CHINA:CHINA OFFICIALLY launched itself onto the world stage yesterday with a stunning ceremony to open the Olympics, replete with pyrotechnics, carefully synchronised dancing and lessons in ancient Chinese history.
The spectacular event took place against a background of murmured discontent about China's human rights record and its stance on Tibetan independence, Xinjiang autonomy and selling guns to Darfur.
But for a few hours anyway, these controversial issues took a back seat to the event itself.
The ceremony was eight years in the making and 91,000 people, including world leaders, watched it unfold in the Bird's Nest Olympic Stadium. Another four billion were said to have watched it on television.
The streets of Beijing were deserted as everyone watched the event on television, except for police cars patrolling. There were reports of an explosion in the restive region of Xinjiang, which brought further attention to bear on the security situation.
No one is anyone without a badge around their neck in Beijing these days, and you need a passport to get anywhere at all.
President George W Bush and Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin were in the stadium to watch China's symbolic emergence on to the world stage.
President Bush was out in the cold after he chastised China for its failure to improve its human rights record in Bangkok shortly before his arrival in China.
The Chinese made their feelings clear - at the ribbon-cutting for the new US embassy in Beijing, President Hu Jintao did not show up, despite earlier agreements to attend. State department journalists were also left sitting on the tarmac at the airport for hours.
"The Games are a chance for the rest of the world to discover what China really is," said International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge, a view shared by most of the Chinese people outside the stadium.
"This is fabulous. China will be stronger after the Games. It's a big opportunity for foreigners to invest in China and to see that China is here," said Zhao Xiaoyu (24), who works for an international company. She was speaking at a big-screen viewing event near the newly-installed Central Business District, which was emblazoned with Coca-Cola advertising in a way that Chairman Mao Zedong might have found challenging.
"There's been some negative news about China all right, but there are always misunderstandings between countries. People won't forget these differences, but they will possibly avoid them. If the western world wants to know about China, they should let it be itself," said Ms Zhao.
Another onlooker said the ceremony gave him "a great feeling".
"This inspired people. It was very exciting. Chinese culture looked very beautiful," said Yang Xiaobo (23), a pharmaceutical engineering graduate from Beijing University.
Foreign journalists have come in for a lot of criticism on the ground for being too negative on China's human rights record.
"I don't think foreign journalists have been too critical. It's an engine to push China towards progress," said Mr Yang. "It will push China to develop more. China will be a more open country and foreigners will know different things about China. Our country is becoming more and more strong, but also more friendly," said Yang.
His friend and fellow graduate, Zhang Qingxiu, also 23, said the Games were a great way to see the positive impact of 30 years of reform in China.
For many Chinese the 30 years of reform anniversary is a bigger topic than the Olympics or any other political development in China in recent years.
One hour before the ceremony, three Tibet supporters from the Students for a Free Tibet group staged a symbolic protest near the entrance to the Olympic park and the Bird's Nest, displaying Tibetan national flags. The two Americans and one Argentine were detained 40 seconds after the protest began. Earlier this week, four protesters hung two banners from lamp-posts outside the stadium.