Posted by John Kennedy to Global Voices Online
Those attending the Olympics this year will be subject to the standard rules: no outside food or drinks, no sporting of commercial logos of any kind…but among all those is one rule which seems to have struck a nerve among many netizens, as evidenced by it having become the featured headline on many portal websites today: no “Go China!” banners will be allowed inside any Olympic venues.
Given the spectacles that took place during the Hong Kong and Shenzhen (and later) legs of the torch relay earlier this summer, a rule like will probably go a long way to prevent any heated or violent outbursts during the Games. At least, it’s definitely creating a lot of heated discussion, and a lot of netizens are wondering: “Why?”
The simple answer is that no banners more than 2 meters in length and 1 meter in width are allowed at the Olympics. Chinese MySpace user Jiuduo is one of many netizens that have reposted the official prepared statement that’s been circulating with the story today, presented as a conversation between an unnamed Xinhua reporter and an unnamed Beijing Olympic Games Organizing Committee spokesperson. Here’s the question about the ban on “Go China!” banners:
记者:为何ç¦æ¢æºå¸¦è¯¸å¦‚“ä¸å›½åŠ æ²¹”è¿™æ ·çš„æ¨ªå¹…æˆ–æ ‡è¯ç‰Œï¼Ÿ
北京奥组委:本届奥è¿ä¼šåœ¨åŒ—京举办,我们是主场,志愿者知é“大家写的是“ä¸å›½åŠ æ²¹”,ä¸æ˜¯ä»€ä¹ˆä¸å¥½çš„è¯ï¼Œä½†æ˜¯å…¶ä»–200多个国家的观众写的文å—我们 都能看懂å—?让ä¸è®©è¿›ï¼Ÿæˆ‘们想象一下,在上届雅典奥è¿ä¼šæˆ–者下届伦敦奥è¿ä¼šï¼Œå¦‚果别人由于ä¸è®¤è¯†ä¸æ–‡è€Œä¸è®©æˆ‘们带ç€å‡†å¤‡å¥½çš„æ¨ªå¹…è¿›åŽ»ï¼Œæˆ‘ä»¬ä¼šæ˜¯ä»€ä¹ˆæ ·çš„å¿ƒ 情?
å¦å¤–,奥è¿äº”环象å¾ç€äº”大洲的团结以åŠå…¨ä¸–ç•Œè¿åŠ¨å‘˜ä»¥å…¬æ£ã€å¦çŽ‡çš„比赛和å‹å¥½çš„精神在奥林匹克è¿åŠ¨ä¼šä¸Šç›¸è§ï¼Œå¥¥è¿ä¼šçš„比赛精神是公平ã€å…¬æ£çš„竞赛精 神。我们è¦ä½¿å¥¥è¿ä¼šè¶…越一切æ„识形æ€ï¼Œæ— 论是ä¸å›½ã€æ—¥æœ¬ã€ç¾Žå›½ï¼Œè¿˜æ˜¯æ³•å›½ï¼Œæ‰€æœ‰äººéƒ½èƒ½åƒå¥¥è¿äº”çŽ¯ä¸€æ ·ï¼Œå¤§å®¶å¼€å¿ƒåœ°åœ¨ä¸€èµ·äº«å—盛事,增进彼æ¤äº†è§£ã€‚如果现场 出现å„ç§å„æ ·çš„æ¨ªå¹…ä¸€å®šä¼šç ´åè¿™æ ·çš„æ°›å›´ï¼Œæ‰€ä»¥å›½é™…å¥¥å§”ä¼šå‡ åå¹´æ¥ä¸€ç›´åšæŒåˆ¶å®šè¿™é¡¹è§„则。
BOGOC: This Olympic Games is being held in Beijing, and we are the hosts. Volunteers know that everyone will be writing “Go China!”, which isn’t so bad in itself, but will we be able to read the signs written by the attendees from the other 200+ countries? Do we still let them in or not? If we think for a second, of the previous Olympic Games in Athens or the next Games in London, if they were to stop us from bringing in the banners we’d prepared because they can’t read Chinese, how would we be feeling?
Also, the five Olympic rings represent the unity of the five continents, as well as the meeting of athletes from around the world for fair and open competitions at the Olympic Games in a friendly spirit; the spirit of Olympic Games competitions is a fair and just competitive spirit. We want the Olympic Games to transcend all political ideology, be it China, Japan, America or France, so that all people can be just like the Olympic rings, and everybody can enjoy the celebration together, happily, advancing understanding of one another. The appearance of all sorts of banners at the venues would surely ruin this kind of atmosphere, which is why for the past several decades the International Olympic Games Organizing Committee has consistently insisted on implementing this rule."
Or does the potential for UV-intensive displays of Chinese patriotism have nothing to do with this? From the comments section of Jiuduo’s post:
为什么?那å¯ä»¥å¸¦å…¶ä»–国家“ï¼¸å›½åŠ æ²¹”的横幅å—?在自己家里ä¸å¯ä»¥å¸¦çœŸæœ‰ç‚¹ç¬‘è¯äº†ï¼Ž
我带一长1.9,宽0.9çš„æ——å进去æˆä¸ï¼Ÿå®³æ€•å°±è¯´å®³æ€•ï¼Œåˆ«é‚£ä¹ˆå¤šå† å†•å ‚çš‡çš„è¯ã€‚ä½ è¯´æ€•è—独举å£å·ï¼Œæ²¡äººè¯´ä½ 怂,何必呢。
"So can I still get in if I bring a 1.9m x .9m flag? If you’re afraid, just say that you’re afraid, and quit with the pompous language already. If you just say you’re afraid of people shouting Tibetan independence slogans, nobody will blame you, so what’s the point of this?"
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