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Owning the Olympics: Narratives of the New China
"A major contribution to the study of global events in times of global media. Owning the Olympics tests the possibilities and limits of the concept of 'media events' by analyzing the mega-event of the information the Beijing Olympics. . . . A good read from cover to cover."
—Guobin Yang, Associate Professor, Asian/Middle Eastern Cultures & Sociology, Barnard College, Columbia University From the moment they were announced, the Beijing Games were a major media event and the focus of intense scrutiny and speculation. In contrast to earlier such events, however, the Beijing Games are also unfolding in a newly volatile global media environment that is no longer monopolized by broadcast media. The dramatic expansion of media outlets and the growth of mobile communications technology have changed the nature of media events, making it significantly more difficult to regulate them or control their meaning. This volatility is reflected in the multiple, well-publicized controversies characterizing the run-up to Beijing 2008. According to many Western commentators, the People's Republic of China seized the Olympics as an opportunity to reinvent itself as the "New China"---a global leader in economics, technology, and environmental issues, with an improving human-rights record. But China's maneuverings have also been hotly contested by diverse global voices, including prominent human-rights advocates, all seeking to displace the official story of the Games. Bringing together a distinguished group of scholars from Chinese studies, human rights, media studies, law, and other fields, Owning the Olympics reveals how multiple entities---including the Chinese Communist Party itself---seek to influence and control the narratives through which the Beijing Games will be understood. digitalculturebooks is an imprint of the University of Michigan Press and the Scholarly Publishing Office of the University of Michigan Library dedicated to publishing innovative and accessible work exploring new media and their impact on society, culture, and scholarly communication. Visit the website at www.digitalculture.org.
—Guobin Yang, Associate Professor, Asian/Middle Eastern Cultures & Sociology, Barnard College, Columbia University From the moment they were announced, the Beijing Games were a major media event and the focus of intense scrutiny and speculation. In contrast to earlier such events, however, the Beijing Games are also unfolding in a newly volatile global media environment that is no longer monopolized by broadcast media. The dramatic expansion of media outlets and the growth of mobile communications technology have changed the nature of media events, making it significantly more difficult to regulate them or control their meaning. This volatility is reflected in the multiple, well-publicized controversies characterizing the run-up to Beijing 2008. According to many Western commentators, the People's Republic of China seized the Olympics as an opportunity to reinvent itself as the "New China"---a global leader in economics, technology, and environmental issues, with an improving human-rights record. But China's maneuverings have also been hotly contested by diverse global voices, including prominent human-rights advocates, all seeking to displace the official story of the Games. Bringing together a distinguished group of scholars from Chinese studies, human rights, media studies, law, and other fields, Owning the Olympics reveals how multiple entities---including the Chinese Communist Party itself---seek to influence and control the narratives through which the Beijing Games will be understood. digitalculturebooks is an imprint of the University of Michigan Press and the Scholarly Publishing Office of the University of Michigan Library dedicated to publishing innovative and accessible work exploring new media and their impact on society, culture, and scholarly communication. Visit the website at www.digitalculture.org.
- GenresNonfiction
424 pages, Paperback
First published February 28, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
February 8, 2022
This was one of the better recent Olympic reads as of late.
I found this book very interesting.
A book on the 2008 Olympics and the behind-the-scenes of all the politics behind it. Economics too.
After reading, I found it pretty eye-opening about the IOC...
Would recommend!
4.8/5
I found this book very interesting.
A book on the 2008 Olympics and the behind-the-scenes of all the politics behind it. Economics too.
After reading, I found it pretty eye-opening about the IOC...
Would recommend!
4.8/5
Read
August 20, 2008A "Pre-review" of Owning the Olympics: Narratives of the New China.[return]Significantly, the verb in the title is owning , not sharing, the Olympics this mega-event is unabashedly about China s entrance upon the world stage.[return][return]Due to the encroaching opening date for the 2008 Olympics in less than 100 days, I am going to break a personal rule which is never to review a book unless I ve read it cover-to-cover, so this is a Pre-view rather than a Re-view. I've read most of it, but not all, and I'd like to comment on some specific chapters after completion. However, I would heartily urge everyone with an interest in China s development and performance as a member of the global community to get [Owning the Olympics] NOW, before the Olympics and read it NOW, refer to it DURING, and re-read it AFTER the Games. [return][return]I would also recommend reading the other extremely intelligent reviews of this book already posted on LT (Trismegistus and beccareads, for example). [return][return]This book is not intended to be about the Olympics as a sports event, but rather is a series of focused essays examining the internationalization of the Olympics as a media event. There are useful comparisons made about other Asian venues for the Olympics Tokyo, Nagano, Seoul and insightful discussions about the development of Japanese, Korea, and Chinese cultural identities and how those identities are conveyed to the world during the Olympics. The Olympics embodies a new reference point by which to compare how the East and West perceive each other, especially since the US is controlling far less behind the scenes than it has in past events.[return][return]Anyone with some background or growing curiosity about China will value [Owning the Olympics]. As a Chinese language student I studied in Beijing in 1979. Democracy Wall had just been crushed and the outlook for China s youth seemed bleak. TienAnMen Incident in 1989 was perhaps the antithesis of the what is expected in the Olympics of 2008. Self-imposed isolationism has threatened to stunt China s development in multiple areas. China is still rife with problems, but the greater its participation in the world community, the greater are the chances for all nations to advance a global agenda for human rights. The Olympics is perhaps the epitome of a world coming out party for China.[return][return]It is taking more time than usual to read this book because Olympics-related events are unfolding almost hourly and are accessed by television, the Internet, and print journalism with astonishing immediacy. Between reading the book and reading the Web, my head spins. We have seen the ongoing protests concerning human rights and Tibetan independence as the torch has been carried around the world. Use of mobile phones and the Internet bring protesters in France face-to-face with counter-protests in Shanghai, via cyber space. I m currently in Tokyo, so the local view of events and the USA view (via Internet or TV) make for interesting comparisons. The writings in this book stand up well in the changing face of current events; in fact, current events make this book even more compelling and appealing to a wider audience.[return][return]In three big sections, [Owning the Olympics] begins by defining Whose World, What Dream , then gives the historical context for the Games in Asia and the theme of Asian identity, then highlights the impact of technology and the various roles of media representatives, and finally looks into the meaning of Olympic internationalism and its interpretation for the future. There is a lot to think about in this assemblage of cogent essays, chock-full of further references, footnotes and websites. It is just the beginning of a long, full build-up to the Olympics in what may become the biggest peaceful event to rock our world.
October 14, 2013
The Olympics as Political Theatre
(Full disclosure: I received a free copy of this book for review through Library Thing's Early Reviewer program.)
Much more than a series of sporting competitions, the Olympic Games are a political and media event. The Olympics have a rich history; while the original games date back almost 3,000 years, the Olympic Games as we know them, complete with the governing International Olympic Committee (IOC), have been held every 2-4 years since 1896. Over their 100+ year history, the Olympics have evolved with the times. Increased athletic participation and spectatorship has placed a growing burden on Olympic host cities – but it has also allowed them the opportunity to present their own mediated image to the world. This is steadily apparent as globalization aids the flow of information between borders, so that knowledge knows fewer and fewer boundaries. The advent of the Internet and other new media paradigms have also loosened the grip host countries may previously have kept over their tightly controlled and highly managed constructs (which oftentimes border on outright propaganda).
It is in this context that the authors who contributed to OWNING THE OLYMPICS: NARRATIVES OF THE NEW CHINA examine the looming 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. The overarching theme of this anthology is the ways in which China is utilizing the Olympics to affect how their nation is perceived in other venues. For example, Briar Smith views Beijing’s relaxed restrictions on journalists as a means for China to counterbalance the negative publicity surrounding the Chinese government’s human rights abuses (“Journalism and the Beijing Olympics: Liminality with Chinese Characteristics”), while Alan Tomlinson examines the increasingly corporate/capitalist economy of the Olympics – which stands in stark contrast to the 2008 host city’s own Communist system (“Olympic Values, Beijing’s Olympic Games, and the Universal Market”). Additionally, there are some fascinating pieces that deal with the role of new technologies on the Games; in “’We Are the Media’: Nonaccredited Media and Citizen Journalists at the Olympic Games” (Andy Miah, Beatriz Garcia, and Tian Zhihui), we learn that, starting from the 2000 Games in Sydney, nonaccredited journalists – including “Web-based journalists” - have been allowed greater access to the Games, with their own special (non)accreditation and Media Centers.
The sixteen pieces that comprise OWNING THE OLYMPICS present an interdisciplinary, multicultural lens through which to view what on its face might seem like just another sporting event (the world’s largest sporting event, granted, but a sporting event nonetheless) – yet is in fact diplomatic dance, political theatre, and an entertaining competition all rolled into one. The material can be dense at times, perhaps better suited for academics and media studies students than laypeople, but it is an enlightening and timely volume.
http://www.easyvegan.info/2008/04/13/...
(Full disclosure: I received a free copy of this book for review through Library Thing's Early Reviewer program.)
Much more than a series of sporting competitions, the Olympic Games are a political and media event. The Olympics have a rich history; while the original games date back almost 3,000 years, the Olympic Games as we know them, complete with the governing International Olympic Committee (IOC), have been held every 2-4 years since 1896. Over their 100+ year history, the Olympics have evolved with the times. Increased athletic participation and spectatorship has placed a growing burden on Olympic host cities – but it has also allowed them the opportunity to present their own mediated image to the world. This is steadily apparent as globalization aids the flow of information between borders, so that knowledge knows fewer and fewer boundaries. The advent of the Internet and other new media paradigms have also loosened the grip host countries may previously have kept over their tightly controlled and highly managed constructs (which oftentimes border on outright propaganda).
It is in this context that the authors who contributed to OWNING THE OLYMPICS: NARRATIVES OF THE NEW CHINA examine the looming 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. The overarching theme of this anthology is the ways in which China is utilizing the Olympics to affect how their nation is perceived in other venues. For example, Briar Smith views Beijing’s relaxed restrictions on journalists as a means for China to counterbalance the negative publicity surrounding the Chinese government’s human rights abuses (“Journalism and the Beijing Olympics: Liminality with Chinese Characteristics”), while Alan Tomlinson examines the increasingly corporate/capitalist economy of the Olympics – which stands in stark contrast to the 2008 host city’s own Communist system (“Olympic Values, Beijing’s Olympic Games, and the Universal Market”). Additionally, there are some fascinating pieces that deal with the role of new technologies on the Games; in “’We Are the Media’: Nonaccredited Media and Citizen Journalists at the Olympic Games” (Andy Miah, Beatriz Garcia, and Tian Zhihui), we learn that, starting from the 2000 Games in Sydney, nonaccredited journalists – including “Web-based journalists” - have been allowed greater access to the Games, with their own special (non)accreditation and Media Centers.
The sixteen pieces that comprise OWNING THE OLYMPICS present an interdisciplinary, multicultural lens through which to view what on its face might seem like just another sporting event (the world’s largest sporting event, granted, but a sporting event nonetheless) – yet is in fact diplomatic dance, political theatre, and an entertaining competition all rolled into one. The material can be dense at times, perhaps better suited for academics and media studies students than laypeople, but it is an enlightening and timely volume.
http://www.easyvegan.info/2008/04/13/...
April 23, 2013
Owning The Olympics is a collection of academic articles relating to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. This book sets out to examine the games as a piece of ‘media theatre’ focusing not on the games and their immediate effect; rather Owning The Olympics seeks to analyze how the Olympics have and will become something for academics, NGOs, Chinese nationalists and international politicians to hang their figurative hats. This is not was I expecting from the book, I thought it would be a work of political rather communication studies. As a work of ‘meta scholarship’ however Owning the Olympics is a success, albeit a qualified one. While generally the book is very good and the scholarship involved is worthy of praise a few issues did jump out at me[return] The chapter by Hai Ren read as more of a lament then as a piece of unbiased academic inquiry. Furthermore it did not seem to fit into the overall theme of the book, focusing on a specific aspect of the games themselves rather than on perceptions and coverage. Additionally I found the citation style to be somewhat lax, providing lists of works cited after each chapter but usually not providing page numbers, a more detailed reference style would have been preferable but this is perhaps a nitpicking. Moreover for a book which is grounded in the field of communication and media studies it notably fails to give so called ‘new media’ the attention it deserves. The words blog, internet, new media and web are not to be found in the index. There is some coverage given to mobile phone technology as a means of information distribution but it is strictly limited to this technologies role within China. Furthermore as the editors admit, throughout the book there is far more attention given to traditional media outlets both in terms of analysis and for references. Especially worrisome seems to be the reliance on state controlled Chinese media outlets in a work which seeks to give an unbiased view of media coverage surrounding the Olympics. Despite these criticisms the book is worth the read, especially for somebody with a background in either media or Chinese studies.
June 24, 2009
Owning the Olympics is a collection of essays covering the impact of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing on China. I thought it was good that the Olympics was finally going to take place in China, but it wasn't until I read this book that I realized how it would affect China and Chinese peoples' views about their country.
The book explains why the Chinese government places so much importance on being able to host the Olympics and how China can show the rest of the world that it is a modern city. There's also an informative essay about the previous Asian countries that hosted past Olympics and how it had affected them.
Owning the Olympics shares, along with other scholarly books, the joy of being enlightening, but also the burden of being very dry and scholastic. I enjoyed reading most of the essays, but I felt a lot of them were repetitive about proving their point.
It was a strange experience reading what people were saying about China because while I felt a surge of pride for my mother country, I could see how some of the hoops China was trying to jump through were silly.
While the Olympics may seem like just a world-wide sporting event, after reading this book, I can see what a big step it was for China to win the bid for the 2008 Olympics.
The book explains why the Chinese government places so much importance on being able to host the Olympics and how China can show the rest of the world that it is a modern city. There's also an informative essay about the previous Asian countries that hosted past Olympics and how it had affected them.
Owning the Olympics shares, along with other scholarly books, the joy of being enlightening, but also the burden of being very dry and scholastic. I enjoyed reading most of the essays, but I felt a lot of them were repetitive about proving their point.
It was a strange experience reading what people were saying about China because while I felt a surge of pride for my mother country, I could see how some of the hoops China was trying to jump through were silly.
While the Olympics may seem like just a world-wide sporting event, after reading this book, I can see what a big step it was for China to win the bid for the 2008 Olympics.
July 5, 2013
it took me forever and a day to get through this - but that's my own fault for not being a huge fan of most non-fiction.
it was thick reading! without a background in modern chinese studies i felt like the book was somewhat wasted on me. i can see how someone would find this book very useful when studying the history and implications of olympics on society or chinese studies or even communications.
there are some really interesting details in here nevertheless. i'm glad i read through it and broadened my view a bit.
it was thick reading! without a background in modern chinese studies i felt like the book was somewhat wasted on me. i can see how someone would find this book very useful when studying the history and implications of olympics on society or chinese studies or even communications.
there are some really interesting details in here nevertheless. i'm glad i read through it and broadened my view a bit.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews