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<< Previous   of   Next >> Associated Press  (click to enlarge) People chant slogans in support of China and the Olympic Games after flag-raising ceremony at dawn Friday in Tiananmen Square in Beijing. Mark Mulligan / The Herald  (click to enlarge) Joy Smedley, who runs Joy of Acupuncture on Broadway, came to the United States from Tianjin, China, in 1987. She says the Olympic Games will be good for China.   ADVERTISEMENT   When to tune in Today 7:30 p.m., NBC: Opening Ceremony 11 p.m., CNBC: Boxing Saturday 2 a.m., USA: Soccer, women’s basketball, equestrian, beach volleyball, fencing, shooting, badminton, weightlifting 2 a.m., MSNBC: Soccer, volleyball, handball, badminton 10 a.m., NBC: Volleyball, swimming, beach volleyball, cycling, rowing 2 p.m., CNBC: Boxing 8 p.m., NBC: Swimming, gymnastics 9 p.m., CNBC: Tennis, boxing 11 p.m., USA: Soccer, basket­ball, tennis, beach volleyball, equestrian, archery, weightlifting Miss something? Look for updates each morning at www.heraldnet.com/olympics.   CONTACT THE HERALD Robert Frank, City Editor frank@heraldnet.com   Published: Friday, August 8, 2008 Olympics a hopeful sign for China, local immigrants say By Bill Sheets, Herald Writer For many Chinese immigrants in the Puget Sound region, the staging of the Olympic Games in their home country inspires pride, not protest. "I'm very excited about it, and I'm so proud," said Lu Du, 17, who grew up in Beijing and recently came to Snohomish County to study business administration at Edmonds Community College. "I have deep affection for the city," she said of Beijing. "The city is ready to show the world a new China." China will be in the spotlight today during the opening ceremonies of the Olympics and during the next 16 days of athletic events. Du and some of her friends hoped to organize a get-together to watch today's opening ceremonies live on satellite TV. The ceremony, which was to start at 5:08 a.m. Pacific time, will be shown by tape delay tonight. A group of Chinese senior citizens who usually meet every Friday in south Everett planned to move this week's gathering to a Chinese restaurant to celebrate the Olympics, said Christina Chiu, a social worker for Senior Services of Snohomish County. Chiu is from Hong Kong. "I do think it's really a big thing for us Chinese, no matter whether they're communist or not, there's a common feeling that it's our honor," Chiu said. "No matter where they're from -- Hong Kong, the mainland, Taiwan -- they all feel the same way." People in China are excited about the games, said Chen Yizhi, 17, an EdCC student from Shanghai who lives in Lynnwood. Still, she said, there's anxiety over terrorist threats from Muslim extremists. The Chinese government is also girding itself against protests from civil rights groups. "My parents in Shanghai told me that all China was in a high alert now and it made people feel not safe enough," she said. "So the Chinese people finally realized that the Olympics was not a pure sports event; it includes politics and other complicated things." The Olympic Games will be good for China, said Joy Smedley, an Everett acupuncturist who came to the United States in 1987 from Tianjin, a large city not far from Beijing. Smedley, 54, who married an American, still has cousins in Tianjin and keeps in touch with them. The city is part of the third-largest urban area in China and is hosting some Olympic events. Many people there are learning English to be hospitable to their visitors, Smedley said. "It's not only certain people; everyone is learning English," she said. "It doesn't matter how many words you learn -- learn some." Having the games in Beijing could help China's dictatorial regime open up more, Smedley said. "They can learn," she said. "Chinese people like to learn. Bringing people inside the country from foreign countries shows how they are using their democracy. It will benefit the Chinese and then it will benefit the world." Some aren't so optimistic. Tashi Namgyal Khamsitsang, president of the Tibetan Asso­ciation of Washington, said the Chinese government used the Olympics as an excuse for crackdowns in Tibet following protests last spring. The government claimed the protesters were trying to disrupt the Olympics, according to Khamsitsang. The regime declared martial law in Tibet, effective until Sept. 20, he said. Tibetans were planning a candlelight vigil for their homeland Thursday evening, the eve of the Olympics, at Westlake Center in downtown Seattle, Khamsitsang said. He said the Tibetans hoped the Olympics would soften the government's rigid stances, and that the regime has only given lip service to change. "What they are talking and what they are doing are two different things," Khamsitsang said. The Tibetan protesters, he said, were simply trying to bring the Chinese to the bargaining table, rather than calling for a completely autonomous Tibet, he said. "We support the Dalai Lama's approach of finding a middle way," said Khamsitsang, who lives in Shoreline, of Tibet's exiled spiritual leader. Smedley, the acupuncturist, agrees that bargaining with the government is the best way to bring change. Protest tends to spark backlash, she said. "Don't have the bloodshed and make it so both sides have to lose and no one's gaining anything," she said. Dongwa Hu, a native of Beijing who teaches economics at Everett Community College, said the country will naturally open up more as it prospers and develops. It's already much more open than it was when she left 21 years ago, she said. "If people don't have anything to eat, they will worry about their next meal," she said. The Olympics can help, Hu said. "It's a good thing, because China is a new developing country. So it's good for people to go to China to see what's going on there. It's been closed for so long." Reporter Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439 or sheets@heraldnet.com.

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