HONG KONG — At precisely eight minutes past 8 p.m. on Aug. 8 — the eighth day of the eighth month of the year 2008 — the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, this year's summer Olympics, will officially open in Beijing. It is widely seen as China's debut party after an eclipse of a couple of centuries.
The Chinese Communist Party's choice of opening date is significant. The atheistic regime is pragmatically enlisting the help of numerology to ensure the Games' success. The number eight, to Chinese, signifies prosperity — the country's goal since 1978, when Deng Xiaoping became China's leader.
Gone is the revolutionary ethos of Mao Zedong, China's leader from the establishment of the People's Republic in 1949 until his death in 1976. Mao called for constant class struggle. Today's leaders want a xiaokang shehui (a society of small prosperity or a comfortable society) in which everyone is comfortably off.