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The Beijing Olympics and expressions of national identity in China, Taiwan

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The International Journal of the

History of Sport
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The Longitudinal Changes of National

Identity in Mainland China, Hong Kong
and Taiwan Before, During and After
the 2008 Beijing Olympics Games
a b c
Patrick W.C. Lau , Michael H.S. Lam , Beeto W.C. Leung ,
d e
Choung-rak Choi & Lynda B. Ransdell
a
Department of Physical Education, Hong Kong Baptist University,
Hong Kong
b
Faculty of Management and Hospitality, Technological and
Higher Education Institute of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
c
Tung Wah Group of Hospitals Community College, The Chinese
University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
d
Sports Management, Division of Sport Science, College of
Natural Science, Konkuk University, Korea
e
Department of Kinesiology, Boise State University, USA
Version of record first published: 07 Aug 2012.

To cite this article: Patrick W.C. Lau , Michael H.S. Lam , Beeto W.C. Leung , Choung-rak Choi &
Lynda B. Ransdell (2012): The Longitudinal Changes of National Identity in Mainland China, Hong
Kong and Taiwan Before, During and After the 2008 Beijing Olympics Games, The International
Journal of the History of Sport, 29:9, 1281-1294

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 The International Journal of the History of Sport
Vol. 29, No. 9, June 2012, 1281–1294

The Longitudinal Changes of National Identity in Mainland China,

Hong Kong and Taiwan Before, During and After the 2008 Beijing
Olympics Games
Patrick W.C. Laua, Michael H.S. Lamb, Beeto W.C. Leungc, Choung-rak Choid*
and Lynda B. Ransdelle
Downloaded by [University of Hong Kong Libraries] at 00:26 18 February 2013

a
Department of Physical Education, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong; bFaculty of
Management and Hospitality, Technological and Higher Education Institute of Hong Kong,
Hong Kong; cTung Wah Group of Hospitals Community College, The Chinese University of
Hong Kong, Hong Kong; dSports Management, Division of Sport Science, College of Natural
Science, Konkuk University, Korea; eDepartment of Kinesiology, Boise State University, USA

The present study examined longitudinal changes in Asian (i.e. Mainland China,
Hong Kong and Taiwan) school students’ national identity before, during and
after the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Participants were 946 secondary students aged
12–17 years from Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. This study revealed
that residence, especially the hosting city, acted as the most significant factor in
longitudinal changes and contribution to the national identity among the three
regions. The time factor (before, during and after the Games) was only significant
when it interacted with residence. These findings suggest that residence (hosting
city) provided the greatest contribution in national identity before, during and
after the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
Keywords: national identity; Chinese olympics; nationalism; Beijing olympics;
sport mega event

National Identity and the Olympics

National identity connotes social immersion, identification, involvement and loyalty;
it is also a state of patriotic infusion and commitment to the cause of one nation.1,2
National identity can create a sense of belongingness among members in a society,
which is an important step in post-conflict reconstruction.3
The Sydney 2000 Olympics and the Beijing 2008 Olympics, for example, are
conceived to generate feelings of enthusiasm for national pride with long-term
consequences for the cities and citizens, despite their nature as a short-term mega
sporting event.4,5,6,7
Though the Olympic Charter maintains that Games are not contested between
nations, national representation hinders this idea. Athletes are not only required to
be trained and selected by their nations, but they also wear national uniforms when a
victory is honoured, and the medal ceremony involves raising national flags and
singing national anthems.8 Both behaviours and actions indicate that national

*Corresponding author. Email: spoman@kku.ac.kr

ISSN 0952-3367 print/ISSN 1743-9035 online

Ó 2012 Taylor & Francis
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09523367.2012.692248
http://www.tandfonline.com
 1282 P.W.C. Lau et al.

identity is recognised by the International Olympics Committee (IOC) and is to be

cultivated by the National Olympics Committee (NOC) to maintain and to sustain
national identity.9 It is therefore foreseeable that the low politics of sport are
conspicuously connected with the high politics of national identities and interna-
tional relations in the spotlight of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.10
Various sports in the Olympic Games and international competitions are regarded
as the context in which national identity takes place;11 these Games are also presented
as a form of ritualised war which serves as a powerful source for the construction and
representation of national identity.12 Brownell compared sport in the US and China
and its relationship to nationalism over the last century.13 She found that in both the
US and China, sport is closely related to the construction of a national identity. In the
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United Kingdom, international soccer tournaments including World Cup Soccer and
European Cup Soccer have been regarded as evidence of the emergence of a renewed
English national conscience.14 Similarly, the Tour de France is embedded in that
nation’s collective memory and has aroused the French national identity.15 In North
American, ice hockey is crucial to the maintenance of Canadian identity.16 In Brazil,
sports competition is not simply a competition; it aims to demonstrate a ‘Brazilian
force’, of its people, from soccer.17 Chinese people conceive that the Beijing 2008
Olympic Games could mark China’s emergence as a world power.18

National Identity Development in Hong Kong and Taiwan

Historical treaties and civil wars disjoined Hong Kong and Taiwan from Mainland
China. These countries have experienced very different social, political and economic
changes since the last century and the nature of the dynamic constructs of national
identity have been formed. The citizens have struggled with continuous changes
related to different historical events and these dual or even multiple national
identities can occur in international regions or cities.19
Although Hong Kong people are originally from Mainland China, Hong Kong
people have long been lacking a strong sense of belonging to China because of the
long term colonial government strategy of ‘political depoliticisation’.20,21 Likewise,
as the economic and social development launched and local pop culture formed
between 1970 and 1980, Hong Kong began to develop its own local identity, namely
Hongkongese.22 According to the surveys conducted in 1985 and 1992, 60% and
64% of the respondents considered themselves as Hongkongese. Only 36% and 29%
of them identified them as Chinese.23 This is due to the fact that Hong Kong people
have developed their unique lifestyle and cultural values in the past decades under
the colonial governance. Suttill24 stated that Hong Kong people were marginalised
and confused about their identity. Hong Kong had experienced de-nationalisation in
the decades after the 1945 Second World War. Throughout this historical period, the
identity of Hong Kong citizens was constantly readjusted and negotiated.2 However,
Hong Kong was also undergoing re-nationalisation after the return of sovereignty
from the United Kingdom to China in 1997. Ho20 stated that Hong Kong people
have been facing an intrinsic paradox due to the principle ‘One country, two
systems’. This principle might provide a channel for Hong Kong people to resist
closer links with Mainland China after 1997. Although many educational measures
such as curricular reform, Mainland China exchange tours, national anthem singing
and national flag hoisting ceremonies have been implemented by the Hong Kong
government in the schools, the Chinese national identity has not been ingrained into
 The International Journal of the History of Sport 1283

Hong Kong’s conscience successfully over the past decades. Naturally, the Beijing
2008 Olympic Games could be a timely instrument to enhance the Chinese
national identity and the sense of belonging to its motherland among Hong Kong
people.25
Taiwan has a unique history due to the 1949 political conflict between the native
Taiwanese and those who migrated from Mainland China.26 This conflict has
facilitated many discussions over historical and cultural issue related to nationality.
Since 1949, Taiwan and Mainland China have struggled with the notion that ‘two
China’s’ (e.g., Taiwan and Mainland China) should compete in the international
sporting arena. This issue was temporarily solved in 1980 when IOC President Juan
Antonio Samaranch proposed to guarantee that the Taipei Olympic Committee would
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be treated the same as other national Olympic committees if it was willing to change its
name to the ‘Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee’, using a new flag and emblem in the
Olympic Games.27 Once this compromise occurred, the issue of Chinese representation
in the Olympic Games was settled. This outcome was ultimately viewed as an
enhancement in communication between Mainland China and Taiwan. Furthermore,
Mainland China probably saw this re-naming as a process of reunification because the
name ‘Chinese’ was placed in front of ‘Taipei Olympic Committee’.
To most of the local Taiwanese, Taiwan’s national title was not only a label to
represent them in international sports, but also an internal political identity. Under
the name of Chinese Taipei, Mainland China made it difficult for local Taiwanese to
establish their unique sport or national identity. Furthermore, the successful bid of
2008 Beijing Olympics further consolidated the international status of Mainland
China and isolated Taiwan in both the sport and political world.27
The responses of the first Olympic Games hosted in Beijing in 2008 also resulted in
mixed feelings from the Taiwanese. On one hand, this was a precious opportunity for
the Chinese people to host the Games in the twenty-first century. But it also produced
tension between Mainland China and Taiwan regarding the Olympic torch relay
when China announced the route in April 2007. Taiwan was treated as one of the
domestic legs, and no national flag, anthem, emblem was allowed to be featured in
Taiwan. Surveys conducted by Taiwan’s Executive Yuan Mainland Affairs Council,
indicated that 60% of Taiwanese thought that the Olympic torch relay arrangement
would damage the sovereignty of Taiwan, and 65% considered unacceptable if
‘Taipei, China’ was used as the descriptor in the relay.28 These findings demonstrated
that the non-Chinese political entity of Taiwanese is still very obvious.
Another survey conducted before and after the Beijing Olympic Games by Lee,
Bairner, and Tan showed that a subtle change occurred in the Taiwanese’s national
identity when considering the success of the 2008 Beijing Games.29 The proportion of
respondents who considered themselves Taiwanese was 62% before the Games and
54% afterwards; the proportion of respondents who considered themselves both
Chinese and Taiwanese was 27% before the Games and 30% after the Games and the
proportion of respondents who considered themselves Chinese before the Games was
8% compared to 12% after the Games. The conclusion of this study was that the Beijing
Olympic Games did not change the national identity of Taiwanese significantly.29

Sport, Physical Activity and National Identity

It is speculated that sport or physical activity (PA) might contribute to the
construction of national identity. In previous cross-sectional studies by Lau and Lam
 1284 P.W.C. Lau et al.

and Lau,30 Lam and Leung,31 the contributing role of sport identity and PA level on
the formation of national identity of Chinese school children was investigated. This
research suggests that sport identity and PA levels are positively correlated with
national identity; in addition, gender, age, birthplace, residence, sport identity, and
PA level may be related to national identity. Significant group differences were
detected for all variables (age, gender, birth-residential place, sport identity and PA)
relative to the national identity of Chinese students.
Because the historical development of the building and reinforcement of national
identity are diverse in Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, it is meaningful to
use the 2008 Beijing Olympics to track the longitudinal changes and impact of this
mega sport event on national identity in Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
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Therefore, the objective of the present study is to examine longitudinal changes in

school students’ national identity in Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan
before, during and after the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
Little research has investigated the association between the Olympics and
national identity in the Chinese population which includes Mainland China, Hong
Kong and Taiwan. Further, there are no studies that have investigated changes in
national identity before, during and after any Olympic Games or international major
sport tournaments, especially in the Chinese population. The present study provides
meaningful information about longitudinal changes in national identity that coincide
with the Olympics. Additionally, the majority of previous studies about national
identity were qualitative in nature and they relied more on interview data and
content analysis of sport media than on quantitative data.19 Therefore, this study
provides supplementary information about how hosting a mega sport event (like the
2008 Beijing Olympics) can impact national identity changes in Mainland China,
Hong Kong and Taiwan using a quantitative approach. Finally, these findings may
help the Chinese government formulate civil education policies that can rekindle
national identity.

Participants of the Study

Nine hundred and forty-six students (12–17 years; 52.8% males) from six secondary
schools in Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan participated in the study. A
large percentage of this sample (n ¼ 757 or 80%) of students successfully completed
questionnaires before, during and after the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Participants were
given consent letters, which explained the research aims and procedures prior to the
study. They were also reminded that their participation in the study was voluntary
and that they could withdraw at any time without penalty. Ethical consent to
administer the study was granted by the committee on the use of Human Subjects
from Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, China.

Instrument and Procedures

A set of questionnaires was employed in the present study. National identity was
measured by the National Identity Scale (NIS).30 This instrument was developed
based upon the study of Ikhioya1 and the Enthusiasm multi-item scale of multi-
dimensional attitudinal scale.7 The questionnaire consisted of 10 items. With the
principal axis factoring analysis, only one factor was extracted and all the items were
above the factor loading standard of .40. Sample questions are as follows: ‘I think
 The International Journal of the History of Sport 1285

the 2008 Beijing Olympics can bring a positive impact for building the national
identity when knowing Beijing will host the 2008 Olympic Games’; ‘My awareness of
my motherland, China, is aroused when knowing Beijing will host the 2008 Olympic
Games’; or, ‘I am proud to be Chinese when knowing Beijing will host the 2008
Olympic Games’.
The Athletic Identity Measurement Scale (AIMS) was employed to assess the
sport identity of the children.32 This scale measures the degree to which an individual
identifies himself/herself as a sport person. The AIMS is designed to measure both
the exclusivity and strength of identification with the sport role. The reliability alpha
of AIMS is between .87 and .93 from two studies.32 The AIMS consists of 10 items.
Each of the items is a simple declarative statement that can be answered on a 5-point
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Likert scale. Sample items from the scale include ‘I consider myself an athlete’ and ‘I
spend more time thinking about sport than anything else’.
The Physical Activity Questionnaire for Children (PAQ-C) was designed to
measure school-aged children’s general levels of PA participation. It is a self-
administered recall measure that is easy for children to understand.33 It includes nine
questions about level of sport involvement during the last seven days. Significant and
satisfactory convergent validity was obtained through correlations with the
moderate to vigorous sport activities measure and an electronic motion sensor
(Caltrac).34 The items ask children about the type and frequency of their sport
involvement in school, during lunch, in the evening, and during other spare times.
Sample items from the scale are ‘Sport in your spare time: Have you done any of the
following activities in the past 7 days (last week)?’ and ‘Mark how often you did
sports (like playing ball games, doing dance, swimming, etc) for each day last week’.
AIMS and PAQC were translated and implemented in school children
population studies in Hong Kong.35,36 The translation-back translation method
was employed to clarify the wording and linguistics of the English version
questionnaire of the NIS. The Chinese version was then developed and proof-read
by school teachers and primary school students to ensure the accuracy of the
meaning and understanding of the translation.
Written consent from all participants was obtained in advance from Mainland
China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. The questionnaire data collection was conducted in
February, August and December 2008 respectively. On the day of data collection,
physical education teachers from each school and/or the research assistant helped to
distribute the questionnaires to the students. The questionnaires were administered
to the children in a group setting after school hours. Students took approximately
25 min to complete the questionnaires and no participants refused to take part.
Although researchers were available to respond to questions, no difficulties were
encountered.

Statistical Analysis and Results

Descriptive statistics for all key variables were calculated. Partial Pearson Product
Moment correlations were used to examine the associations between students’
national identity, sport identity and PA level, controlled for demographic variables.
ANCOVAs (3 6 3) were conducted to examine the effects of gender, age, birth and
residential places, sport identity as well as PA level on national identity.
The reliabilities of the three scales at all of the three data collection time points
were satisfactory (NIS: abefore ¼ .96, aduring ¼ .97, aafter ¼ .97; AIMS: abefore ¼ .92,
 1286 P.W.C. Lau et al.

aduring ¼ .91, aafter ¼ .90; PAQC: abefore ¼ .88, aduring ¼ .89, aafter ¼ .90). Descriptive
statistics of the key variables for the whole sample and different places are presented
in Table 1.
Correlation analysis was conducted to examine the stability of NIS, AIMS and
PAQC among the three time points. Results revealed that national identity, sport
identity and PA level seem to be quite stable respectively among the three time points
with correlations ranging from .58 to .83 (p 5 .01) (details are presented in Table 2 in
Italics). Correlation analysis was also performed to investigate the relationships
among the three key variables in different time points. Results revealed that national
identity at all time points correlated significantly and moderately with sport identity
and PA level (correlations ranged from .21 to .41, p 5 .01) and sport identity also
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correlated significantly and moderately with PA level (correlations ranged from .46
to .61, p 5 .01).
A 3 6 3 mixed-design ANCOVA was conducted. Residence (China, Hong Kong
and Taiwan) was the between-subjects independent variable and Time (before,
during and after the Beijing Olympics) was the within-subjects independent variable;
age, sport identity and PA level were used as covariates and national identity was
used as the dependent variable. This analysis was conducted to examine changes in
national identity, adjusted for age, sports identity and PA level, before, during and
after the Beijing Olympic Games among secondary students in China, Hong Kong
and Taiwan. To simplify the analysis, age, sport identity and PA level at Time 1 (pre-
Olympics) were adopted as covariates.
Among the three covariates, only sport identity (but not age and PA level) was
found to be significantly related to national identity. After adjustment of covariates,
the main effect of time was not significant, with F(2, 745) ¼ .253, ns. That is, overall,
national identity did not change significantly before, during and after the Olympic
Game. On the other hand, the main effect of residence was significant with F(2,
732) ¼ 263.9, p 5 .001. Since the sample sizes of the different residential areas were
not equal and heterogeneity of variance was observed among the groups based on
national identity, a Brown-Forsythe one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was

Table 1. Descriptive statistics of key variables by different places.

Birth and residential place1

Total (N ¼ 757) CN (N ¼ 170) HK (N ¼ 289) TW (N ¼ 298)
Variables2 (Male ¼ 52.8%) (Male ¼ 51.7%) (Male ¼ 53.2%) (Male ¼ 53.1%)
Age(T1)3 13.72 (1.45) 11.77 (.86) 14.49 (1.36) 13.90 (.62)
NI(T1) 3.49 (.97) 4.66 (.55) 3.63 (.66) 2.78 (.76)
NI(T2) 3.62 (.97) 4.80 (.35) 3.87 (.65) 2.85 (.77)
NI(T3) 3.43 (1.06) 4.79 (.38) 3.70 (.71) 2.69 (.84)
SI(T1) 3.04 (.87) 3.69 (.86) 2.87 (.86) 2.89 (.73)
SI(T2) 2.89 (.81) 3.43 (.61) 2.71 (.86) 2.91 (.73)
SI(T3) 2.94 (.81) 3.49 (.65) 2.77 (.83) 2.95 (.77)
PAL(T1) 2.47 (.87) 3.36 (1.07) 2.17 (.60) 2.59 (.68)
PAL(T2) 2.31 (.77) 3.42 (.64) 1.97 (.52) 2.43 (.63)
PAL(T3) 2.37 (.80) 3.43 (.64) 2.05 (.64) 2.46 (.61)

Note: Means and standard deviations are presented in parentheses.

1
CN: born and living in China; HK: born and living in Hong Kong; TW: born and living in Taiwan.
2
NI: National identity; SI: Sports identity; PAL: Level of physical activity.
3
T1: Before; T2: During; T3: After the Olympic Game.
 The International Journal of the History of Sport 1287

conducted among the three time points.37 There were significant differences in
national identity between the three residential places at all three time points with
FT1(2, 732) ¼ 379.9, p 4 .001; FT2(2, 723) ¼ 368.4, p 4 .001; FT3(2, 720) ¼ 348.7,
p 4 .001 respectively. Post-hoc comparisons revealed that China had a significantly
higher national identity than Hong Kong and Hong Kong, in turn, had a
significantly higher national identity than Taiwan at all three time points using an
alpha levels adjusted to .001 (refer to Table 1 and Figure 1 for details).
Most interestingly, a significantly interaction effect between time and residence
was found with F(4, 732) ¼ 3.97, p 5 .005. In other words, the effect of time
(Olympic Games) on national identity depended on residence. In order to reveal the
implications of this significant time by residence interaction on national identity,
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three separate one-way repeated measure analysis of variance (ANOVA) were run on
national identity with time (before, during and after the Games) as the within-subject
independent variable and each of the three residential groups (China, Hong Kong

Table 2. Correlation among key variables.

Variable 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
1. NI(T1) – .71* .73* .41* .21* .23* .37* .37* .36*
2. NI(T2) – .83* .33* .25* .30* .33* .41* .37*
3. NI(T3) – .33* .24* .31* .35* .39* .37*
4. SI(T1) – .64* .58* .61* .54* .46*
5. SI(T2) – .72* .49* .59* .46*
6. SI(T3) – .52* .53* .56*
7. PAL(T1) – .72* .69*
8. PAL(T1) – .79*
9. PAL(T1) –

Note: Results revealed that national identity, sport identity and PA level seem to be quite stable
respectively among the three time points with correlations. *p 5 .01.

Figure 1. National identity by time and residential places.

 1288 P.W.C. Lau et al.

and Taiwan) as the between subject independent variable. Significant main effects of
time were found in Hong Kong and Taiwan with F(2, 272) ¼ 16.59, p 5 .001 and F(2,
281) ¼ 4.41, p 5 .05, respectively, but not in China with F(2, 141) ¼ 1.19, p 4 .05.
Post-hoc pairwise comparisons on national identity before, during and after the
Olympic Games were thus conducted with the participants from Hong Kong and
Taiwan. Results demonstrated that for the Hong Kong group, significant differences
were found between T1 and T2 as well as between T2 and T3, but not between T1
and T3. That is, students in Hong Kong had significantly higher national identity
during the Games compared to how they were feeling before and after the Games.
Results also showed that for the Taiwan group, significant differences were only
found between T2 and T3, but not for any other time comparison. Students in
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Taiwan had a significantly higher national identity during the Games compared to
after the Games.

The Impact of Residential Place on National Identity

When controlling all confounding factors such as residence, age, sport identity and
PA level, the time factor alone did not demonstrate any significant effect on national
identity before, during and after the Beijing Olympics. Therefore, time did not have a
prominent effect on the degree of change in the national identity of students in
China, Hong Kong and Taiwan in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. However, residence
alone, and the interaction effect of time and residential place did have an impact.
With regards to the solo impact of residence (hosting or non-hosting city) on the
national identity changes during the three time points, previous literature has
provided evidence to support this finding. For example, South Korea has examined
the impact of mega sporting events like the Olympics in terms of their impact on
nation building and national identity development.38 Taiwanese national identity
was linked with the staging of the 2001 Baseball World Cup.39 The hosting of the
2010 World Cup Soccer in South Africa helped to create and strengthen the national
identity of the host country.40 All of this recent evidence supports the present finding
and singles out the importance of the extraordinary effect of the hosting city on
national identity development. This finding could also help explain the phenomenon
that national identity was much lower before the Games and dropped significantly
after the Games, especially in non-hosting regions. The political implications of
sports and the Olympics have conspicuously been recognised as an instrument of
hegemonic power to generate patriotic feelings and national pride,4,11 especially for
the residents of the host city.12 In the 1990 Beijing Asian Games, Beijing citizens
evoked stronger nationalism among different parts of China.41 In the summer of
2001, the Beijing Chinese demonstrated stronger national identity again when
Beijing was selected to host the XXIX Olympics.42 They stated that, in the process of
new nation building, the link between sport and nationalism has persisted even until
today and it is therefore not difficult to understand that the sports arena provides a
powerful impetus for the construction and representation of national identity. For
example, the emergence of a renewed English national conscious by soccer
tournament in the United Kingdom and the impact of the Tour de France on the
construction and fortification of French national identity further provides further
evidence for this phenomenon.14,15
The interaction effect demonstrated that the time factor (i.e. before, during and
after the Games) was significant only when it was combined with residence. During
the literature search for this study, we were not able to find any study that has
 The International Journal of the History of Sport 1289

investigated the impact of the time factor on national identity development. The
present study is the first trial to explore the potential impact of its changes before,
during and after the Olympic Games. Although there is no previous reference to help
support the discussion of this finding, the present finding already demonstrated the
unique role played by the time factor based upon its tracking data in the Beijing
Olympics 2008. Currently, the time factor showed very different impacts on the
national identity in different regions. With the individual unique social, environ-
mental and political climates, the time factor further exposes deep down political
issues related to Chinese national identity in different regions. The relationship
between hosting the Olympic Games in Beijing, China and the Chinese national
identity has emerged with different intensities and fluctuations throughout the three
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time points in Mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Consequently, the time
factor actually could act as a mirror or thermometer in which the political/social/
cultural agenda behind the Chinese identity is reflected. Through the time factor,
how national identity is interpreted and identified should be further examined in
future studies. The present study has provided a starting point for the research
question related to the time course of changes in national identity and political/
social/cultural agendas in different regions.

Changes in National Identity by Time Points

Figure 1 demonstrates changes in national identity by time and places. The Chinese
participants had the highest national identity, followed by the ‘Hong Kong’ group;
the group with the lowest national identity was the ‘Taiwan’ group. The differences
in Chinese national identity among Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan
secondary students before, during and after the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games were
distinct; this phenomenon was already discussed and explained in the previous study
of Lau, Lam, and Leung.31 In brief, the Olympics are recognised as an instrument of
hegemonic power to generate patriotic feelings and national pride, especially for the
residents of the host city/country.
With regards to Hong Kong national identity changes, during the Games,
national identity was significantly higher than before and after the Games. It is quite
natural that the Olympic Games victories of China during the Games in 2008 would
enhance the Chinese identity among Hong Kong adolescents based upon the past
studies of national identity in Hong Kong youngsters.43,44 Also, the extensive, 24-h
live satellite coverage with local commentaries and free TV broadcasting during the
Games was probably another factor that enhanced the influences of the Beijing
Games on Hong Kong students. This large-scale sport coverage of the Olympics on
free TV channels was unprecedented in Hong Kong sport media history. Huge
materialistic and human resources were invested, including entertainment celebrities
who acted as sport anchors or guest commentators. Finally, the stronger dual Hong
Kong–China national identity, which was developed after China resumed Hong
Kong’s sovereignty in 1997, was further reinforced. Moreover, Hong Kong was one
of the cities co-hosted the Equestrian Games of the 2008 Beijing Olympics; therefore,
it is not difficult to explain the enhancement of the national identity during the
Games. To explain the significant drop of national identity in Hong Kong after the
Games, as an international city, Hong Kong citizens fluctuated frequently –
especially facing numerous global and Mainland China controversial issues in
politics, and economic conflicts such as the demographic request and the competition
between Shanghai and Hong Kong.
 1290 P.W.C. Lau et al.

Due to the unstable political climate, Taiwan maintained a low profile on the
Beijing Games, especially before the Games. This conflict probably started with the
rejection of the Olympic torch run in Taiwan in early 2008. The conflicting identity
between Chinese and Taiwanese was also sharpened after 2000 since the Democratic
Progressive Party governed Taiwan. The request of democratisation, indigenisation
and pro-independence gave rise to a stronger sense of ‘Taiwanese identity’ as opposed
to ‘Chinese identity’.10 Therefore, under the ‘One Country Two Systems’ and the
sovereignty of PRC Government, the low level of Chinese national identity
demonstrated by Taiwanese student was foreseeable before the Games. During the
Games, students from Taiwan might share the glories of the Chinese athletes. This
perception could be attributed to the cultural identity instead of national identity.
Downloaded by [University of Hong Kong Libraries] at 00:26 18 February 2013

Cultural identity is the identity of a group or individual who is influenced by one’s

belonging to a culture, in which ethnicity, place, language, history are potential
contributors.45,46 In this case, Taiwan people shared certain common historical
experiences and cultural codes with mainland Chinese, which may provide certain sense
of belonging among Taiwanese. Cultural identities could be mutually inclusive too. For
example, individuals may see themselves as New Zealanders, and as part of a particular
culture (e.g. M aori, Chinese) in other circumstances.47 Yu and Mangan48 suggested
that the government and people in Taiwan had an ambivalent attitude towards China’s
growing power on the sports world. They demonstrated a mixture of pride and
suspicion. In other words, Taiwan people in general might also share the glories of
being ‘Chinese’ (in the cultural sense), through the Olympic victories (not People of
Republic China) on the global sport stage. However, with the complexities of Taiwan
Strait and its fluctuating internal political confrontations between Kuomingtang and
Democratic Progressive Party, national identity dropped after the Games significantly.
To conclude, longitudinal changes in national identity occurred before, during
and after the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Residence, especially hosting city, played
a critical and significant role in the momentum and intensity throughout the changes
of national identity when comparing the three regions. Time effect was only found
significant with the residential places. This finding further stressed the importance of
the ‘hosting city effect’. Finally, the different impacts at different time points of the
Beijing Games on Hong Kong and Taiwan students indicated that other factors such
as political climate or cultural perception need to be considered.

Notes on Contributors
Patrick W.C. Lau is a full Professor in the Department of Physical Education, Hong Kong
Baptist University. His research focus is on childhood obesity, Olympism development and
health and recreation. Since 1998 he has published more than 100 research articles and
conference papers in international refereed journals with publishers in the USA, Europe,
Australia, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. He is also the accredited Sport Psychologist by the British
Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences, United Kingdom, since 2005.
Michael H.S. Lam is a teaching fellow of The Technological and Higher Education Institute of
Hong Kong. He is currently a PhD Candidate of the Faculty of Medicine of HKU. He is the
co-author of The Beijing Olympics and Expressions of National Identity in China, Taiwan and
Hong Kong (Yale University, CT, 2011) and National Identity and the Beijing Olympics: School
Children’s Responses in Mainland China, Taiwan & Hong Kong (Peking UP, 2009). His current
research interests focus on the sociology of Olympics of the Asia Pacific.
Beeto W.C. Leung is a lecturer at the Chinese University of Hong Kong Tung Wah
Community College. His research interests focus on identity, hope and positive psychology.
 The International Journal of the History of Sport 1291

Choung-rak Choi is Associate Professor at the Konkuk University. He has researched on the
history of Korean women’s golf and the transitions in the golf industry environment. His
current research interests focus on the changes in Olympics marketing.
Lynda B. Ransdell is a full Professor and author of three books (Designing Effective Physical
Activity Programs, Ensuring the Health of Active and Athletic Women, and the ACSM Personal
Trainer’s Manual [3rd edition]) and over 85 publications. Her research interests include
designing, implementing and evaluating physical activity interventions and improving the
sport performance of female athletes.

Notes
1. Ikhioya, ‘Olympic Games as instruments in fostering national identity’, Journal of the
Downloaded by [University of Hong Kong Libraries] at 00:26 18 February 2013

International Council for Health, Physical Education and Recreation, Sport and Dance.
http://www.canadiansport.ca/newsletters/august/identities_e.cfm (accessed February 18,
2007)
2. Lee, Chan, and So, ‘Redefining Local Interests: News Media in Hong Kong after 1997’,
Working Papers in English & Communication 16, no. 1 (2004): 49-73.
3. Thomas, Shaping National Identity: The Role of The International Olympic Movement in
Nation-building (2004 Annual Meeting, Montreal, Cana), 1–25.
4. Gordon, ‘The Olympic Spirit and Civic Boosterism: The Sydney 2000 Olympics’,
Tourism Geographies 3, no. 3 (2001): 249–78.
5. Lau, Lam, and Leung, ‘Olympic Spirit & World Harmony: National Identity and the
Beijing Olympics: School Children’s Responses in Hong Kong’ (Beijing Forum 2008,
Peking University, China, 2008).
6. Mewett, ‘Fragments of a Composite Identity: Aspects of Australian Nationalism in a
Sports Setting’, Australian Journal of Anthropology 10, no.3 (1999): 357–75.
7. Waitt, ‘The Olympic Spirit and Civic Boosterism: The Sydney 2000 Olympics’, Tourism
Geographies 3, no. 3 (2001): 249–78.
8. International Olympic Committee, ‘Olympic Charter 2004’, http://www.olympic.org/uk/
organisation/missions/charteruk.asp (accessed February 20, 2007).
9. Guttmann, The Olympics: a History of the Modern Games.
10. Xu, ‘Modernizing China in the Olympic Spotlight: China’s National Identity and the
2008 Beijing Olympiad’, http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1467-
954X.2006.00655.x?cookieSet¼1 (accessed January 5, 2008).
11. Gill, ‘Private and Public: National Identity in a Scottish Borders Community’, Nations
and Nationalism 11, no. 1 (2005): 83–102.
12. Elias, The Germans: Power Struggles and the Development of Habitus in the Nineteenth
and Twentieth Centuries.
13. Brownell, ‘Challenged America: China and America-women and Sport, Past, Present
and Future’, International Journal of History of Sport (London) 22, no. 6 (2005): 1173–
93.
14. Abell et al., ‘Who ate All the Pride? Patriotic Sentiment and English National Football
Support’, Nations and Nationalism 13, no. 1 (2007): 97–116.
15. Campos, ‘Beating the Bounds: The Tour de France and National Identity’, International
Journal of the History of Sport 20, no. 2 (2003): 149–74.
16. Bairner, Sport, Nationalism, and Globalization: Europe and North American Perspectives.
17. Labriola and Negreiros, ‘Soccer and National Identity: The Case of World Cup 1938’,
Lecturas: Education Fisica y Deportes, Revista Digital 3, no. 8 (1998): 71–92.
18. Dong, ‘The Beijing Games, National Identity and Modernization in China’, International
Journal of the History of Sport 27, no. 16 (2010): 2798–821.
19. The New Zealand Tourism Research Institute, AUT University. ‘National Identity and
Sport: An Annotated Bibliography’, www.nztri.org (accessed February 5, 2009)
20. Ho, ‘Beijing Olympics under ‘‘One Country Two Systems’’: An Ethnographic Study of
Hong Kong Students’ Attitudes towards Mainland China’, The International Journal of
the History of Sport 27, no. 3 (2010): 570–87.
21. Ho and Lo, ‘The Struggle between Globalization, Nationalism and Music Education in
Hong Kong’, Music Education Research 11, no. 4 (2009): 439–56.
 1292 P.W.C. Lau et al.

22. Lee, ‘Negotiating Sporting Nationalism: Debating Fan Behaviour in ‘China vs. Japan’,
Soccer & Society 10, no. 2 (2009): 192–209.
23. Lau, ‘Political attitudes’ In Indicators of social development Hong Kong 1990, ed. S.K.
Lau, M.K. Lee, P.S. Wan, and S.L. Wong.
24. Suttill, ‘Chinese Culture in Hong Kong’, China Now 132 (1989/1990): 14–15.
25. Bridges, ‘Reluctant Mediator: Hong Kong, The Two Koreas and The Tokyo Olympics’.
26. Lin, ‘The Evolution of a Taiwanese National Identity’. Asia Program Special Report
114 (2003): 1–24.
27. Bairner and Hwang, ‘Representing Taiwan: International Sport, Ethnicity and National
Identity in the Republic of China’, International Review for the Sociology of Sport 46, no.
3 (2010): 231–48.
28. Tsai, ‘The Beijing Olympics Torch’s coming to Taiwan and the Cross-Strait Relations’,
Exchange Magazine, no. 93 (2007): 41–43.
Downloaded by [University of Hong Kong Libraries] at 00:26 18 February 2013

29. Lee, Bairner, and Tan, ‘Taiwanese Identities and the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games’, In A.
Bairner and G. Molnar (Eds.), The Politics of the Olympics: A Survey, 129–44.
30. Lau and Lam, ‘Beijing Olympic 2008: A Quest of the National Identity for Hong
Kong Children’, In X.Y. Li, (Eds.), The Olympic Games and the Development of Sport,
172–83.
31. Lau, Lam, and Leung, ‘The Beijing Olympics and Expressions of National Identity in
China, Taiwan and Hong Kong’, In Kelly, W.W. and Brownell, S. (Eds.), The Olympics
in East Asia: Nationalism, Regionalism, and Globalism on the Center Stage of World
Sports, 147–60.
32. Brewer, Van Raalte, and Linder, ‘Athletic Identity: Hercules’ Muscles or Achilles Heel’,
International Journal of Sport Psychology 24 (1993): 237–54.
33. Lau et al., ‘The Relationship among Physical Fitness, Physical Education, Conduct and
Academic Performance of Chinese Primary School Children’, International Journal of
Physical Education 41, no. 1 (2004): 17–26.
34. Simons-Morton et al., ‘Children’s Frequency of Participation in Moderate to Vigorus
Physical Activities’, Research Quarterly for Exercise & Sport 61, no. 4 (1990): 307–14.
35. Lau et al., ‘The Association between Global Self-Esteem, Physical Self-concept and
Actual versus Ideal Body Size Rating in Chinese Primary School Children’, International
Journal of Obesity 28, no. 2 (2004): 314–19.
36. Lau, Fox, and Cheung, ‘An Analysis of Sport Identity as a Predictor of Children’s
Participation in Sport’, Pediatric Exercise Science 18 (2006): 415–25.
37. Brown and Forsythe, ‘The ANOVA and Multiple Comparisons for Data with
Heterogeneous Variance’, Biometrics 30 (1974): 719–24.
38. Hong, ‘Elite Sport and Nation-building in South Korea: South Korea as the Dark Horse
in Global Elite Sport’, International Journal of the History of Sport 28, no. 7 (2011): 977–
89.
39. Lin, Lee, and Cheng, ‘Taiwan and the 2001 Baseball World Cup: The National Impact of
a World Sporting Event’, The International Journal of the History of Sport 27, no. 13
(2010): 2234–54.
40. Van der Westhuizen and Swart, ‘Bread or Circuses? The 2010 World Cup and South
Africa’s Quest for Marketing Power’, International Journal of the History of Sport 28, no.
1 (2011): 168–80.
41. Brownell, Training the Body for China: Sports in the Moral Order of the People’s
Republic.
42. Li and Su, ‘Zhongguo tiyujie huibie ‘‘Yuan Weimin shidai’’’ [‘The Chinese sportsworld
bids farewell to the ‘Yuan Weimin era’], The Southern Weekend, http://www.nanfang
daily.com.cn/zm/20041216/xw/szxw1/200412160006.asp. (accessed December 17, 2004).
43. Hok Yau Club of Hong Kong, http://www.hyc.org.hk/files/survey/NISreport05.pdf
(accessed 12 February, 2007).
44. Youth Online Association of Hong Kong, http://www.youth-online.com/5.4/vote/
images/Survey_Result.pdf (accessed February12, 2007).
45. Hall, ‘Cultural Identity and Diaspora’, In P. Williams and Chrisman (Eds.), Colonial
Discourse and Post-colonial Theory: A Reader, 392–401.
46. Wikipedia, ‘Cultural Identity’, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_identity (accessed
February 23, 2010).
 The International Journal of the History of Sport 1293

47. The Social Report 2010, ‘Cultural Identity’, www.socialreport.msd.govt.nz/cultural-

identity (accessed October 20, 2010).
48. Yu and Mangan, ‘Dancing Around the Elephant: The Beijing Olympics-Taiwanese
Reflections and Reactions’, International Journal of the History of Sport 25, no. 7 (2008):
826–51.

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Brewer, B.W., J.L. Van Raalte, and D.E. Linder. ‘Athletic Identity: Hercules’ Muscles or
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