Beijing Blogger's Olympic Scrawl

Sport has the ability to make heroes or villains of individuals involved in amoral activities. But to create a tragic hero, you really need some special circumstances.

The hero must be a leader of men, must be in an epic battle, they must be wounded by their actions and they must have a decision to make that leads to their downfall.

There is also a sense of destiny and that the individual is ultimately, at the mercy of greater powers.

Liu Xiang the defending Olympic 110m hurdler who harbored the dreams of the nation was almost born for this. The only Asian man to ever win gold on the track, he is the government styled poster boy of the Games and his battle was certainly epic. He had to defeat Cuban hurdler Dayron Robles in the amphitheatre of Chinese dreams.

"I am the only yellow man who can beat the Americans and Europeans," he said as he won gold in Athens. It was also set to be a race of races. The Chinese are dominating the gold rush but Liu was their only hope on the track.

There are suspicions that there were other powers involved in Liu's pull out. It's unlikely that Wei Wang, the Beijing organising committee spokesman, would ever make a statement explaining that Liu not competing, was in was in the nation's best interest like the statement made after it was revealed that the two child singers were swapped.

But there are always going to be doubts in the minds of many.

The problem is, as one colleague put it, "you don't know what is true in China". We don't know how far the government would go to try to keep face.

I watch my Chinese colleagues every day watching their athletes pick up medals. People claim that there is a collective underdog complex in the country. An idea, that the Chinese feel inadequate because of the past and the Games represents a way to break free from this.

It is hard to tell if winning gold means more to a Chinese worker in a shop than it would to an English taxi driver on the streets of London. But in Beijing winning gold means a lot.

The 25-year old hurdler was a Chinese superstar here.

His face is on buses around the city, he still features in adverts after medals are won on TV and is identifiable to China maybe more so than US-based NBA basketballer Yao Ming.

Lui is in a different league to England's millionaire footballers who miss penalties when the pressure is on.

He is also the victim of circumstance and a reversal of fate. China's greatest ever runner forced to compete on the eve of the Chinese century. The pressure must have had an effect.

He could have represented so much about what the government got right and his failure to race shows what it got wrong. His private training points to the secrecy of the nation. His public face shows what is marketable to corporations.

He is the product of the one child family, part of the post 1980s generation - the one that will rule the world and despite the criticism that Chinese athletes are pushed too hard - he represented the fruit of three decades of dedication.

I went to a restaurant in Beijing where Mao Zedong used to eat. It was simple, working class and really quite humble.

Liu is the son of a truck driver from Shanghai, born with no real right to amount to anything more than his father, no genetic right to be a sprinter some may have thought. He still seemed humble with his millions. He became much more than an athlete in China. He was cult like, and is now spoken about in the past tense - it's what happens when you don't win.

"The Chinese watch TV and see Americans with bigger kitchens than our entire houses," A friend tells me.

The government says that they have a chance now because of their policies.

If the Chinese have an inferiority complex, like so many have written about, then the nation certainly needed a hero.

It may explain why so many tears flowed when he pulled out of the race at the Bird's Nest. It also may explain why his gold was more important than the 43 the Chinese have won so far.

The state media once wrote that the government was lifting a nation out of poverty within a generation. It's actually not too far from the truth.

Liu injured his Achilles tendon. It's quite fitting really. Maybe it was all in the hands of the gods.

But millions will ponder if he is the victim of a more concrete force than fate. A force that the west is starting to gain a better understanding of; the Chinese government.

"Winning gold medals is what we are most interested in," a Beijinger tells me in a lift in my apartment.

Everywhere I look online I see medal tables. But my Chinese friends talk only about winning gold. It seems that it is only perfection that counts.

Events in the last week suggest that China is running in a slightly different race to the West, one with different rules and expectations.

The opening ceremony pointed to it. To China the Games are no ordinary competition - it is destined to represent the face of new China.

Thirty-five gold medals so far and everyday I am singing the Chinese national anthem in my mind as they win yet another medal.

The revelation that one a girl mimed during the Olympics opening ceremony because her voice was not good enough and that another was kept off stage because she was not cute enough, showed what we already knew, that the Games is all about how China is perceived now and wants to be seen in the future. But the pressure comes from the West as much as from inside the nation.

One journalist grilled a member of the IOC about human rights issues. Locals seem pretty disinterested in this, but not unaware. Protestors climbed to the top of the CCTV building and displayed Tibetan independence banners. This time my colleagues had not heard of the news.

The hype around these Games has meant that the Beijing 2008 Olympics were always going to be unique. It was always going to need to be perfect because to the government it represents a chance to put to rest the problems of the distant and more recent past.

I went to a Tibetan exhibition in the city before the Olympics began. "Are you ready to see Tibet's glorious future?" my friend and tour guide asked. There were pictures showing how it was extremely poor before China came to its rescue and so great after. People looked around and it was hard to gage if they just accepted all that they saw or questioned it. There was also one painting of a greedy capitalist on the run, being chased out by the Chinese.

I have started to ask my friends about the education system now and if it is true that the teachers drum the idea that China was the victim of foreign international injustice for a century.

After explaining that most students simply learn what they need to pass exams and impress their teachers, most do come to the conclusion that the answer is actually, yes.

Nationalism is something, which is easy to talk about but hard to really put into perspective. The Olympics is providing an easier way to put it into context. Arresting a British journalist because he filmed a demonstration and age allegations against the Chinese gymnasts suggest how far China is willing to go to develop this new image of itself. Maybe winning the most gold medals is another way.

I watched the rowing final with my caretaker who lives on the ground floor of my apartment block. She wears a red armband, like many others in the city showing she is a volunteer or part of security. But she also wears her heart on her sleeve it seems. She cheers China on to the very end but it wins no medals this time.

China now evokes so much emotion. I saw a Tibetan protestor crying on You Tube in Beijing protesting. The video is now blocked. But I also see parents taking photos of their children with flags painted onto one side of their face and a heart on the other and men walking down aisles shouting China in between claps at venues.

Things change so quickly here. Predicting protests is one way of covering the Olympics, but most locals I know are more interested in things that are happening on the track. Jamaican sprinter, Usain Bolt, thrashed the world record on Saturday in the 100m under Beijing's polluted sky. Michael Phelps has won a record eight gold medals in the pool.

Given the extensive coverage of both its controversies and its sporting achievements it's hard to tell what Beijing 2008 will be most readily remembered for.

When the fireworks faded on Friday night the ceremony moved into a succession of delegations from countries across the world entering onto the Chinese stage.

In Ditan Park a crowd of Chinese and westerners sat around two screens. Security and the media were everywhere. The ceremony was mesmerizing and seemed to be from an era which was not quite our own.

An old man would stand with a Chinese flag and the crowd in the park would cheer. Inside the park I got to see how the average Chinese person reacted to the ceremony, and also how they reacted to the different countries stepping up to the stage.

Pakistan, Iran, Cuba and Russia all got loud cheers from the Chinese crowd. Politically named China's Taipei and Hong Kong, also got a large roar. It was all political.

Americans in the crowd went wild when their delegation stepped up. TV crews flew over to them like they were waving free Tibet flags in the park and even the Chinese cheered until George W Bush came on screen.

China and the US have some common ground. Both have hopes of winning the most gold medals, they have large populations, militaries and are the only nations that can hold super power status in the future.

They also take criticism. Even Bush must feel sensitive of this in his few seconds on the big screen. How must China feel?

Yesterday Tibetan protestors were removed from Tiananmen Square; also a Chinese man killed an American in what seemed to be a random attack in Beijing.

Both America and China talk about dreams. The American dream and the one world one dream concept. I am not sure what either actually means.

In my neighbourhood flags are picked up by the wind in the humid air. They are outside shops, on cars and sold on trains. I was tempted to buy one myself. I don't know why. It seems more than nationalism.

The boy that sells me ice tea near my flat has his eyes fixed on a TV screen behind the counter as I enter. He is watching China win their first gold of the Games. One day in and two gold medals in the bag. He can barely look up at me. From what I know of him he is mostly interested in kung fu movies and computer games. He sleeps where he lives and usually does not seem so happy about it. Right now his life is about sport.

Once I saw him looking into my wallet when I was paying three yuan for my favourite drink. I was carrying maybe what he could earn in a week in my hand.

All foreigners in Beijing to this young man must look pretty much like me, and carry the same cash and ideas. We come into what is essentially his home, his bedroom in fact and pay him his wage each day.

People talk constantly about how China sees itself as the underdog. The ceremony on Friday night was fantastic visually, financially costly and had slight hints of military presence. It showed to the rest of the world, and the Chinese people themselves, that it had arrived. Maybe it's the start of the Chinese dream.

Security is still the number one issue in Beijing. There are police by the coach full around Tiananmen Square and police cars are so packed with policemen that there is no space to put a criminal in if they make an arrest.

I think its lazy journalism to start making comparisons with the Cultural Revolution, but the dedication of the whole nation seems a bit surreal.

You can see why China feels that the whole world is against them. Protests could come from any direction. Abortion protests took place in Tiananmen Square yesterday, and with religion back on the agenda there is also a bigger concern that certain groups could try and disrupt the party.

Tonight is a chance for China to blow quite a lot of history away. They talk about the century of humiliation when western powers took advantage of the Middle Kingdom, they also talk about this being a chance to let the world know that it has arrived.

After tonight it will officially begin. A four-hour ceremony, the torch will reach its final destination. The world will be watching.

One of the first things you notice when you arrive in Beijing is the sheer number of soldiers in the street. They stop people from entering buildings, stand by banks and there is a presence 24 hours a day. Sometimes you see them sleeping in chairs on the road, they march in line even in drinking areas in Beijing.

It's because of their mobilization. They are everywhere. You see older soldiers drilling younger ones. It's a silent reminder that the Games is more than just a sporting event.

And also one of the easiest images journalists can use to paint the picture of this very important but not so visual story.

At Tiananmen Square a Chinese friend of mine points out a secret officer working nearby. He is fresh faced, slim and has the body of an undeveloped teen. He is dedicated, quiet and quite different from the soldiers.

Today the torch arrived in Beijing, and quite unsurprisingly so did protestors. The torch will stay and will be paraded a bit more. The four protestors will leave.

In many ways the Games is more about pr than politics. Journalists from every corner of the world will report everything that moves during the Games. China wants to protect its image. Shots of boy soldiers holding their hands in front of cameras seem to be published everywhere on the web.

But it's the so-called secret ones that give a better insight into the state of the nation.

Three days to go and talks of the attacks in Xinjiang province is dominating conversation. The attack which killed 16 policemen is starting to suggest that terror may really be a threat to the Games.

I drove around in a taxi this morning in Beijing and a 15 minute journey took 45. Roads were packed. Taxi drivers and police were stuck in the same jams.

Some said that the news had prompted restrictions around the city and others just believed that the tourists had arrived. Some Chinese friends warned me not to take the subway in the next few days, not to go to large shopping malls and to only take cabs.

The security threat is raising many concerns. Air to ground missiles are placed around some Olympic venues and along my journey I see police on the side of the road with drivers pulled to the side waving papers and driving licenses in the air.

They say that the state media play up the threat of terror, but to be honest so far they seem to be playing it down. They do seem to be building up how much security there is however.

There are many groups that would like target the Olympics to grab media attention for their cause. This much is true.

Each day something noticeable changes in the city. Tonight tensions are higher than the day before.

Less than week to go and Beijing is a city in waiting. In some ways it is locked down and in other ways it's more open than ever. It's a mixture between security and showing off.

An early morning in Tiananmen Square, and volunteers are swearing their allegiance to the flag. Everyone is taking photos. Chinese tourists, volunteers, even police and security guards. Nationalism is a hard thing to measure. The desire for gold medals is a good gauge.

By the end of the week the race will begin and the world will watch. But it will look for things beyond the track and field. Things on the ground level. Around Beijing you can see an increased security, but its by no means the police state that some have described it as. Volunteers sit day and night in their posts, as do police. Sirens ring in silent mode and cars are stationed around the city. Hotels are getting busy but are not packed.

A policeman stands guard at the Tiananmen Square

Some people think that the Games is in danger of becoming a TV Olympics. Many non Beijingers have left the city and returned to their home provinces. Visa restrictions have kept others out.

China is 20 years from becoming the superpower that it dreams of becoming, but this week walking through the city it feels as if it is about to arrive.

To some the Olympics will offer a chance to break stereotypes, to others a chance to reinforce it. To many represents what has changed in the last 30 years, to others it's the start of China's real road to glory. Whatever the Games brings or represents it will be well documented and there will be barely a border that it doesn't touch. But until the end of the week the city, nation and world must wait just a little more.

I am talking about the rise of Netizen ("net-citizens"), the not-so-catchy expression but popular pass time for the Chinese - who write, shoot and upload their lives onto the web.

Quite surprisingly, everyone does it here, we just mainly didn't know about it. It's massive. It is estimated that there are more than 200 million Chinese Netizens - the largest in the world. And I am about to become a citizen of this undisputed borderless region. I am in Beijing, the 21st century's city-in-waiting, as it prepares for the Games.

Shooting, editing, writing - story-telling in mixed mediums - looking at the things that go missed in the mainland in the build up to the Olympic Games and beyond.