Chinese food for thought

By now everyone's heard about the controversy concerning the parts of the Olympic opening ceremonies that were faked - digitized "fireworks" and the replacement of a seven-year-old anthem singer (although not her voice)  from the televised event. Chinese officials wanted a prettier girl for the broadcast, so they found one to lip-sync to the national anthem as sung by the first girl.

The reaction from most of the Western media was a combination of shock and I-told-you-so - the fakery was described simultaneously as representative of China's morally bankrupt authoritarian society and a particular low point for said society. Certainly, it was viewed as embarrassing. Which raise the question: if China was looking at the Beijing Olympics as a means to show off its greatness, did they not see that they would actually lose points with the rest of the world for doing this kind of thing?

I suspect the answer is that they did, but just didn't care. And I think that answer contradicts the common wisdom about China's approach to the Olympics and to the rest of the world in general. Specifically, the opening ceremony scandal reveals that China - which did little to hide it after the fact - doesn't crave global respect the way we often assume it does. Its main audience for any major event isn't the citizens of Canada or the U.S. or Britain or Japan or India. It's the citizens of China. 

A very interesting author was on The Daily Show last night, talking about how China's government is no longer really a Communist government, but has struck an unspoken deal with its people to bring in global investment and keep the economy growing in exchange for a permanent hold on power. The government also strengthens its grip by stoking national pride. 

The Olympics fit both of these objectives. They bring in gobs of money and they bolster the nationalism of the Chinese people. The rest of the world is beside the point, because as a growing economic powerhouse with 1.3 billion people, China really doesn't need the respect of the rest of the world. It just needs its own people to keep believing the country is perfect and powerful. Thus, any means of putting on a perfect spectacle, including CGI fireworks and seven-year-old Milli Vanillis, is justified.