The journey of the Chinese Olympic torch across the world needs to be understood not as a gesture of sportsmanship and goodwill, but as a mythical gesture of political power. If the journey had gone unimpeded through its gigantic course it would demonstrate to the world China’s growing economic supremacy and right to traverse a physical object through the sovereign territory of countries spread across six continents.

Myth One: “We’re trying to remind you of The Silk Road”. This is what China is trying to say to the world on the surface, that “remember the good old days when we gave you silk, and you gave us opium in return?”. Wouldn’t it be great if we could just do business and get along, and by the way, why don’t we forget about Tibet for a while. Lets have tea instead.