What did China get from hosting the olympics?

Question

Beijing is out billions of dollars, and all the mess they need to clean up. What did they really gain from hosting the olympics?

Answer 1

China has shown how far it had come since Westerners wrecked that country with opiums and cannons. It also showed how generous the Chinese are to ready itself to embrace those who once caused so much pain and humiliation to their country.

Answer 2

a 44 billion dollar hole in their budget

Answer 3

Even though they have spent loads of money on the games, they have had some fantastic exposure for their country and will probably gain many new visitors. This will bring in long term cash. I was surprised how modern their country is. My view of the Chinese people was a bunch of peasants working in paddy fields-how wrong I was!!

Answer 4

Dont u think chinese are retarded the most?

Answer 5

They spent a lot of money, latest estimate is around 44 billion us dollars.  However, they make most of it back from selling advertising rights both to the olympics themselves in the short term, and in the long term to the chinese market place.  So call this a marketing cost, which increases brand recognition, both for potential foreign investments, or foreign companies who want to market their products in China.  Also increases tourism in China.

They also spent significant amount of the budget building infrastructure, and sporting venues.  These benefit the citizens, as there are a lot of people who live in Beijing and co-host cities who can utilize these venues.  They extended the subway systems, and built two extra ring roads around the city, and improvement in mass public transportation.

It is a source of national pride, both for Chinese nationals, and Chinese overseas.  Prove that we can organize ourselves to host such a huge event, smoothly, and professionally.  It showcased their technology, culture, diverse society, and economic achievements.

And last but not least, it provides a huge entertainment to the world, and also domestically to the citizens.

Answer 6

superpower status! political power! a great image to the non-western nations which accounts for 98% of the world! AND a the world's biggest sporting superpower and they did that even without winning too many golds in swimming and athletics, imagine when they start to concentrate on those 2 sport even more, d**n the rest of the world will be forced to scrap for the leftovers of the medals like silver and bronzes!

Answer 7

I'm pretty sure there were a number of non-Chinese people who were suprised by these Olympics. I'm willing to bet there were those who gained a positive perspective on China and most likely intrigued some to further their knowledge about Chinese culture and history etc.

Beijing did a good job of hosting the Olympics; good hospitality, friendly people and a showcase of greatness for the opening and closing ceremonies.

Beijing might be out of a couple billion dollars, but there's no doubt tourism to China will rise. And although "some" people still might have no respect for China, there are others who probably want to learn more about China. And with learning another culture comes respect and understanding.

These are the things that I think China benifited from the Olympics.

Answer 8

...just ask yourself why any other country want to host the Olympics...

Answer 9

bragging rights to show how rich they are and how much control they have over their people. the only time i saw a chinese person truly happy throughout the whole olympics was when the guy caught the ball beckham kicked.

Answer 10

The Chinese showed that they are an economic first world superpower, they whooped the Americans in gold medals, AND they had less smog than usual.

They are showing that they are economically prosperous and athletically talented.

Answer 11

It elevates the Chinese self-esteme as well as our view of their technology and development. Some of their sport venues were exceptional facilities that makes those in the West look pretty mundane.

They reduced their pollution, which was a big success for them and a call to summon the will to keep it reduced in the future. They've already said they will be working on this.

There were tourist payoffs to them during the Games, and as a result of a successful Games, their tourist revenues will undoubtedly increase.

Now for the intangibles, consider how you might benefit from hosting a bar-b-que at your home. It's really hard to trace every benefit, but we all know they exist, if only in the social networks that are affirmed.

Answer 12

The warm fuzzy feeling and a lot of great exposure. They also proved to the World that they are no longer a third world country, far from it in fact.

There is some great architecture there now too.

Answer 13

A powerful statement that China is now a force to reckon with. Did you know they sent rockets in the sky loaded with chemicals to stop rain from ruining both the opening and closing ceremony? Yah, rockets and chemicals to stop rain, yet some Americans are contemplating electing a man (McCain) to the White House who does not even know how to use the Internet!!!