Awakening from the Chinese Dream

While Mao saw China throw off the yoke of foreign powers, and Deng’s reforms increased economic growth, Xi finds new legitimacy in nationalism – emphasizing China’s greatness. When the People’s Republic of China turns one hundred years old in 2049, China will appear as a leading superpower in the world, if not the leading power – economically and politically as well as militarily and scientifically. Whether this Chinese Dream comes true depends not only upon China, but also on how the rest of the world responds and develops. Acknowledgment: The authors thank J on Ormur Halld orsson for his helpful comments on an earlier version of the text. The Olympic Games in Beijing in August 2008 were a glittering show. Many pollution-spewing factories in the neighborhood had been closed a few weeks before so the air was better than usual. The sun smiled. The whole world was taken aback by the impeccable arrangements. The Games were opened to the words of the Analects of Confucius: “It is a joy to have friends come from afar.” Norway’s national poet Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson had a similar saying: “You are foreign, you are welcome! “The maxim of the games, “One World, One Dream,” was expressed thus: “In the Olympian spirit we shall together build a better future for mankind.” As the new General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) four years later, Xi Jinping laid out his own “Chinese Dream,” a rejuvenation of the Middle Kingdom, thus juxtaposing Confucius and Mao. At eight o’clock on the eighth day of the eighth month of 2008 the Olympic Games were opened. With eight being the luckiest number in Chinese culture, the hospitality of the host was destined to shine, and it did. China won the most gold medals even as the United States won the most medals. Three generations of leaders seated at the tribune of honor had three glorious weeks to look forward to. Then top leader, Hu Jintao – President of China from 2003 to 2013 – was there, as well as Jiang Zemin, President 1993–2003. And so was Xi Jinping, recently appointed Vice President. Ready to take over from Hu Jintao as the country’s