User 捞野团成员 wrote: "I was thinking on my way to work why《Hey, Jude》at London 2010 could strike a chord with the thousands in the audience. Britain is home to many world-renowned bands and they have produced songs that still resonate today. How wide-spread the British culture is! Look back, did the Beijing Games produce such a popular song?"
“The biggest difference between the opening ceremony for Beijing 2008 and London 2012 is that Beijing focused on the nation itself, while London focused on its people. Artistically and commercially speaking, Beijing was a grand production and most of its contents came from government-backed galas; a great majority of elements in the opening ceremony for London 2012 Games comes from British pop-culture, such as West End musicals which have run thousands of times with no government funding. ” said Raymond Zhou, one of China’s most famous film critics.
The debate also extends into China’s obsession with gold medals, which have long been viewed as the ultimate gauge of success. Despite acres of coverage of Chinese gold medalists in London now, people have begun to reconsider the definition of success at the Olympics.
User 俊锐仔 wrote: "Not only the gold medal-winners deserve respect; each person on the Olympic stage is respectable."
“This year, it is noticeable that the nation doesn’t seem that obsessed with gold medals, and more people now don’t associate gold medals with national pride. It is a remarkable progress. A nation will move into maturity only if it separates sports, culture and pride with the notion of the country, because the ultimate pride of a nation lies in the respect of its people.” said Qiu Zhenhai, a news analyst at Phoenix TV.
By Xu Xinlei