Even before Beijing won the right to host the 2008 Olympics, the Games were being billed as a potentially transformative event in China’s history. The bid’s backers said playing host would not only dramatically change international perceptions of China, but would also encourage greater liberalisation by the Communist party.

Chinese officials themselves fuelled such expectations. Wang Wei, then secretary-general of the Beijing bid committee, pledged that long-constrained international media would be given “complete freedom” to report on all aspects of China during the Games.