Ethnic and immigrant Chinese have range of feelings toward Beijing Olympics

It’s not just where in China they or their families have roots and ties, but also when they moved, as well as how often they visit and, more importantly than before, how they receive information and news about China, he said.“If I tried to breakdown my friends who are on (the messaging app) WeChat in my part of the (online) world, I guess I would say this is a very big moment,” said Ma.

He said there is pride in what his hometown has been able to accomplish as the first city to host a summer and winter games. China doesn’t see itself as a winter sports power, but it’s still exciting to see Chinese athletes competing.

On the other end, there is opposition for the amount of money being spent on the spectacle at a time of economic recovery and also strong support in some Chinese Canadian and Chinese American communities for diplomatic boycotts by western nations because of Beijing’s heavy-handed control of Hong Kong and human rights abuses and detention camps in Xinjiang.