China on the eve of next month’s Olympic Games is like a “hot wok” of aiguozhuyi – national pride – according to Liu Xiaobo, the Chinese writer. The question is how far the Chinese government risks overcooking the popular mood. Wherever you go, there is no escaping the official slogan of Beijing 2008: “One World, One Dream”. The five cutesy Olympic mascots known as Fuwa are equally ubiquitous, chirruping away on screens large and small, from Beijing’s striking new international airport terminal to the humblest local railway carriage.

China’s is not the first undemocratic regime to seek to use the Olympics to reinforce its own international prestige and domestic legitimacy. But seldom have sport and propaganda been yoked together on this vast scale. China’s communist rulers make no secret of the fact that they see Olympic success as the perfect symbol of their country’s “peaceful rise”. Even if their athletes do not succeed in beating their American counterparts to the top spot for medals (they came second in Athens four years ago, with 40 fewer than the US) the Chinese government can still win if the entire extravaganza is an acknowledged organisational success.