Olympic torch sets nationalism ablaze
The international Olympic torch relay is now a sorry sight. It has provoked confrontation and racial animosity and fanned the flames of Chinese nationalism
Beijing Olympics
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How much does the Olympics mean to China? And as the Games near, are they changing the way China does business on everything from human rights to pollution, as some backers argued they would?
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Olympic torch scales Everest
The flame has reached the top of the Himalayan peak, crowning a relay that has been dogged by anti-Chinese protests on its world tour
Olympic tickets prove hot property
China appears to be on course to beat the sales record of Sydney in 2000 with all seats offered for events in Beijing snapped up three months ahead of the opening ceremony
Olympic torch reaches Hong Kong
Tens of thousands of flag-waving supporters in red T-shirts welcomed the Olympic torch into Hong Kong and turned the relay’s first leg on Chinese soil into a patriotic pageant
China’s angry youth vent their feelings
In recent weeks the world has seen a glimpse of the young nationalists – patriotic, xenophobic and, in some cases, violent in their defence of the motherland
Tibet visa ban dents tourism in Nepal
A Chinese crackdown on foreign visitors to Tibet and a plan to race the Olympic torch up Mount Everest have dealt a serious blow to Nepal’s tourism industry and complicated life for climbers hoping to ascend the world’s highest peak
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Interactive
2008 Olympic torch relay
The 2008 Olympic torch relay has become a magnet for demonstrations against the Chinese government’s human rights record and its recent crackdown on riots in Tibet. Chart its global journey with our interactive map and photo galleries
Comment
We help Darfur but do not harm the Olympics
We are focusing our resources where we believe they can make the greatest difference in saving lives and reducing suffering, writes Neville Isdell
We torch bearers feel the heat too
Given the political and cultural subtexts that suffuse the torth relay, Jonathan Birchall feels a twinge of regret for having carried the Olympic flame in South Korea
Olympic protests will inflame nationalism
China’s intolerance of views that run against the diktats of the Communist party’s propaganda ministry has deepened in recent weeks, writes Richard McGregor
How to do guilt-free business with Beijing
Staying away will not benefit the locals. More important is to decide what the company will and will not do, writes Michael Skapinker
Still want Tibet on the torch relay?
There on the streets of London and Paris an unsmiling phalanx of Chinese security men dealt with anyone in their way – be they protesters, ermined Olympians or inanely grinning premiers. Robert Shrimsley reports
Should I stay or should I go?
A full boycott of the Beijing Olympics cannot at this stage be justified by recent events in Tibet. A boycott only of the opening ceremony is a more appealing idea
