Creative Tensions: ‘Join in London’ Meets ‘Dancing Beijing’– The Cultural Power of the Olympics

‘Dancing Beijing’ and ‘Join in London’ are the official emblems of the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games. The ‘Dancing Beijing’ is a static image; ‘Join in London’ is a dynamic image. Both emblems represent core cultural values of two civilizations. The former epitomizes the Eastern way of thinking and conveys the unique cultural quality and elegance of Chinese civilization, while the latter has been designed to inspire youth and reflects the multicultural nature of British society. The aim of this article is to investigate the significance of the ‘soft power’ exerted by the cultural diplomacy of the 2008 Beijing Olympics on the British model of sport, the organization of the London 2012 games and the provision of sport studies within the higher education sector. It is argued that while the two previous Asian hosts of the Olympics, Tokyo (1964) and Seoul (1988), used the games to secure the recognition of Japan and South Korea by the international community, China has a more ambitious agenda. Its proclaimed intent ostensibly is to reinterpret the fundamental Olympic principles by challenging the established Western ontology and norms of sport and ‘to promote the harmonization of world civilizations’. The British response to the challenges presented by China's social, economic and sporting development has been one of active engagement in order to ensure its interests. In this process a number of creative tensions and power struggles within and between the two countries have been occurring, which have been responsible for shifting priorities in domestic and international sport policy. China can no longer be left to the sinologists. We all need to become China experts now, because China, and especially China's future, matters for all of us. [1 [1] Peter Mandelson, 48 Group Club Icebreaker Lecture, London, 12 Oct. 2004, 1, available online at hppt://ec.europa/commission_barroso/mandelson/speeches_articles/sppm002_en.htm, accessed 18 June 2007. ]