research Report, Jialing LUO, August 2010 I. The cultural Olympiad: an introduction1 It is not surprising that the Ancient Olympics did not start with the scale and influence of the Games that we see today. In fact, the very first Olympics in 776 BC were merely a one-day event, consisting of a single sport (running) and involving only local participants (International Olympic Committee 2006: 7-9). However, it evolved over time into a multi-dimensional festivity described by historian Donald G Kyle (2007: 94) below: Competitors and spectators came from all over the Mediterranean for over a thousand years, from the eighth century B.C. to at least the late fourth century A.D…At the Panhellenic (all-Greek) games of Zeus, however, Greeks assembled to venerate their gods, enjoy elite competition, and appreciate their common culture, which included their language, gods, mythology, and, of course, their passion for athletics. “[Reminding]reminded Greeks of what made them Greek,” (Ibid.) the aspects of Olympia as athletic event, sacred ritual, and cultural celebration are considered to be the “ethos of the panegyris”2, on which Pierre de Coubertin drew to restore the Modern Olympics (Gold & Revill 2007: 59). Rising from this ‘ethos’ is the cultural dimension of the Olympiad that form ‘a spiritual component’ of the modern Games, replacing the religious aspect of the ancient Games involving the worship of Zeus. While the cultural Olympiad was essential to fostering a sense of unity among the city-states of ancient Greece, the Modern Olympics are intended to promote a common identity for humanity on the basis of respecting and celebrating differences. This idea is reflected in Olympism, the contextualization of the vision of Coubertin and his understanding of the revived Olympics: Olympism is a philosophy of life, exalting and combining in a balanced whole the qualities of body, will and mind. Blending sport with culture and education, Olympism seeks to create a way of life based on the joy of effort, the educational value of good example and respect for universal fundamental ethical principles. (International Olympic Committee 2006: 18) Seeing the Modern Olympics revived in 1896 as “a new cultural institution” (MacAloon 1981: xii), John J. MacAloon (Ibid.: 262) uses anthropological terms to interpret Coubertin’s Olympic ideal of “international harmony” and a peaceful world 1 This section describes the research topic and its objectives, and outlines the contributions it is hoped the work will make to both existing scholarship and the Olympic Movement in general. 2 Panegyris, “also spelled Panegyry, Greek Panēgyris (“gathering”), plural Panēgyreis, in Greek religion, an ancient assembly that met on certain fixed dates for the purpose of honouring a specific god. The gatherings varied in size from the inhabitants of a single town to great national meetings, such as the Olympic Games. The religious aspect of the meetings was by far the most important and included prayers, feasts, and processions. The populace, however, was probably more attracted to the amusements, games, fairs, and festive orations (panegyrics) that occurred at the gatherings.” Gwinn, Robert P (Chairman). The New Encyclopædia Britannica Volume 9, p111. 15th Edition (founded in 1768). Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. 2 Research Report, Jialing LUO, August 2010 free from conflicts and wars. He (Ibid.) gives depth to the idea of “popular education” in the “knowledge of the “others”, which Coubertin thinks vital to the Olympics, through rephrasing it as ‘ “popular ethnography” ’. In doing so, the cultural aspect of the Olympics is highlighted, in the sense that “national differences were to be celebrated as different ways of being human” (Ibid.: 266). This directs the Olympics and Olympism towards a glorious objective of expressing a common humanity while recognizing differences: one’s performance and behaviour is, as MacAloon (Ibid.: 266) quoting Ruth Benedict, “to make the world safe for differences”. Here, differences are understood to be not only between nations and between individuals, but also between “collective social forces and unusual individual initiative” (Ibid.: xii). Thus, my research topic emerges. Rather than ceremonies (Luo 2010: 771-730) and the various accompanying cultural events ( Gold & Revill 2007: 59-83) that make up this extraordinary spectacle, my research draws on the Olympics’ reverence for antiquity and tradition, and for the differences and uniqueness of any given culture, based on which the Olympic spirit of internationalism and universal humanity is established. In particular, the research takes historical and cultural perspectives to discuss urban renewal in central Beijing in terms of architecture, urban planning and traditional way of life. Drawing on fieldwork conducted in the hutong and culture-related concepts developed by Raymond Williams, T.S Eliot, Guy Debord and Clifford Geertz, the research paper argues that culture, taking a politicised form, can be planned in a society where tradition has to give way to modernity for ideological reason. Through focusing on changes in the South Gong and Drum hutong neighbourhood, this paper indicates that, while recognising the rapid improvements in infrastructure and facilities, modernization of Beijing at the expense of its irreplaceable traditions and heritage is worth debating in a wider social context beyond academia and the Olympic Movement. This paper hopes to offer a new perspective for understanding contemporary Beijing and China, and to call for the protection of the hutong, the last vestiges of old Beijing. Beijing had been transforming even before the Olympics, which, however, accelerated the pace of change. The seven years between 2001 when Beijing won the Olympic bid and 2008 when it delivered the Games was “biblical”- like (Friedman 2008). During this period of time, “under the banner of the Olympics”, China accumulated seven years of “national investment, planning, concentrated state power, national mobilization and hard work.” (Ibid.) However, one thing omitted from this process of modernization and nation-building was some degree of participation from ordinary people. This is a point reflected in my case study of a hutong neighbourhood, whose traditional cultural values had to give way in the interests of tourism and a politicised new culture, rather than being integrated into the urban restoration in such a way as to best retain the authentic nature of the symbolic old district. Participation is the essence of Olympism. Similarly, involvement of local residents in neighbourhood development is vital in building and consolidating community solidarity and a common identity. This research also suggests that rebuilding is not always the solution, 3 Research Report, Jialing LUO, August 2010 and that radical modernization can lead to a loss of cultural strength. Change should be allowed to take its natural course. Only in a more balanced and rational way, can a nation state be built into its best. Hopefully, the ideas stated in this research paper will contribute to the wealth of knowledge and experience of the Olympic Movement. Or, as D. P. Martinez (2010: 747) puts for Documenting the Beijing Olympics, “…in some small way…will contribute to this understanding of what happens when a nation decides to host the Olympic Games”. II. Methodology In-depth fieldwork was conducted at the South Gong and Drum neighbourhood in Beijing for nearly ten months from October 2007 to September 2008. I did participant observation and intensive interviewing. Visiting and living in the neighbourhood offered me opportunities to acquire an insider’s view through experiencing the everyday life as the local people lived it. Semi-structured interviewing was undertaken, targeting specific issues and informants. Interviews were done before, during and after the Olympics, to detect changes in attitudes and viewpoints over this time span. Two categories of people (organizers and ordinary citizens) of different ages, gender, profession, ethnic backgrounds, and economic status were selected for interview. Some of them were followed up throughout the three stages. Unstructured interviewing and informal interviewing were more frequently carried out, involving a general random population, while focusing on hutong residents. Visiting the Olympic Studies Centre at Lausanne in the summer of 2009 was a good opportunity to access books and documents on Olympism, on the history and development of the Olympic Movement, and on the Beijing Olympics etc. Especially, the Beijing bid books for both 2000 and 2008 Games, the internal journals issued by BOCOG and IOC and the internal online journals and audio/visual documents that can not be found elsewhere were important resources for me to understand the Olympics as other than sporting events. Communication with the IOC members also greatly contributed to my studies of the Olympics. Literature studies at Cambridge helped me organise my thoughts and theorise my research paper. The excellent resources here contributed to my thinking and writing. Academic exchange of ideas on the Olympics at international conferences, such as “Documenting the Beijing Olympics” at SOAS, London, 2008 and ‘Heritage and the Olympics’ in Cambridge 2010, also shed light on my work. III. Modern Summer Olympics and the host cities III. I. The Summer Olympics: 1896-2004 4 Research Report, Jialing LUO, August 2010 Table 1. Host cities of the Summer Olympic Games, 1896-2008 Year City Year City Year City 1. 1896 Athens 11. 1936 Berlin 21. 1976 Montreal 2. 1900 Paris 12. 1940 Not celebrated 22. 1980 Moscow 3. 1904 St. Louis 13. 1944 Not celebrated 23. 1984 Los Angeles 4. 1908 London 14. 1948 London 24. 1988 Seoul 5. 1912 Stockholm 15. 1952 Helsinki 25. 1992 Barcelona 6. 1916 Not 16. 1956 Melbourne 26. 1996 Atlanta celebrated Stockholm (equestrianism) 7. 1920 Antwerp 17. 1960 Rome 27. 2000 Sydney 8.
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