The Olympic Games - Beijing2008
Olympic fever has hit Hong Kong hard.
Everywhere one turns there are banners, flags and temporary shrines to the Olympic spirit. The newspapers have special sections. The local TV stations have special programs and announcements. Numerous commemorative events are planned. The business community is braced for unexplained absences as people stay home to watch the events. The whole phenomenon is almost "World Cup-like" in its intensity.
Hong Kong was recently visited by a central government official from the mainland who implored the Hong Kong people to adopt the Olympic spirit and, whatever else they did, not to protest or do anything else to detract from the glorious event.
Hong Kong is actually hosting the equestrian events and has adopted the same rules of behavior that the mainland has, rules that forbid banners or political T-shirts or streaking. Not that anyone can ever remember a streaker at an equestrian event - most likely too much fresh horse manure on the ground.
There have been complaints that not enough tickets to mainland events were allocated to Hong Kong. Given that there are over one billion people in Mainland China and 6.5 million in Hong Kong, Hong Kongs allocation should have been .000065% of the tickets. But Hong Kong is used to getting more attention than it deserves from the central authorities.
I have a good friend who decided to reward 60 of his employees with tickets to the first day of the equestrian events. The starting time is 6:30 AM, so the horses don't drop dead in Hong Kong's August heat, and since the events are in Sha Tin in the New Territories and since security will be as tight as it can possibly be, spectators are expected to arrive at the venue by 4:30 AM which means a 4:00 AM departure from Hong Kong Island. So far he has had one acceptance of a free ticket - me - and I'm not even an employee. Everyone else complains that 4:00 AM is too early and besides, "We can watch it on TV." So much for really being interested in the olympics.
The truth of it is that most Chinese are terribly proud of the fact that China is hosting the Olympics. Patriotism is at an all time high. But in Hong Kong, at least, unless the sport is ping pong, badminton or football, people are really not all that interested unless a Chinese has a chance for a medal in the event. Sporting interest in Hong Kong is usually focused on betting on the horses legally or betting on football results illegally.
The other interest Hong Kong people have is attracting tourists to Hong Kong before or after the games. Because, in the end, the eternally favorite sport in Hong Kong is making money and the Olympics provide a golden opportunity to do so.