2008 Summer Olympics

‘One World One Dream’ was chosen as the slogan of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. China's government sees the Olympics as the confirmation that China has emerged from a century of foreign domination and domestic chaos to one of the most powerful engines of global economic growth.

Billions of dollars are being spent on Olympic venues, new roads and the world's biggest airport terminal. It has even launched a campaign to improve manners, including anti-spitting patrols, etiquette classes for hotel staff and an English guidebook for taxi drivers and police. Nevertheless the athletic performances can be ruined by the filthy haze that chokes the city for much of the year.

The Chinese government plans to make full use of its

authoritarian powers during the Olympics in 2008 by banning more than two million cars to ensure that one of the world's most polluted cities will have clear skies for at least the two weeks of the games. Even Beijing's biggest steel company, and one of its largest polluters, announced to cut production by about one

third by the end of the year; more measures also include spraying dusty streets, seeding clouds to create rain and the temporary closure of building sites and factories.

However, many of Beijing's previous campaigns to reduce pollution have had only a limited effect. In recent years, more than 100 factories have been moved out of the city centre, gas has been being supplied to millions of homes that previously used coal, and more than 4 000 old buses and 30 000 old taxis have been replaced. But furious economic growth has created new problems, such as the sale of more than 1 000 new cars every day. Hopefully Beijing's clean up with its far-reaching impacts will have effect and last after the Olympics.