Cheuk Kwan will take questions live today, from 2-3pm Eastern Time, on China’s new nationalism:

“The Chinese-Canadian diaspora, a vast and diverse population now 1.2 million strong, trickled into Canada across several generations and has never been known for its strong attachment to China. It was a nation marked by poverty, chaos, civil war, occupation and communism — hardly the conditions to spark affinity.

But now, as China moves closer to regaining status as a global power, its overseas community has begun fostering a new emotional bond with its homeland. The Olympic Games, in particular, have given Chinese Canadians a focal point, one that has many simultaneously spilling over with pride at China’s success and frustration with the West’s lingering focus on perceived Chinese failings.

‘The Olympics by itself is an embodiment of a sort of Chinese coming-out party,’ said Cheuk Kwan, who said excitement has been mounting throughout the diaspora since China was awarded the Games in 2001.

‘The Chinese are looking at the Olympic Games as the kind of washing off of all humiliation and bad things that China used to represent,’ he said. ‘Chinese Canadians still hold dear the fact that they are Chinese. When China becomes a super nation, they feel proud. They feel that their status in society is tied directly to how China is being thought of on the world stage.’”