2008 Summer Olympics: China's era dawns

This guy reminds us all that the Chinese, yes, invented the magnetic compass and revolutionized maritime navigation.

By GERALD CARROLL
geraldcarroll@hotmail.com

From the looks of it, opening ceremonies for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing could well be the most astonishing spectacle ever. But it also marks the beginning of a new era in world history.

China is in the driver’s seat, no doubt about it. Sheer numbers of people and unlimited economic potential will fuel a world economy that will likely leave the US in the dust within the next decade. America, from here on, will be a mere supplier nation, and will slowly drop from the world spotlight.

Get used to it. More than likely, your teenaged sons or daughters will be working in Beijing, Tokyo, Hong Kong or Singapore before their career is through.

China sets the pace in world culture with astonishing costumes like these in the opening ceremonies.

President Bush showed up Thursday looking old, tired and haggard, mumbling something about “human rights” and that people should be allowed to “speak freely” and “worship as they please.” Well, as it turns out, Bush is wrong about this. In China, those types of freedoms can run wild through a regimented society and fragment such a large nation into pieces of worthless infighting.

Sound familiar? With Iraq, nosediving real-estate values, skyrocketing energy costs and a paralyzed government, the atmosphere in the US is in a meltdown. Morale is at an all-time low. But it’s just the opposite in China and the rest of Asia.

It’s not just another Olympics, as this skywalking torch-bearer reminds us all.

For the next 16 days, China will own the world’s attention through what promises to be the greatest event in all of human history. But it will not stop there.

China owns the Olympics, and it will soon own the world.

It is a great time to be alive.

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