The Image Function of a Sports Event on the Example of the Opening of the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing

Khu Zhuitsi Postgraduate student, Department of Mass Communication, Peoples' Friendship University of Russia 117198, Russia, Moscow, Miklukho-Maklaya str.,, 6 972115969@qq.com

IntroductionThe image of the country as an important element of "soft power" is always widely discussed and researched in politics, sociology, journalism, etc.

Of particular importance for the formation and promotion of the country's image are major events, in particular sports – preparation for them and direct conduct. For China, such an event was the Olympic Games-2022 and their opening ceremony. 

According to researcher K.Boulding^[1] in his work, the national image is a combination of a country's self–perception and its perception by other participants in the international system. Chinese researchers Ge Mingxi and He Zhiwu also noted that in the conditions of modern media globalization, the perception of one's own image is not only an important component of the national image, but also an important factor affecting the external image^[2].Thus, it is possible to emphasize the importance of forming the internal image of the country, which was also noted by researchers. 

However, despite the fact that the image of the country, formed on the basis of major sporting events, is discussed quite actively in research papers, most specialists were focused on the study of the external image of the state. At the same time, the importance of the country's self-perception is often ignored. Thus, in our case, the main attention was paid to how the Chinese media provide material about the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games-2022 and thereby influence the opinion of Chinese citizens about their country. 

Within the framework of this study, the function of the international sports event of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing for the formation of the internal image of the country is considered. In addition, it is necessary to identify which images of China the organizer of the event tried to show the audience, how the Chinese media covered the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games-2022, in what tone the relevant information was presented, how much it influenced the internal image of the PRC.  

For this purpose, methods of content analysis of publications in the media and methods of comparison, generalization and statistical analysis of the collected data were used. The frequency of keywords in the texts of publications was also analyzed in order to determine the direction of the agenda of the Chinese media when covering the 2022 Olympics.

The Olympic Games as a media event is an effective approach to the formation of national identityNational identity or national identity is one of the components of a person's identity.

It is connected with the perceived belonging to a certain ethnic group or nation, the assessment of their country, its position in the world and its influence. As China's reforms, openness and structural transformation have intensified, the influence of diverse foreign cultures and values on the traditional Chinese value system has led to a number of identity crises and challenges. Therefore, such a major event as the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games in Beijing should be used in order to form a positive self-perception of China on the part of its population.

 The opening ceremony of the Olympics, as the most important event in sports, is especially characterized by the opportunity to give the host country to demonstrate its values, culture, history and modernity to the global community and the population of its country. Media aimed at an external audience are simultaneously part of the structure of the National Mass Information System and the system of global information exchange. All this determines the specifics of the current state of China's media system and actualizes the problem of communication in Beijing's information policy of mechanisms for the formation of self-perception by citizens of their country. Thus, it is quite natural that the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing served to stimulate the universal components of China's image.

Thus, the Chinese Government attaches great importance to this issue. Regulatory acts in this direction have been adopted at the state level. So, in 2019, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council issued the "Main directions for the implementation of patriotic education in the new era", which clearly states that patriotic education in the new era should be aimed at the entire population, with an emphasis on youth, and constantly strengthen the sense of belonging, identity, dignity and honor of the Chinese nation.

Therefore, the Olympic Games as a modern sporting event is for China, on the one hand, a special form of communication that activates the connection of deep human emotions through sports activities, and on the other hand, the largest media event that gives strength to create a national or international information environment ^[3]. Thus, it is obvious that the Olympic Games for China is an event of great social significance, which is closely connected with statehood.

American researcher D McAloon divides the entire system of cultural representations of the Olympic Games into four types: landscape, celebration, ritual and competition^[4]. At the same time, each part of the Olympic Games can have a different impact on the audience. Among the components of this system, the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games has the greatest national symbols. As a cultural representation, ceremonies evoke a wide range of emotions and motives, they form the spiritual consciousness of the nation. The process of performing this ritual is a process of "acculturation" of the identity of the whole country. The cultural images and symbols presented at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Beijing 2022 have to a certain extent constructed the national culture and national identity of China as a whole, which were formed during a long historical process. For example, at the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games in Beijing, the countdown began with the number 24, which marks 24 solar terms (periods in traditional Chinese lunisolar calendars).

Thus, we can conclude that the Olympic Games are an effective approach to the formation of national identity and image. At the same time, the opening ceremony as the most important event of the Olympiad has the greatest impact.

Transformation and renewal of China's image under the influence of the opening ceremony of the 2022 Olympic Games

Of course, an international event, like the opening ceremony of the Olympics, provides a good opportunity for countries that want to emphasize their new image status, to show themselves in full force both to representatives of the international community and to their country's population.

On February 4, 2022, the opening ceremony of the 24th Winter Olympic Games took place at the Bird's Nest National Stadium in Beijing. It should be noted that the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in China has been held for the second time in the last 14 years. The previous experience of successfully holding the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in 2008 aroused quite a lot of interest among the Chinese population. In addition, this major international event is being held in China for the first time since the spread of the epidemic, so the public is interested in how sanitary and epidemiological safety is ensured. Moreover, people believe that further sanitary rules of the country can be predicted for the 2022 Winter Olympics^[5].

In order to analyze the specifics of media coverage, the following studies were conducted, we selected 38 messages related to the Winter Olympic Games from January 20 to March 7 on the website Global.com , which also included messages Global.com , reproduced from the news agencies "Xinhua" and "People's Daily" and performed an analysis of the frequency of words in the media- texts. Out of 38 texts containing a total of 36,170 words, we selected 31 keywords and ranked the frequency of these keywords-Fig. 1. and Table 1.

Figure 1.Keywords on the example of Global Times coverage of the Olympics- 2022.

Table 1.Keywords on the example of Global Times coverage of the Olympics- 2022.

The first 10 words of the frequency in the texts: China (),opening ceremony(),Bin Dun Dun(),coronavirus (/),USA(USA),the people(),unity(),Russia(),bright(),winter sports().

The results show that the media covered the opening ceremony in great detail, and also show that the opening ceremony was the most discussed topic in the entire Olympic program. In addition, the mascot of the Olympic Games, Bing Dongdun, was widely discussed. It is worth noting that the epidemic of a new coronavirus infection remained a hot topic for coverage in the Chinese media. This is due to China's strict epidemic prevention policy, which differs from other countries. "USA" and "Russia" took the fifth and eighth places, respectively. This shows that even in sporting events, relations between countries and geopolitical issues still cause concern, and the discussion of the United States is mainly related to their previously announced diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympic Games. This explains why the word "boycott" ranks 13th. Coverage of Russia, on the other hand, is mainly devoted to friendly relations between the two countries, for example, "In addition to the hosts, the applause in the arena during the exit of the Russian delegation to the opening ceremony was "excellent"" and "Russian Olympic skiers who twice won the Winter Olympics in Beijing gave a comment (wrote): "China, I love you! .

Obviously, as part of the coverage of the Olympics, the Chinese media paid the most attention to the coverage of the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, which was aimed at transforming and updating the image of China in a new era.Thus, we also conducted a more specific analysis of the coverage of the opening ceremonies, analyzed 102 separate materials about the opening ceremony of the 2022 Olympics, which were in the Chinese media 2 weeks before the Ceremony and a week after the ceremony (from January 21 to February 11, 2022). The statistics of viewing materials about the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games-2022 are interesting from the point of view of mentioning sanitary and epidemiological safety. For this purpose, a content analysis of the materials presented in the Chinese media was carried out - Table 2:

Table 2 – Content analysis of Chinese media materials about the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games-2022 in terms of mentioning sanitary and epidemiological safety. Content analysis of Chinese media materials on the opening ceremony of the 2022 Olympic Games in terms of mentioning sanitary and epidemiological safety

Thus, 33 articles out of 102 considered in one aspect or another mention issues of sanitary and epidemiological safety. Most articles mention the word "security" or similar combinations (26.5% of all materials reviewed), which indicates a desire to create an image of an accessible and safe ceremony. As one of the tasks of the materials about the Ceremony, forming an opinion about security was very important.

Among the many reports about the Olympics, the authors often mention the phrase "first in everything". Thus, the following information is presented in China News on November 27, 2021: "Beijing became the first city in Olympic history to host both the summer and Winter Olympic Games"^[6]. From the point of view of the author of the article, such an expression is a kind of positive manipulation, which allows us to emphasize that China is an influential power in the world, fixing this idea in the minds of the target audience of the media. At the same time, such publications provide an opportunity to emphasize the uniqueness of China and the difference between China and other countries. Let's consider the representation of various lexical units related to leadership, primacy, etc. – Table 3:

Table 3 – Content analysis of Chinese media materials about the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games-2022 in terms of mentioning lexical units related to leadership, championship. Content analysis of Chinese media materials about the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games 2022 in terms of the mention of lexical units associated with leadership, primacy

Thus, in 9.8% of the materials studied, the phrase "first in everything" is mentioned. It carries a positive characteristic of China as the host country of the Games. 5.9% of the materials mention combinations with the word "leader", 17.6% – "best", "best of all". These syntactic units also have the task of forming the image of China as the leading country in the world, which was able to organize the best opening ceremony of the Games. In general, such lexical units are mentioned in 43.1% of all reviewed articles, which indicates a fairly frequent mention of China's position in the organization of the Opening Ceremony, its leadership and the uniqueness of the event organized by the country.

When covering the opening ceremony of the Games, aimed at shaping the image of the country, the following images of China were mainly created:

1. Minimalism. The opening ceremony of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing did not have a grandiose organization, unlike the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympics, everything was simpler, cleaner and more elegant. Also, this time, professional actors, singers or dancers did not take part in the Olympiad. Its participants were students, schoolchildren and ordinary residents of Beijing and Hebei province.

2. Adaptability. A large number of high-tech tools were used at the opening ceremony. The world's largest LED display, which is tiled in the center of the "Bird's Nest" and extends to the runway. Its area is about 11,600 square meters. The natural interaction between 3D tracking technology and the ground helps the special effects to interact smoothly^[7].

3. Unity and nationality. Among those who carried the national flag at the opening ceremony were representatives of all walks of life and 56 ethnic groups of China. The way they passed the flag from hand to hand expressed emotions and the relationship between people and the flag. At this time, a child trumpeter played the melody "My country and I".

China has also enriched its image in the new era by implementing the following ideas:

1. The theme of the ceremony is "One world, one family".In the program, which shows respect for the world people, 76 young people from all over the world walked in the same direction and moved side by side. Wherever they went, they formed a long river of images made up of photographs, showing a whole series of pictures where the whole world shares joy and sorrow, peoples overcome the epidemic together.

2. Environmental protection is a topic for all mankind. In the opening ceremony of the 2022 Olympics, China broke the tradition of recent years.  Skier Dinigeer Ilamujiang and skier Jiawen Zha stood on the torch platform, but it did not come to lighting the torch, the torch itself was fixed in the center of a huge snowflake after the final stages of the relay. It should be noted that carbon emissions from the main torch of the Winter Olympic Games in Beijing are only one five-thousandth of the emissions of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games^[8]. This reflects China's determination to adhere to and implement the principles of environmental protection and demonstrates China's sense of responsibility in protecting the environment of humanity.

At the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in 2022, China clearly showed the elements of the national image, culture, endowed the image of China with a new meaning. Using laconic symbols and details with special moments to represent modern China, the organizers of the event were able to convey to the community the concept and culture of the People's Republic of China in a new era and allowed to more accurately capture the national image.

It can be said that changing and updating the national image within China through the opening ceremony of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing is undoubtedly a success. These factors have updated, expanded and improved the public perception of their country.

On April 15, the All-China Environmental Protection Federation (All-China enviroment Federation), the Greenpeace Carbon-Neutral Technology Promotion Center (Green Inclusive) and Tecent research jointly compiled and published a "Report on the results of a public opinion poll on participation in winter sports and the Winter Olympics with Zero Carbon emissions"^[9] which shows that more than 80% of Internet users approved the introduction of the concept of "carbon neutrality" during the Winter Olympic Games in Beijing, and the concept of "Green Olympic Games" received 86.6% support.

The report also says that netizens noted the importance of the Winter Olympic Games in Beijing at the "national and ethnic" level, while 72.9% recognized that the Games are important for increasing the country's influence in the international arena and contributed to cultural exchanges between China and the rest of the world, and 68.4% indicated that they contributed to increasing national pride and cohesion.The socio-economic value of the Winter Olympic Games was recognized by more than half of the netizens.

Conclusion

Based on the analysis data obtained, as part of the coverage of the Olympics, the Chinese media paid the greatest attention to the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, which was aimed at transforming and updating the image of China in a new era.The author concludes that at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in 2022, China clearly showed elements of the national image, culture, endowed the image of China with a new meaning. Using concise symbols and details with special moments to represent modern China, the organizers of the event were able to convey to the community the concept and culture of China in a new era and allowed to more accurately capture the national image.And this solemn event introduced the image of China into the consciousness of its people as a responsible and unified world power, as a country advocating the aesthetics of minimalism, possessing advanced technologies. Thus, we can say that the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games has successfully fulfilled the function of promoting the national image within China.