Olympic Spirit

Olympic Spirit

T-shirt effort hopes to bring Chinese politics center stage

By Patricia Jiayi Ho Staff Writer

Article Launched: 06/29/2007 10:01:06 PM PDT

ROSEMEAD - It is ostensibly about athletics, but the Olympics more often than not gets tangled in politics.

Organizers of an "Olympic Freedom T-Shirt" movement announced Friday that they hope Beijing 2008 will help raise awareness of the realities of Chinese politics.

"We have to remind the world," said John Lee of the San Diego-based Conscience Foundation at a press conference in Rosemead.

"People in the world ... need to monitor the human rights in China."

The effort is organized by Los Angeles resident Kai Chen. He said he has printed up 500 T-shirts with his own money, and that he plans to begin a campaign asking athletes and tourists to wear his T-shirt when they take part in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

The front of the white cotton shirt bears the words "Beijing 1989 Tiananmen," with the red font dripping down onto "2008 Olympics". It is accompanied by the famous Tiananmen Square photo of an unknown man standing before tanks.

No country has expressed intentions to boycott the games, but some organizations, such as pro-Tibetan independence groups, have.

Chen said the 2008 Olympics brings to his mind the 1936 Games that were held in Berlin. Awarded before the Nazi Party came to power, the sporting event was used to help broadcast Nazi ideology.

A former Chinese national basketball player and crusader for reform, Chen has lobbied before against a government he says continues to oppress its people.

In February, he protested a portrait of communist former leader Mao Zedong that was hung in Alhambra City Hall as part of an exhibition marking the Lunar New Year. The print was removed, which then angered the artist, who said his work was not a statement about Mao.

The slogan for next year's games, "One World One Dream," "expresses the firm belief of a great nation, with a long history of 5,000 years and on its way towards modernization, that is committed to peaceful development, harmonious society and people's happiness," according to the official Web site.

In addition to distributing T-shirts, organizers say they are planning a 5-mile run Aug. 5 that will begin in Los Angeles' Chinatown.

Chen said he wants to stage other runs in major U.S. cities such as San Francisco, New York, and Washington D.C., as well as in cities all over the world.

"I'm determined to do this," Chen said.

patricia.ho@sgvn.com

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