Analyzing Political and Cultural Issues of Beijing Olympics 2008

This report analyzes the political and cultural issues surrounding the 2008 Beijing Olympics, utilizing a theoretical model to examine the antecedent conditions, factors, and outcomes of the event. It discusses the impact of political factors, such as political stability and the desire for global power, alongside negative consequences like human rights violations, limitations on freedom of the press, and corruption. The report also explores the cultural impact, highlighting both the opportunity for China to showcase its history and the negative aspects, including gender discrimination and disregard for human rights. The analysis concludes with implications for the future, suggesting that the political and cultural impact of the Olympics will continue to resonate, necessitating improvements in areas such as tourism, press freedom, and the legal system to address human rights and environmental concerns. The report references various scholarly sources to support its findings.

Running head: POLITICS AND CULTURE
Politics and culture
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

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Introduction
The report discusses the political and cultural issues of the 2008 Beijing Olympics using
a theoretical model which links the antecedent conditions, factors and influences and outcomes
to the major sporting event. The model is used to examine and discusses the political and
cultural relationships. The diagrammatic representation also demonstrates the relationship and
impact of the political and cultural issues along with the nature.
Theoretical model
Antecedent Forces & influences Type of Events Outcome
Conditions
Beijing
Olympics
2008-A
major
sporting
event
Cultural
changes
Political Unrest
Sporting
Culture of
the host
country
Political
system of
the host
country/S
tability
Motive to boast
Glorious culture
boasted
Discrimination
of female
athlete
Destruction of
the home of
poorer
residents
Economy
changes
Motive to develop
international
relationships
Intention to mask the
rivalry and national
separation
Willingness to gain
global power
Media to promote
Olympics
Lack of freedom
of press

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Discussion
A theoretical model is used for describing the relationship between the political and
cultural issues associated with the Beijing 2008 Olympics and their impact. The model links the
antecedent conditions to the factors that promoted the hosting of Olympics such as desire to gain
global power and mask the present political issues and linked to the outcomes.
Political issues and impact
Beijing could host Olympics due to political stability and motive to get global power.
There is positive and negative impact of organising the mega sporting event like Olympics.
Considering the role of political factors in 2008 Beijing Olympics, there was more negative
impact than positive on host country. The political issues can be summarised a corruption,
violation of human rights, poor freedom of press.
The positive impact on political state includes gaining a global reputation, due to which
the city gets the world class Position. It increases the opportunities for tourism and business
growth. It allows the community to gain international prestige, while standing for the common
purpose. The host country used the Olympics for sake of peaceful decree of differences and
conflicts. It means the Olympics were used as the medium of tactical civic diplomacy for causes
other than the sports. China politically used the 2008 Olympics by maintaing the development
process of the company that was incomplete. The country also maintained the incomplete
process of the transformation and addressing of other serious issues. In turn the company
demonstrated the socioeconomic revolution, hi-tech development and its modernisation. The city
projected various false developments claiming it to have developed in peaceful manner. It
showed an attractive image of state. Using the games facilitated the country to foster

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international relationships with other developed countries (Askew, 2009; Caffrey, 2008; Grix,
2013; Jarvie, Hwang, & Brennan, 2009; Preuss & Alfs, 2011).
The negative impact of hosting the major sporting event on political outcomes is
disastrous. There were various political challenges such as demand for liberation of Tibet.
People were demanding the monopoly system. There was a voice of democracy in terms of
rights, freedom of press and equal power for men and women. There were destructions of the
homes of the poorer residents for building sporting arenas for the Olympics, indicating the
violation of the human rights. It greatly affected the urbanization 5 million victim residents who
lost their home and did not receive the compensation. Some people lost job due to relocation of
factories, and migration. People had monetary loss due to damage/loss to property the Media
published the glorious display of Olympic preparations masking other pressing issues of the
country. The female athletes did not receive the same recognition as the male counterparts
despite tremendous progress in the sports accomplishments. This is negatively impacting the
society and environment. It is also impacting the economy as the infrastructures created for the
Olympics are now empty and are not generating nay revenue. It led to negative publicity of
games (Xu, 2006; Rowe, 2012; Askew, 2009; Preuss & Alfs, 2011).
Cultural issues and impact
Hosting the Olympics also had the positive impact on the China’s culture. It gave the
country an opportunity to display an extensive and magnificent past. The country could
demonstrate great physical culture and sport allowing the people consider the country as great
supremacy. It may give on the notion of the positive hospitality of the country. It gave the
country the national strength and status. There was a leading cultural issue. There was a negative

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impact on the country’s culture as some cheap labourers became victim of unpaid salary and risk
jobs. Instead of astounding the world with its grandeur the country did portray the culture of
rivalry and separated nations. The country turned to be known as having the culture of gender
discrimination and disrespectful towards the human rights. In short there was an increase in
culture of genocide, which is having negative impact on society, and environment (Rowe, 2012;
Preuss & Alfs, 2011; Askew, 2009; Xu, 2006; Rowe, 2012).
Future implications
The nature of the impact of the political and cultural issues is disastrous. It has the
potential to destroy the company’s image and growth opportunities in business and hospitality
sector. The future implications to overcome the negative effects of the Olympics in Beijing are to
increase the city’s revenue from the tourism and increasing tourists. There is chance that the
political and cultural impact of the Olympic will reverberate in China in coming more years
(Pine, Lam & Zhang, 2013). The government must try to focus more on the unemployment
issues. There is the need to increase the freedom of press, and propensity for democratic
governance. There is an implication from hosting the 2008 Olympics that the China government
will continue to make changes. It will lead to positive outcomes only if the changes will take
place at the pace determined by foreign powers (Giulianotti, 2015). There is a need to improve
the legal system to combat the human rights and the environmental issues. If the changes are
made in line with the Western demands, it should be ensured that the changes are Chinese
(Jinxia, 2016).

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References
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Caffrey, K. (2008). Olympian politics in Beijing: Games but not just games. The International Journal of
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Caffrey, K. (2011). The Beijing Olympics. Abingdon: Routledge, pp.36 – 80
Giulianotti, R. (2015). The Beijing 2008 Olympics: Examining the interrelations of China,
globalization, and soft power. European Review, 23(2), 286-296.
Grix, J. (2013). Sport politics and the Olympics. Political Studies Review, 11(1), 15-25.
Jarvie, G., Hwang, D. J., & Brennan, M. (2008). Sport, revolution and the Beijing Olympics.
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Jinxia, D. (2016). Beijing Olympics, 2008. Routledge Handbook of Sport and Politics, 459.
Pine, R. J., Lam, T., & Zhang, H. Q. (2013). Tourism and hotel development in China: From
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