Under construction

The Olympic Games is now just a few weeks away. Residents in Beijing remember what they were doing the day it was announced from Tiananmen Square that Beijing was to host the Olympics seven years ago. They also remember the 1,000-day mark and they recall when there were 500 days to go. It has been a long time coming.

China's anticipation is matched only by the rest of the world's. But the expectations are different. It's a nation still under construction in many ways.

Roads are still being laid, subway stations are added to maps, and buildings are gutted out and restored constantly. People sit on rubble and bricks outside fancy shopping districts on shopping days out. The developments have become quite normal now in Beijing.

But as the games approach it becomes easier to distinguish what is changing in preparation for the Olympics and what has been inspired, in part by the idea.

Much of the construction has no direct link to the Games. Some major projects have been banned for the next three months to let the dust settle before 8 August.

2008 not only marks China's first Olympics, it is also the first to be hosted by a country from the developing world. With China's dominance of the news this year, it is a fact, which can easily be forgotten. In the mind of the world, China is already the superpower that it is aspiring to be.

Beijing is becoming a city of new economic migrants from the western world, looking to capitalise on the promises of the country's economy. It is seen as the future to many.

Westerners are studying Mandarin and trying to make quick bucks and many universities are packed out till next year with foreigners. And it expected that the Olympics will bring more opportunists to China.

But there is a discrepancy in the way that the world views China and the way it sees itself. To the west, China has already arrived and must be held accountable for its actions.

But it seems that China sees itself as the underdog of history and the world, which can do nothing to avoid criticism. The games represents a chance to put to rest the ghosts of the far-reaching and more immediate past. People with this mind-set are far from fond of criticism. Especially on the eve of its coming out.

In a way both ideas are true. China's influence is already crossing borders around the Globe. From the environment to sport, the world will watch inventively on how it performs across the board. But the Olympics is the start of the race to many rather than the final strait.

Small time Chinese entrepreneurs are setting up short-term money-losing businesses, in the hope that the Olympics will bring about profits in the long-term. Students are placing adverts to be tour guides in the city with the expectations of making more through this than their professions, using their local knowledge of Beijing.

There are announcements daily about the changes that the Games will bring about. The media will be free to roam the country, we are told and the Internet will be completely accessible, officials say.

China has also issued special 10 yuan notes with images of the 'Birds Nest' instead of the usual depiction of Mao Zedong, which is found on most.

When 30,000 journalists, thousands more tourists and a fewer number of highly tuned athletes arrive in China next month, for a few weeks China will capture the attention of the world. But it will be when they all leave that the question remains what lasting change did the event bring about.

And the construction of the nation will resume.

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