Japanese athletes wave Chinese flags at Opening Ceremony

When the Japanese national team made its appearance last night at the Beijing Olympics’ opening ceremony, almost all of them were waving both Japanese and Chinese flags as a show of friendship towards the host of the games. Ai Fukuhara, a ping pong player who can speak Chinese and has trained in China, was chosen as flag bearer for the Japanese team, probably as means of highlighting friendly relations between the two countries.

How did the Chinese crowd react? Here’s an excerpt from blogger Alex Pasternack’s firsthand account of last night’s events:

The athletes’ procession revealed some interesting Chinese allegiances. There were the usual suspects: Cuba and the Russian Federation got rousing applause. Brazil and Venezuela were cheered, perhaps having to do with their economic ties to China but more so out of a south-to-south solidarity. When the measly North Korea team, Chinese audience members cheered vigorously out of support for their ailing, anti-Western neighbor.

Pakistan was loudly received, apparently because China’s westerly neighbor donated tents to earthquake victims in Sichuan. Iraq and Afghanistan got cheers for their resilience, and Iraq got extra support because, as one Beijing resident in Ditan Park told my friend, America caused some trouble there.

Great Britain and Germany received a strong show of support, due I’m told to China’s adoration of their soccer teams. “You Americans think about politics, but to us this is more about sports,” said one Chinese woman.

And there were many others, including Burkina-Faso, Kazakhstan and Guam, that seemed to draw no response at all. The quiet that accompanied Japan was deafening.

I suppose it’s better than being booed…