Word: beijingers
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I was standing in Tiananmen Square at the exact moment in 2001 when Beijing won the right to host the Summer Olympics. At 10:11 p.m. on a muggy July night, China's capital transformed. As indulgent police looked on, revelers hung from traffic lights and clambered up lampposts. Tens...
As the Beijing Olympics came to a close on Aug. 24, China was, indeed, No. 1. No country had lavished so much on hosting the Summer Games - $44 billion by the government's own accounting of its Olympic building spree. Nor could any nation come close to the People's...
But as the days wore on and the number of gold medals won by China's army of athletes piled up, the approval of outsiders seemed to become less important. Beijing residents knew exactly how many golds their compatriots had racked up - and were slightly miffed when foreign media questioned...
Granted, China put on a fabulous show. Volunteers were unfailingly polite, constantly showering foreigners with a chirpy "Beijing warmly welcomes you." Events kept to a strict time schedule and positive drug tests were far fewer than in previous Games. The stadiums, from the latticed Bird's Nest to the ethereal...
Perhaps, looking back on Beijing 2008, we will judge the Games as the moment that China assumed the role of future superpower. Tokyo '64 was like that, heralding the emergence of what was to become the world's second largest economy. The enduring legacy of Beijing 2008 won't be...