While it's not exactly news to many of us, and the WaPo writer does
explore the issue fairly thoroughly, I do wonder what the Beijing
Olympics will do to alter the image of the mysterious East to the rest
of the Western world. There's huge potential to mitigate fears of the
unknown and obliterate antiquated stereotypes of China and the East
(and subsequently, East Asian Americans), but whether that will happen
remains to be seen.

More interestingly, what kind of
eye-opener could it be for second- or third-generation Asian Americans?
Admittedly, I love me a good martial arts movie (e.g. "Crouching
Tiger," "Hero," etc.) set in ancient China. I've never actually visited
to China. My Chinese sucks. I'm sure I have outdated impressions of
what life in even larger metropolitan areas like Shanghai and Beijing
are like, even if they aren't filled with dragons and kung fu. Hmm.
It's an interesting thought. What happens when those descended from the
East romanticize the East? Maybe that was more of a newsflash than I
thought.