China's Turn

The Olympic torch is still burning bright in Athens, but the hosts of the 2008 Games are already blazing with excitement. Across Beijing, a hyperactive fleet of bulldozers and cranes is working round the clock to turn China's ancient capital into modern Asia's showcase city. In marked contrast with Athens, where venues were still being completed just weeks before the Games were to begin, Beijing 2008 organizers have proclaimed that all Olympic construction will be finished by 2007. "The Olympics represent modernity and hope to the Chinese people," says sports historian Zhao Yu. "They can hardly wait for Athens to be...