Steve's China Blog

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Differences

This is kind of an interesting example of some differences you see here...

Our Country Is the Best in the Wall Street Journal

Assorted TV commentators keep opining that the Olympics are all about the brotherhood of man, rather than national ambition or patriotism. But don't tell that to the fanatically nationalist Chinese -- or to Kobe Bryant, the NBA star who is playing with Team USA in Beijing.

In an interview Friday on NBC, the world's most famous basketball player told Chris Collinsworth how he got "goosebumps" when he received his Olympics uniform. "I actually just looked at it for a while. I just held it there and I laid it across my bed and I just stared at it for a few minutes; just because as a kid growing up this is the ultimate, ultimate in basketball." The Los Angeles Laker went on to call the U.S. "the greatest country in the world. It has given us so many great opportunities, and it's just a sense of pride that you have; that you say, 'You know what? Our country is the best.'"

...and then this...

Athlete Berated Over Bronze Medal from Sky News

Beijing's ruthless demand for perfection was highlighted when Tan Zongliang was made to squirm on China Central Television after missing out in the men's 50m pistol competition.

Even though it was his first ever Olympic medal, he was harried until he bowed his head and admitted he had "let his country down" for not getting gold.

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