The Importance Of The Olympic Games

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The Olympic Games plays a significant role in the world. The relationship between it and host countries is important to investigate for comprehending cultural studies. According to Xu and Kirby (2008), the Olympic Games has a considerable impact on the expression of national identity. For example, London applied this approach to promote its national identity. This can be discovered from the BBC video called James Bond escorts The Queen to the opening ceremony in 2012 (2012): an amiable identity is perceived by the audience through presenting corgi at Buckingham Palace. Moreover, China is no exception. There is an image about the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympics, it shows a spectacular drumming performance. In addition, an article about …show more content…

In the preparation stage, a comprehensive consideration of the research question and method is demanded. There are three reasons for choosing this particular topic: related materials, selection criteria and background information. An issue is raised by the BBC video in 2012: countries could popularize national identity through hosting the Olympics. Moreover, according to Kumar (2012), correlative elements should be considered in selecting research questions such as enthusiasm and relevance. On the basis of this criterion, I am interested in China because I am a Chinese and have adequate background knowledge of this country. In addition to the image of drumming performance in the Beijing opening ceremony, China is determined as the object in researching the connection between the Olympics and national identity of host countries. Additionally, due to the background information provided in The 2008 Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony: visual insights into China’s soft power, the research question is narrowed down to the opening ceremony in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. It is stated by Chen, Colapinto and Luo (2012) that the Chinese believe the opening ceremony is an especially important part to demonstrate China’s excellence. This illustrates the significance of the opening ceremony in Beijing Olympics. Besides, negative events such as the riots in Tibet and the earthquake in Sichuan happened in early 2008 (Chen, Colapinto and Luo 2012). Therefore, the opening ceremony is under an obligation to convey a positive concept to the public. Furthermore, Chen, Colapinto and Luo (2012) also stated that ‘Harmony and Peace’, ‘Unity’ and ‘Power and Innovation’ were themes at the Beijing opening ceremony. These factors contribute to comprehending the expression of China’s national identity through the performances at the opening ceremony. For instance, as Luo

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