The ascent skywards in a makeshift elevator to the 34th storey of the China Central Television building in downtown Beijing offers a striking perspective on the transformation of the country’s capital city. This embryonic trophy building, the new headquarters for the state broadcaster, stands in a forest of skyscrapers and commands a floor space almost equivalent to the Pentagon. It comprises two leaning towers soon to touch each other via an interconnected steel and glass tube, a stunning combination of architectural daring and engineering prowess.

The last time I visited Beijing was in 1999. Today, the capital has the feel of a butterfly emerging from a chrysalis, a bit like Berlin shortly after the fall of the Wall. The difference is that pre-Olympics Beijing is erasing the past with brutal efficiency, leaving the new splendour an alluring promise rather than a certain reality.