snowflakes. That was the central theme of Friday’s opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Beijing. A bold theme, because all the snow in Beijing is fake. But for Zhang Yimou, China’s most prominent film and event director, a fitting symbol. Each snowflake is different, but together they form the great snow carpet that makes the Games possible.
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There was also a lot of propaganda. The snowflake represents Zhang Yimou, who also hosted the Opening Ceremony of the 2008 Summer Games, for unity in diversity in China, where all 56 officially recognized peoples, including the Uyghurs and Tibetans, form one nation. It also stands for all countries and peoples outside of China, which together form one world. A world in which China is happy to fulfill its new, peace-loving role as a guide.
The swinging opening show was full of traditional elements. For example, there was extensive attention for the Chinese New Year. A so-called “welcoming pine tree” appeared in fireworks. This is a tree that has grown much more in one side than the other and is thus a symbol of welcoming guests: the tree extends its branches towards them, as it were. There was also a lot of attention for folk traditions, for the common people who carry the Chinese tradition: they are China’s modern heroes. The opening thus harks back to the beginning of communism in China: even then art for and by the common people had to replace the degenerated art of the bourgeoisie.
It’s just the way President Xi Jinping likes it: China should no longer be a country in the hands of a spoiled and arrogant elite. It is not the young, hip pop singers who gather millions of fans that are in the spotlight, but traditional folk art such as paper cutting and painting New Year’s greetings.
All this in a hypermodern jacket. China wants to present itself as a modern and high-tech society in which everyone lives happily.
The floor was striking: it consisted of a gigantic LED screen that reacted interactively to the movement on the floor. According to the Chinese explanation, this was an example of high-quality AI, precisely the area in which China is increasingly getting ahead of the rest of the world.
Incidentally, Russian President Putin, who was in the stadium with a number of other heads of state, could not be seen on the screens all evening. The other heads of government in the stadium were also not in the picture. In this way, no one needed to see that many government leaders were missing. The United States, Britain and Canada decided not to send a diplomatic delegation to the opening due to the oppression of the Uyghur minority in Xinjiang province. India joined in.
China’s message is clear: China is a good-natured, peace-loving, modern nation built on the solid foundations of a uniquely Chinese tradition. Through cooperation, a new Chinese spring can start after the current ice age. A Pax Sinica that unites the world now that the Pax Americana has had its day.
A version of this article also appeared in NRC on the morning of February 5, 2022