Chinese Americans Feel Joy, Concern at Choice

Up and down California, Chinese Americans cheered the news Friday that Beijing will host the 2008 Olympic Games. But for some, that joy was tempered by concern about the authoritarian state’s human rights record.

“I feel happy and pain at the same time,” said David Ma, a Chinese American business consultant from the heavily Chinese city of Monterey Park.

Ma was elated that his ancestral country has finally received this mark of the world’s recognition--but at the same time he was saddened because the Beijing government continues to mistreat political dissidents and others it considers enemies, he said.

“The Communist regime is a two-headed monster,” Ma said. “One has a pleasant face that wins the Olympics, and the other side [is] a demon. They could change their face at any time.”

He said his hope is that seven years from now, China will be a better place with a higher standard of living, more freedom and a less repressive government because of the Olympics.

The Games will require the government to invest in buildings, roads, education and other improvements, many Chinese Americans say. And they hope the world’s attention will persuade Beijing to be more sensitive to the rights of its citizens.

“For China, the Olympics is the one chance in several hundred years to show that China is a great country,” said Charlie Woo, chairman of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce and a frequent visitor to China. That’s good for Chinese pride and spirit, he said.

But he added that he doesn’t believe the prospect of the Olympics will propel China to free dissidents in prison or make major reforms in human rights.

In Orange County, Beijing native Junyu Peng, 28, a graduate student at UC Irvine, said the Olympics will teach the world to look beyond stereotypes of Chinese life.

“In China we talk about all the negative aspects of American culture, but when you come here and see it, you realize they are not true,” he said. “A lot of perceptions about China are not true too.”

In Silicon Valley, high-tech executive Lester Lee said it’s about time China got the recognition it deserves. And he cautioned human rights activists in the United States against judging China by U.S. standards.

Lee, president of computer hardware company Recortec, said China is much more open today than 20 years ago and will continue to improve--at its own pace.

In San Francisco’s Chinatown, shopkeeper Amy Leung said the Olympics can do nothing but improve the country’s human rights record.

“People will get jobs, more people will know about China, and human rights will be improving,” Leung said. “Even America cannot change in one day. It takes time.”

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Times staff writers Matthew Ebnet and Maria L. La Ganga contributed to this story.