On July 13 2001, the world was afforded the rare and spontaneous sight of a Chinese president pumping hands amid a throng of delirious revellers in Tiananmen Square. Jiang Zemin was celebrating the award of the 2008 Olympic Games to Beijing, a moment that, according to the official Xinhua news agency, marked “another milestone in China’s rising international status and a historical event in the great renaissance of the Chinese nation”.

Seven years on and Beijing is ready to put on a Games that many observers believe will be unsurpassed for decades to come – in the scale of ceremony, sweep of architectural wonder, and cost.