Hook, Line, and Sinker: NBC Swallows Opening Ceremonies Propaganda
First off, I want to say that from an artistic, creative standpoint the Opening Ceremonies exceeded my expectations. Director Zhang Yimou deserves heaping praise for the 2008 drummers, the synchronized, dancing printing blocks, the human calligraphy on the LCD screen, and lighting of the Olympic flame.
But despite the beauty of the spectacle, the conscious decision to create a narrative that rewrites both Chinese history and reality and presents a sugar-sweet sunshine portrait to the world is alarming -- but the fact that the NBC commentators unquestioningly went along with it is downright appalling. Here are two glaring examples.
The first major red flag that this was going to be a propaganda exercise of massive portions was when the government paraded a group of Han Chinese children through the Bird's Nest dressed in the garb of the nation's 54 minority groups -- as a effort to "celebrate" the diversity of China. How inclusive! Except for the fact that the government either exoticizes these groups for tourist purposes while they remain poor, second-class citizens, or create conscious programs to aggressively assimilate these groups out of existence, particularly in politically hostile regions like Tibet and Xinjiang. An equivalent in America would be if the government got a group of white kids from Manhattan together and dressed them up as members of Native American tribes and paraded them around as example of how respectful we are towards the "native peoples."
Any comment from the commentators? Nope. Is this ignorance or intentional? And which is worse?
But the most outrageous double omission came as the ceremonies moved to "modern Chinese history." I was very curious to see how they were going to pull this off. I debated with my family how they were going to mention Mao. Mao is by far most famous, influential and important figure in modern Chinese history, and his picture still hangs prominently in Tiananmen Square. Whenever I'd ask people their opinions of him in my travels in China, they would reply, "he was a great man who made some mistakes." OK! So as NBC cuts back in hurriedly from commercial, the China "expert" Josh Cooper Ramo informs us that the program has now reached 1978, as China opens itself up to the world. Um. Wait one second. Did we miss 1949 to 1978 during the commercial break? I don't think so. It was an understandably calculated move for Zhang to make no reference to Mao -- why spoil the debutante ball with references to a leader who was responsible for tens of millions of deaths? Fine, I get they don't want to retell the stories of things like the Great Leap Forward, or the Cultural Revolution, where for ten years teenagers wreaked havoc, society shut down and millions were sent to work in the countryside. Leaving out these historical realties when telling this history of modern China is certainly a deliberate PR move, but what is unforgivable is that no one, not even Ramo the China "expert," said a damn thing about it. He made one fleeting reference to a costume change where Zhang had decided against dark suits that looked Mao-like, but that was it.
Throughout the segment on ancient Chinese history, Ramo had no trouble explaining the Confucian, Taoist and Buddhist references. He elaborated that China wanted the performance to be didactic in teaching the world about the rich cultural traditions and "replacing old images of China with new ones." Of course they do. That is what propaganda is. Your job, Mr. Ramo, is to provide accurate, informative commentary to explain and counteract this. However, to let China's abridged version of history slide under the radar without any comment is troubling because it means one of the following things.
-- Ramo is an idiot.
-- He, Matt Lauer, and Bob Costas didn't want to say anything remotely negative about the opening ceremonies.
Are they self-censoring? With China detaining the White House press plane, police surveillance everywhere and blocked internet sites, were they worried that these kinds of criticisms of the event while it was airing would provoke ire from the government? Were they actively told that they shouldn't mention this omission of Mao and tow the party line on the "inclusion" of minorities? Or were their comments edited out? Whatever the answer is, it doesn't say anything good about NBC's ability to provide fair coverage of what is far more than a sporting event. Everyone knows this is a geo-political extravaganza.
My colleague David Flumenbaum has pointed out that we've been totally duped by promises that there will be a free press covering the games, and it's unacceptable for NBC to be, or appear to be, in the Communist Party's pocket. This is about more than routine criticism about commentators being trite. There is a lot more at stake right now, and we must vigilantly demand that Olympic coverage is never compromised.
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I would take this article seriously, however, the US does the same thing that China is accused of doing. Anyone read school textbooks lately? Is it ignorance or propoganda that we do not teach our own children the correct history? We still have people today who espouse that the Civil War was because of economics and not slavery. Nevermind that slavery was tied to the Southern economy. Nevermind that many confederate soldiers were quoted as stating that the South went to war because of the slavery issue. Yet our textbooks today say it was because of economics.
This can be said about any country for that matter.
Ignorance or Propoganda. Exactly...
So I find it very hypocritical for the people to blast the Chinese for that part of the segment.
Did you ever think that the opening ceremony WASN'T going to be a propaganda exercise?
Every modern Olympic games consists of one part propaganda to one part marketing, wrapped around a 2 week track meet. And no nation ever spends 40 BILLION dollars (as China reported has on these games) putting on a track meet.
Comments on this article seem to be mostly critical, in one of two ways: (1) It's silly to expect the Chinese to highlight the less savory parts of their history -- after all, the US hasn't highlighted slavery or mistreatment of Native Americans, or the Vietnam War, etc.; or (2) it's a sporting event, and therefore any political commentary is inappropriate.
In my opinion, complaint (1) misses the point of the article. The author clearly agrees that it is understandable that the organizers glossed over, or omitted entirely, certain historical facts. Her main criticism is that the NBC CREW completely ignored the central fact of modern Chinese history -- the ascendance and excesses of the Communist Party under Mao and his successors -- during a show whose theme was Chinese history.
Regarding objection (2), the Games are awarded by the IOC to a host CITY. Most recent opening ceremonies, therefore, have celebrated some aspect of the host city or region (e.g., the Hollywood-bizzare in 1984). The opening ceremony (except for the entry of the athletes) is not about sport; it is an advertisement of the economic or cultural clout of the host.
In this case, the advertisement was about the emergence of the entire PRC as a world power. There is nothing wrong with that, albeit showcasing an entire country is unusual. But there would also be nothing wrong with the broadcasters providing a little geopolitical context.
I couldn't believe it when the NBC commentators, while showing a picture of Tiananmen Square, pointed out that it was the place when the "incident" happened. Incident?? You mean like the incident where the Chinese government murdered thousands of protesters? The incident that everyone commonly refers to as the Tiananment Square Massacre?? Why even mention it at all? Sickening.
I understand your qualms with China celebrating ethnic minorities that are actually oppressed, and the commentors not saying anything.
But you actually expected Mao to be referenced, and were upset when he was not? This is the Olympics. The Olympics is when countries CELEBRATE their accomplishments as nations and the triumphant aspects of their histories, not mourn their tragedies or apologize for their atrocities. That's just not what the games are about. If I were to go to the games in Berlin, and their opening ceremonies were showcasing German history, I would expect to see images of the Berlin wall coming down, not concentration camp victims being gassed. None of the American games have featured the extermination of Native Americans or masters whipping their slaves. I can just imagine if China HAD recognized this period: what would they have had, a starving peasant being shot in the back of the head by a 13 year old communist for stealing from the communal rice stock? Talk about a mood killer.
Opening ceremonies are CELEBRATORY by nature. Had you written an article simply criticizing the Chinese by highlighting these realities (ethnic oppression, the cultural revolution) I would understand. But you're not talking about these issues in general, you're saying they should be including in a CELEBRATIONAL ceremony. At the Christmas parade, I don't expect to see Santa Clause stand up on his float and say "And now, a few words about pedophilia in the Catholic Church..."
YOUR job is to be critical of the Chinese. His job was to break down the event.
WHAT WAS TO SWALLOW !!!!
Just sit back and enjoy the opening. It was well planned and well excuted.
China has told you all many times in many way they will change at thier own time in their own ways,
How many guard and people were killed in China by Terrorist Attacks ??
Would you be happier if the games were attacked??
Give it a break !!!!!!
polarmin
No doubt the Chinese would have shut off NBC had the commentators been critical of China's atrocious human rights history.
If they had shut off NBC it would have destroyed the image that they were trying to
portray to the world.
While I think its good to point out what's missing from the coverage -- more of a critique of China's current human rights abuses, lack of freedoms we take for granted, etc. -- to expect the Chinese people themselves to show the dark part of their history in the opening ceremony is a ridiculous idea.
Would the USA if they had been hosting the Olympics have shown the horrors of slavery, the genocide of Native Americans and their culture, the internment of Japanese-Americans, the support of brutal dictatorship around the world during (and after) the Cold War, the torture of prisoners of war, and all our other most heinous acts during the opening ceremonies? Of course not.
American don't even know their own history... what makes anyone think that they would notice the Chinese propaganda
The thing that bothered me most about the opening was the NBC praise of the Chinese navy. The thing is, China was conquored by the Europeans because it HAD no navy to speak of. They didn't expect to be invaded from the seas. When the Europeans finally showed up and the Chinese couldn't rid themselves of them, some in the antiquated court system urged the government to open Naval Academies, schools to teach shipbuilding, etc. The suggestions, unfortunately for the Chinese people, were rejected by the tradition-bound governmental system until it was too late to do any real good.
Although they may indeed have been mighty sea river farers, and had some ocean going copacity, the reality is that they were so weak at sea that the Empire was finally invaded because they simply didn't have a Navy.
NBC's reliance on the information fed to them was unfortunate. I can understand that in the spirit of the Olympics they didn't want to call the Chinese on their own history, but to perpetuate false information was not right either.
Katherine,
I appreciate your efforts to expose China for its failings, but given that our government practices torture, sends foreign nationals off to secret prisons with no hope of a fair trial, illegally spies on its own citizens, launched a massive and unprovoked assault on a sovereign nation, and can't manage to run honest elections here at home, don't you think it a bit hypocritical for Americans to be offering critiques of other nations?
We're living in a glass house, and the smart thing to do is to stop throwing stones and get our own affairs in order.
Thisnis the fourth post about this blog. All others have been rejected. I disagree .
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In response to the couple of people who have challenged whether i knew for sure if the children were actually the ethnic groups they porportedly represented -- the brief images i saw on the screen, based on the time that I spent in rural Yunnan, they appeared to me to be Han. I apologize for any inaccuracy. It is possible that they were not Han, and were part of the ethnic groups they claimed to represent. Without knowing for sure either way, my larger point still stands that these groups are either routinely exoticized or the victims of assimilation campaigns. The image of china honoring and celebrating their ethnic groups as part of one big happy family is still propaganda.
Katherine - every country hosting every Olympics indulges in blatant propaganda. We certainly do. It is not reasonable for you to squint at the screen and try to pinpoint errors in ethnic identification. If we host the next Olympics in Chicago perhaps we will celebrate the daily murders in the city, or the poverty in the projects. Or we can present an animated history of slavery in America. The Chinese have a right to put their best foot forward and to teach the rest of us something about their culture and their country.
Each of the 56 children representing the 56 ethnic groups were genuine members of their ethnic populations. Each child would have come from a recognizable home in his or her community and thereafter be the toast of the community. The propoganda value of this representation at the Opening Ceremonies is immeasurable. A Han child in costume would have been an extreme insult to China's ethnic peoples and be instantly exposed as fake. The damage this exposure would do would be far worse than anyone can possibly inflict on China.
The children represent the future of China in whose hands, thus the national flag they were carrying, China's fate will rest. The national flag was handed over to the PLA Honor Guard the symbolism being that the PLA will be the guarantors of their security. For a long time China's soldiers had not been able to provide any security for her children. Those times are no more.
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