One world watched one incredible dream unfold from a bird’s nest. The Beijing Olympic Opening Ceremony was a stunning, spectacular success.
I think it’s safe to say no one in the world has seen anything like it. I covered the Barcelona and Atlanta Summer Olympics for TV, as well as the Lillehammer Winter Olympics. I can’t remember a single detail from their opening ceremonies. But I won’t forget China’s.
China’s show took your breath away. It was a magical dream unfolding with precision by a cast of 15,000. For the Chinese this was a moment of immense national pride. If there was any doubt that China is on the brink of being a super power, it was dispelled on August 8, 2008.
But can a country with a history of Buddhism and enlightenment practice what they preached in the opening ceremony – living in balance and harmony with nature and the rest of the world? Can they become compassionate, responsible leaders? Right now the answer is no. Not with China’s current record of human rights violations, corruption, secrecy and pollution.
China is a one party totalitarian state with strict controls on its population. The opening ceremony worked because the Chinese people were ordered to make it work. The government imposed its will ruthlessly. We’ll never really know the true cost the people paid for these Olympics. We’ll never know the real sacrifices they made. China does not speak openly. It’s still veiled in secrecy. Nevertheless, what China did on the night of August 8 was to open the door to the world. Now they have to open their hearts.
They do that by speaking to us without fear of being punished by their government. Our role is to communicate with them every way we can. If both sides keep talking, then the door they’ve opened will stay open. Communication is the key to unlocking China, if China really is to be an involved player in the world community. Secrecy and rigidness won’t help them.
China has given the world a lot already, as the Opening Ceremony pointed out – fireworks, paper, printing to name a few. This is the country that also gave the world Taoism, a philosophy of living based on harmony.
Taoism’s famous founder was the philosopher, Lao Tzu. He was a contemporary of Confucius, living in the sixth century. Lao Tzu is famous for his book Tao Te Ching. There he stresses the importance of harmony between humanity and the universe. He writes:
People are born soft and supple
Dead, they are stiff and hard.
Plants are born tender and pliant.
Dead, they are brittle and dry.
Thus whomever is stiff and inflexible
Is a disciple of death.
Whomever is soft and yielding
Is a disciple of life.
The hard and the stiff will be broken.
The soft and the supple will prevail.
If China wants to truly work for harmony and balance, they need to remember the lessons of Lao Tzu. They need to be soft and supple. They need to open their hearts and start an honest dialogue with the world. That’s the only way they’ll be able to make their one dream a reality.
