Games changer Power has shifted since Beijing 2008

Spectacular fireworks lit up the summer sky and the air filled with the smell of sulphur as trails of smoke descended on the crowds in Tiananmen Square. The throng cheered enthusiastically. “Go Beijing, go China, go Olympics,” they chanted. The collective pride was palpable.

It was shortly after the opening cere mony of the Beijing Olympics, which began at 8:08pm on 8 August 2008; the Chinese believe eight is auspicious. That evening, Chinese-Ameri can Kaiser Kuo was watching from the balcony of his apartment in Beijing. “It was meant to be impressive, and watching as a Chinese person, it certainly was: all the pageantry of history, the flawless performances, the grand scale,” Kuo says. “But watching through my western eyes, this spectacular event also played into a sense of fear: the robotic juggernaut and machine-like rise. It was intimidating.”