China yesterday started its Olympic year with promises that the August 2008 Beijing games would be a showcase for the cultural splendours of the world's most populous nation - even though much of the overseas focus will be on human rights and pollution.

"This is the year eagerly awaited by the 1.3bn sons and daughters of China, the year when the world's attention will focus even more on China," said the People's Daily newspaper, mouthpiece of the ruling Communist party. "This year will certainly be engraved in the history of the People's Republic."