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China's Olympic Mood

The China Olympics got off to a badChinese and souring the mood for the
start with people trying to tackle theBeijing Games.
person carrying the Olympic flame;And now a violent earthquake has
however, that was nothing compared todevastated a broad patch of central
what we're seeing now- earthquakes,China, particularly here in mountainous
tremors, after shocks, radioactiveSichuan province, killing up to 50,000
leaks, and potential floods from damspeople. The scale of destruction is so
breaking, etc. Talk about China'svast -- and the horizon for a return to
Olympic mood being somber! It's morenormalcy so distant -- that it is
like some cosmic curse.difficult to imagine a carefree crowd in
Eight is an auspicious number in ChineseBeijing when the Games open Aug. 8.
tradition, and 2008 was supposed to be aForgedaboutdit!
joyful year, a time for celebrating atAcross the country, Chinese had joyfully
the Beijing Olympics and basking inembraced the role of Olympic host. Most
international recognition of thealso seemed to buy into the idea that --
country's tremendous progress under theduring the Olympic year, at least -- the
careful leadership of the Communistworld was ready to overlook the party's
Party. It has not turned out that way.Leninist ideology and accept its
The uprising in Tibet on March 14 shouldpromises of eventual political reform.
have been a sign!If other nations were willing to show
The Tibet crisis focused the world'spatience, the party hoped, the Chinese
attention on the long-festering issue ofpeople would be encouraged to follow
China's abuse of human rights. Thesuit.
worldwide Olympic torch relay, conceivedNow the attention is internal and the
as a "journey of harmony," turned into a"internals" could get worse before they
magnet for protest, embarrassing Olympicget better.
organizers, angering nationalistic



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