This is somewhat unrelated to what you linked (although it deals somewhat with the complexity of the Olympic situation), but I found this article pretty awesome and a fair-minded academic look at the Chinese-U.S. dynamic.

It’s kind of long, but I think it nails down pretty much every sentiment I have about Chinese political and social culture, especially towards the West, and why there’s such a gap between the American and Chinese view on issues such as Tibet and the Olympics.

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/21715

The news tends to focus only on Tibetan (and to a lesser extent, Taiwanese) protesters for independence, as if that’s the sentiment of most people today. However, I was reading about the culture wars of America in an article today, and it really goes back to this: to be honest, most people are up in arms in protest against neither the US nor Chinese government. According to the article, Nixon (being the everyone’s favorite authoritarian) captured this best when he ran for the “silent majority” that was not pissed out about Vietnam, was in fact somewhat disturbed by the extremism and sensationalism of 1960s counterculture.

If you go to China, most people understand that the government is corrupt. They also are not living in fear or political oppression. They really just don’t care: and it’s not a bad thing. China’s political culture for the last two centuries have established a dual-fold political culture in which average citizens, in times of prosperity and civility, cared very little about political nuances (“natural” rights, self-government, etc). The only time major political upheavals existed was when catastrophe, famine, and instability occurred. To this extent, the political culture in China even today makes something like an earthquake much more dangerous than any human rights violations, because an earthquake could disrupt the delicate balance of responsibilities between government and people.

To this extent, the Chinese government must continue to uphold the political culture to ensure its own hold of power. Democracy and political activism are part of American western political mores, while Chinese culture follows different customs for government. The Revolution of 1800 (which is so lauded for being a peaceful transfer of power) could seem entirely illegitimate under Chinese political customs; it’s time for Western media to learn they don’t have a monopoly on political values.

As part of an unrelated rant, the West should learn to judge itself on the nature of “brainwashing” also. What pisses me off far more than the Rape of Nanjing (which receives a decent amount of attention and is universally criticized) are western acts of humiliation, such as the burning of the Yuan Ming Yuan, and the ransacking of the Forbidden Kingdom. It is entirely hypocritical to criticize the sensitivity of developing nations towards nationalism, when the European powers literally went to different colonies, ransacked their cultural and economic centers, and stole thousands of priceless cultural artifacts, many of which are still proudly on display at the British Museum and co. today.