China invited the world to the 2008 Beijing Olympics on Wednesday with a dazzling song-and-dance and fireworks display, but cheers and shouts of 10,000 beaming citizens could not mask fears about pollution.
The crowds gathered on the vast Tiananmen Square, overlooked by a giant portrait of Mao Zedong, the founder of Communist China, in front of a brightly lit Gate of Heavenly Peace, exactly a year before the Games begin.Police, some with sniffer dogs, had to force back the hundreds who milled around the edges hoping to get a glance of the festivities, watched by Chinese leaders and International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge.
The most intensely scrutinised preparations for any Games in Olympic history has brought forth a barrage of criticism for China this week on issues such as human rights, press freedom, pollution, food safety and Tibet.
Rogge himself said earlier that some competitions might have to be moved if continuing efforts by organisers to clean up the city's notoriously smoggy air were unsuccessful.
Rights groups have accused China of failing to live up to promises of press freedom made when they were awarded the Games in 2001. Six Westerners were still detained a day after unfurling a banner reading "One World, One Dream, Free Tibet" at the Great Wall, the Free Tibet Campaign said in a statement.
China is often criticised for its harsh rule of the Himalayan region it occupied in 1950.
"The world is watching China and Beijing with great expectation. Athletes also have great expectations and they are all looking forward to competing in the state-of-the-art Beijing venues," Rogge said.
"Beijing and China will not only host a successful Games for the world's premier athletes, but will also provide an excellent opportunity to discover China, its history, its culture and its people with China opening itself to the world in new ways."
Rogge earlier said events might have to be rescheduled if air quality was not up to scratch.
"This is an option," Rogge told CNN.
