Can China actually win?

Last Modified: 07 Aug 2008
By: Guest blogger

Guest blogger Danny Vincent looks at the expectations on China for the Olympic fortnight.

This week has already brought so much to Beijing. The torch is now back, protestors pulled off stunts, businessmen, athletes, tourists and journalists are in the city waiting for the start of it all.

Outside Beijing, men have already died at the hand of grenade attacks, journalists have been reportedly detained and beaten. At the airport, masked athletes have been photographed arriving.

It's a complicated time and the games is well and truly politicised. When China won the chance to host the competition, it must have known it would be.

Friday night will see the official start of something that began a long time ago to the people here in Beijing and the nation as a whole. The event is so big that it has even made the world forget that technically the Olympics began on Wednesday with women's football.

"It's a one in a million chance for China," a Chinese businessman tells me at dinner.

He has been looking for opportunities during the Olympics. His business has suffered because of the games as he was unable to export as many goods because of new restrictions brought in exporting internationally. But he believes that it's worth it.

Many see the games as an inconvenience, but are willing to make the sacrifice.

"We don't want to be slaves to the world," a business minded young entrepreneur said walking the backstreets of the city.

She articulated quite passionately what so many have come to realise - that for China to succeed, it must no longer just be seen as a provider of cheap labour and goods.

Friday is its coming out party. For the first time this year China will have control over its PR.

I was the first "foreign friend" she had ever met. It's an idea that I can't really get my head around.

But what else must it do to pull off a successful Olympics? It may be more than any other games in history.

It must show the world how far it has come in the last 30 years, clear the sky, keep security tight and even win more medals than the Americans.

Its no small task.

In January we were told that the Olympics and the US election would be the stories of the year. Problems in Tibet set the tone of some of the expectations. The torch's journey around the world and the earthquake kept China in the headlines.

Tonight George W Bush will be in Beijing, a man that has been met with protests wherever he travels in the world. His visit in South Korea was no exception. The opening ceremony is like the changing of the guard. Protests are more likely to be directed against Chinese leaders than the US president this time.

I met a girl this week who came from her home town to stay with her sister during the competition. I was the first "foreign friend" she had ever met. It's an idea that I can't really get my head around. I won't be the last this week.

The games has forced China to do so much it also gives the world access to some of its failings. Protests are becoming widespread in the city.

If it is to be the story of the year like it has been predicted, then tonight will be remembered as the official start. What happens in the ceremony, and over the next two weeks will be remembered in the coming months and years.