Professor Qian Lecture

On Wednesday I attended the lecture on the Olympic games and Chinese political development by Professor Qian. It was quite interesting to actually fully understand how this past Olympic games have contributed to the political dynamics in China. Dr. Qian in his lecture made a great point how the Olympics effected China internally. Most scholars have only discussed the international impact of the games for China. Dr. Qian gave an in-depth look about how the games has and will continue to change China internally. Three main points I remember were that the games effected China's environment, infrastructure, and civil society.

According to Dr. Qian, the Environment argument one that China has to deal with internally and as well as internationally. With the rising global environmental crisis is upon this global society, China had to make improvements to help put a band aid on the crisis within their own country. In terms of infrastructure, Dr. Qian discussed how the Olympics allowed for an improvement in China's infrastructure. It was able to build new roads and facilities that can help continue to spur economic growth for China. Finally, he discussed how civil society was impacted by the Olympics in China and how the government has had to change some of it's ways it has to deal public situations with certain social problems that it has to encounter.