When Li Ting and Sun Tiantian defeated Spanish players at
women's tennis double final on Aug. 23, Beijing's Sanlitun bar
street was flooded with joyful shouts at China's first Olympic
tennis gold medal.
With Chinese athletes winning medals at the 2004
Athens Olympic Games, bars are selling two or three times as
much beer as normal.
"People come here to share the hot atmosphere of watching
world-class sports and our turnover doubles when China competes for
medals," said Zhang, who owns a bar on Sanlitun.
CCTV-1 and CCTV-5, two sports channels of China's biggest
Central TV Station (CCTV), also benefited from the Olympic frenzy
with a record high of 82 percent audience rating at broadcasting
the opening ceremony of the summer Olympic Games, according to
CVSC-Sofres Media (CSM), far exceeding previous projection of 50
percent.
Li Ning, a sports-wear brand in China named after a leading
Chinese gymnast, has seen sales jump of one of its suits since the
beginning of the Olympics, which is worn by athletes on victory
platforms.
"Many come here to buy the suits after watching Chinese
athletes' outstanding performance on TV," said a sales assistant in
a Li Ning franchised store in Beijing, "We now sell 20 to 30 suits
a day, about three or four times the sales of usual time."
In south China's Guangzhou City, TV sales in some big department
stores and electric appliance supermarkets have risen by 20 percent
as more customers come to buy PDP or LCD TV for getting clearer
pictures of sports competition.
Book sellers also have seized the opportunity to boost sales. In
east China's Qingdao City, bookshelves loaded with Olympics-related
books. The major bookstores are packed with customers, who are
eager to know more about the history and development of the grand
event.
Not only watching TV, some Chinese have come ever closer to the
Olympic Games. Shanghai Maofeng Flag Co., Ltd., a ten-year-old
private company, won over competitors to produce 32,000 decorative
flags within two months for the Olympics.
"We now understand the needs of international sports pageants
for flags," said Pan Liguo, office director of the company, "I hope
we can be part of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games as we have got
some experience."
In addition to flags, "made-in-China" tags are seen on the
Olympic mascots, Athena and Phevos, and seats in Athens'
gymnasiums. Instead of for raising short-term revenue, these
Chinese companies are getting prepared for the Beijing 2008
Olympics.
But some sectors, like the movie industry, are affected by the
Olympic coverage. Movie attendance has declined since the games
began, as audiences are staying at home to watch the Olympics on
television.
"Attendance of blockbusters such as Spiderman II is lower than
what we expected. I think generally our revenue will be several
million yuan less than last year's summer time," said Weng Li
withthe Chinese Film Group Corporation.
But like all the others, Weng was happy to see Chinese players'
strong performance in the Olympic Games.
"Even for myself, I choose to watch our athletes to compete and
it's proud to see our national flag hoisted," he smiled.
(Xinhua News Agency August 29, 2004)