China's Olympic Dream and the Legacies of the Beijing Olympics

This paper aims to present a historical overview of the transformation of the modern Olympic Games in China and highlight the legacies of the Beijing Olympics. The authors first clarify the context and the specific date on which the modern Olympic Games was introduced to China. The next section highlights the Three Questions' on China's engagement with the Olympics. Answering these questions paves the way for the Chinese to participate in the Olympics with great enthusiasm. During the past hundred years, the Chinese undertook a number of Olympic-like sports practices to adapt the Olympic model, including the organisation of a National Games and the establishment of nationwide sport organisations. The country has been actively in bidding to host the Olympic Games since 1990 and finally won a chance to host the 2008 Olympics. The last section of this paper seeks to evaluate the heritages of the Beijing Olympics to the Chinese society.