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Beijing Forum 2007: Robert Neville --
Olympic Games and the Power of
Ritual
PKU NEWS 2007--11—17
http://ennews.pku.edu.cn/news.php?s=195256195
Peking University, Nov. 2, 2007: The panel ―Tao and Sophia: The Olympic Spirit
from Athens to Beijing‖ of Beijing Forum 2007 was held in the Great Hall of People of
China, Nov. 2nd, 2007. On the afternoon, Robert Neville from Boston University
delivered a lecture with the topic ―Olympic Games and the Power of Ritual‖ in the
Yunnan Hall.
Prof. Neville started his lecture from the society of ancient Greece at the beginning of
Olympic Games. He said that the ancient Greece was a land of warring city-states,
ethnic groups, and social classes then. But through carefully devised rituals, worked
out with much difficulty, the Games provided a context in which all of these, mainly
hostile, groups could compete together cooperatively.
He thought it was significative for Beijing to hold the next Olympic Games in light of
the long tradition of ritual analysis and practice in China. He explained from ancient
times, beginning with Confucius and, especially, Xunzi had pointed out that the
Confucian tradition has a deep understanding of ritual. Chinese have understood
ritual as a kind of social dance within which people whose interests are at odds with
one another still can cooperate for the harmony of the larger society.
He pointed out that the ritual should be pay attention although today‘s modern
society might think of itself as too pragmatic. A new contemporary ritual needed to
respect the interests of all people, and to be understood and appreciated by all
people. The ritual quality of the next Olympic Games in Beijing can be a symbol of
the next phase in the development of a global harmonious situation. The ritual quality
of the Games provides for participation without agreement, and every nation has the
dignity of participation, regardless of winning or losing competitions. The Games can
be a model for diplomacy.
At last he said that China has the opportunity this next year to use the conspicuously
excellent rituals of harmony surrounding the Olympic Games to teach the world the
very great value of conforming genuine conflicts to high level rituals of global
harmony.
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