The 2008 Olympic Torch Relay in Hong Kong: A Clash of Governmentalities
Wing-Shing Tang
Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Writing from Hong Kong, where the equestrian games of the Beijing Olympic are to be hosted in the coming August, it is fair for me to say that the Olympic Games, something out there, ‘is coming to town’. In fact, the Olympic flame, the symbol of the Games, did come to town, earlier on 1st May 2008, before it started its tour of main-land China (the first leg was in Hainan Province, which is in fact geographically an island) on the 4th May. There were, altogether, 120 torch-bearers participating in the 25km journey, which passed by landmarks such as the Hong Kong Cultural Centre, Victoria Harbour, Tsing Ma Bridge and Golden Bauhinia Square. The whole relay took six hours to complete, before the flame continued its journey to Macau that night.