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Olympics, China Leave Lasting Impression On Viewers

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 30, 2008

Congratulations To China

Regarding "DAZZLING" (front page, Aug. 25):

I am 65 years old, and this was the first Olympics that I watched every night, and sometimes in the daytime. I want to thank the Chinese people for providing a safe and wonderful place for all the athletes. I also want to thank them for opening the great city of Beijing to millions and millions of television viewers.

I saw the Great Wall of China and tall skyscrapers. I saw ox carts on dirt roads and busy streets with traffic patterns, street lights and what looked light a rapid transit system. I saw traditional Chinese outfits and modern Western clothing.

I saw thousands of Chinese Olympic workers and volunteers all with big smiles and friendly faces. It was great watching athletes compete against each other and then shaking hands while knowing that thousands of miles away men and women of the same ages were planning to or actually killing each other.

Congratulations to China on her emergence from behind the great wall and into the world.

Here is a true superpower that can help the world become a safer place. Imagine what all that power and ingenuity can do to reduce the tensions in the world.

GEORGE KUDDER

Tampa

Glad Games Are Over

My wife called me out from under the bed on Monday, where I've been hiding since the Olympics started. She said they were finally over, but the Democratic convention would be starting, so it's back under the bed again.

I subsist on cheese and crackers and a bottle or two of Dewar's, which I sip through one of those flexible straws. Once the Republicans have their convention I'll come out again until the March Madness over basketball starts. I can abide the overlapping baseball and football hoopla only because of the mute button.

I watch the games, but turn off the motormouth announcers and their inane babbling, put a few Strauss waltzes on the CD player and flit through the Vienna Woods and float down the Danube in my imagination. Still, it seems I'm spending a lot of time under the bed of late.

JACK PEEL

Tampa

A Changed Country

In 1977, I was one of the few Americans permitted to visit China. My group consisted of doctors, lawyers, professors and graduate students. It also included two priests who had been missionaries and interned by the Japanese during the war. Our mission was to exchange information about any area of interest to the participants.

The China of 1977 is as extremely different as anyone could imagine. In 1977 there were only two hotels that foreigners could use - the Peace and Peking. They were not air-conditioned, and the restrooms defy description in the space allowed. The one store where we could shop was called The Friendship Store, and when you entered into a dimly lit room and approached a counter, the lights brightened and then dimmed when you left.

Today the shops and streets are like any major city in the world. Wherever we went, we were followed by the people who were as curious as we were. Four years ago, my wife and I went to China. I could hardly believe the differences. In 1977, there were no bars, restaurants, open shops or fast-food places, all of which are available today.

The China of 2008, from what we could see on television, is vastly different from the ones in 1977 and 2004, if not greater. China is ever-changing, ever-growing and always bewildering to the outside. Both trips were memorable, but for two totally different reasons.

BERNARD LAX

Wesley Chapel

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