Forgive me for not getting anything substantial up from our 3 week long trip to the Far East. I’ve been working on a monster prayer letter and the rest of the time has been filled up with coaching our junior team (although I put a TON of pics on my flickr, see below). I did want to share two videos with you, that haunted me and that I absolutely could not escape while I was there. One is “Beijing Welcomes You.” This song is so very true, I was so very surprised by the hospitality of nearly every person I encountered there. The second is the Adidas’ commercial for the games. It is interesting, it reminded me of something I’ve seen in the past. I won’t share, because I would love to hear what you think of it. Okay, off to cross some things off my to do list. Blessings…
hmm. the Adidas one is familiar, but i am pretty sure they played a different one here in the states. can’t imagine that flying here. as for what it makes me think of…well, i hate to even publish this because it is so contrary to what the Chinese mindset is, but my immediate impression (even before noticing that the man was standing on the gold medal platform) was ‘conquer the world.’ so yeah. hmm. and i thought of a past conquerer who I don’t really want to mention cause I hate to associate him with China. but odd.
k, i have to comment again. after watching the first video….it is exactly the Chinese attitude and mindset that i encountered for 7 years in China (wow am i homesick now). the second is what i fear for china due to foreign/western materialistic influence.
I agree a ton! I couldn’t actually find the one that was played over and over more than this one, but in my opinion I saw an air of old socialism art, i.e. “the People”. It was really interesting. I thought it was intriguing to see Adidas attach there name to an ad like this.
First video: First thought, too long. Second thought, it reminds me of how great the Chinese people are and how caring they can be (from what I’ve heard and also experienced here in the U.S.). Then it reminds me of the awkward and untenable line the government are trying to walk with their commy-capitalism. During the Olympics I was constantly confronted with the reality that the Chi-comm government are trying harder than ever to make the world think they have as much liberty there as anywhere else. Have you ever known a communist that could tell the truth? Anyway, because that line is untenable I have hope that they will eventually fall off on the side of freedom.
Second video: Right on Zach — socialist art. I didn’t think too much at first view except that it didn’t seem right to have celebrities in a worker’s paradise. But the communist government are definitely trying to break the mold. After I watched it a second time, I noticed the folks were worshiping that fellow on the podium. Barak Obama anyone?