An embrace is regarded as a western etiquette, and is frequently used as Zuoyi (makes a slight bow with hands folded in front) in ancient China. When Germany survived the world cup quarterfinals, Chancellor Angela Merkel was so excited that she even jumped to her feet and embraced Franz Beckenbauer tightly. That scene left a deep impression on all the World Cup fans.

It was reported that Chancellor Merkel was a football fan. When Germany was jubilant after the country has advanced into the World Cup quarterfinals on a penalty shootout, she, as a dedicated football fan, cheered for her home team. However, as a politician, her move was doubtlessly a sincere gratitude for World Cup as well as for football.

Indeed, we, as reporters could personally feel the deep influence the World Cup has brought on the country during our 20 days of stay in Germany.

Prior to the departure to Germany, we wanted to reserve rooms in Munich online. However, the hotel demanded the full payment of room rent in advance in accordance to how many days we intended to stay or otherwise refuse to handle the request. It was a sheer an unreasonable demand we thought. Later, we asked a friend who had lived in Germany for years to negotiate with the hotel owner. To our surprise, the friend said since Germany was experiencing a sluggish economy, the credit, which had never been a problem, often became troublesome. The hotel might have suffered losses in this regard before, and that was why they demanded full payment.

The reference I consulted showed that Germany suffered slow economic growth since 1998, with the average growth rate falling down as low as 1.3 percent and unemployment rate rising. However, the unemployed in February last year reached a record high of 5.216 million, with the unemployment rate reaching beyond 12 percent. The proportion of public fiscal deficit against GDP has remained at 3.8 percent, 0.8 percent higher than the warning level set in euro zone. Due to dwindling innovation, large gap of social security expenditure, suspension of welfare system, loss of regional advantage and sharpening of various economic and social problems; Germany, once an engine of European economy has reduced to a hind leg, as experts have put it.

The sluggish economy has not only affected people's livelihood, but also dealt a blow to politics. Although CDU/CSU led by Angela Merkel won Germany's general election last September, she did not win 48.5 percent of the electoral votes, the ballots needed for forming a single cabinet. It is a rare situation that an election has produced an outstanding result and new Chancellor could appear in the German political field.

The world Cup undoubtedly offered Germany an opportunity to shake off misfortunes. Since the month-long festival of football opened in early June, Germany media have continuously reported long-expected good news, for instance, large amount of football fans poured into Germany that have delighted owners of the service sectors greatly; over 10,000 job opportunities have been generated and economy has growth up by 0.6 percent. More interesting, the police chief of Nuremburg, a city among 12 where World Cup matches will be held announced that the crime rate in some areas was even lower than usual. Of course, what we have perceived was the smiling faces of Germans, and Germany went from victory to victory, which made local Germans more and more confident.

When we entered a hotel in Hamburg last Friday, we saw waiters changing price tags, on which the room rent was almost cut by half. We felt at lost and asked why the price fell before the World cup was over. Later we were told that the actual room rent was just like this, and if we overcharged consumers, the national image of Germany would be damaged. Such response shocked us, and it reminded us of "I am a German", a national drive across Germany before World Cup. It seemed that such drive has yielded positive results.

Although there are still four matches left and to determine who will win the FIFA World Cup Trophy, the embrace of Chancellor Merkel and Franz Beckenbauer show that the host Germany is the biggest winner already, regardless of whether they will get the Trophy.

By People's Daily Online