Appearances or “face” is very important in China, perhaps as important as money. Every Olympics a premier opportunity for China to gain face on the world stage,

Appearances or “face” is very important in China, perhaps as important as money. Every Olympics a premier opportunity for China to gain face on the world stage, by showing off Chinese athletes. Hosting the Olympics is therefore an even greater exercise in national pride, and China takes it extremely seriously. So yes, if the olympics is a failure because people boycott it then it hurts their pride because they have built their pride around such events.