Remember way back when people were asking whether we should "politicize" the Olympics? Isn't it just supposed to be about sports and itty bitty gymnasts doing their best? I have to say, in China, that question is bizarre. The Olympics is politics: that is the point.

Take the case of Owen, a torch-bearer living in the youth camp of the Olympic village. He is not a star athlete, but he's certainly well-spoken and smart as a whip. When you ask him what it was like to run those 30 meters he ran with the torch, he begins his story this way:

There is a garden next to the youth camp. In 1860, warriors broke into it and killed everybody. And that was the start of a terrible part of Chinese history, but now, within 140 years, I, as a representative of the youth, stand on the same ground and hold the torch showing that China is ready to be one of the strongest countries in the world. It's completely new and it's completely meaningful. And all of this is seen by the grass and by the land, by the earth, so I kissed it."

After telling us more about the Olympic compound, which is a heavily fortified, expansive prep school surrounded by green walls with the slogan "the youth are the future" scribbled across them, Owen went on. (By the way, at the Olympic youth camp, the youth are provided with soccer fields, basketball courts, swimming pools, a variety of stores and post offices. It is not dissimilar to Oberlin, Ohio, where I went to college, except you can't get in and out of the Village without a pass or the Olympic torch.)

We have dreamed about having the Olympic games for about 100 years. And we've tried so many times, but we failed so many times. If you give the holding rights to a city, it means you have to say that the city is good. We want to hear that you are respecting our behavior, our hard work. Whenever you hold the Olympic games it is a chance for a country or for a city to improve. And that will eventually benefit each and every Chinese.

Years later, when you look at history, you will see, we have made great progress. After we've had so hard time, we've survived. All of the Chinese are strong. We can never be defeated! You can kill us with your gun. But we will never be defeated. We survive. That's what the Olympics can tell the world."

Olympics 2008: It's not just sports; it's not just politics. What it's about is China.

Editor's note: Zoe Chace is an independent public radio producer who is in China for the Olympics. She'll be filing periodic dispatches for Passport about what it's like to be in the middle of the world's biggest spectacle, the 2008 Olympic Games. Got any questions or thoughts on what she should report on? Post your thoughts in the comments below.

Previous posts:

• Olympic Diary, Day 5: Hating the Olympics
• Olympic Diary, Day 2: China's lonely chairman
• Olympic Diary, Day 1: Where is everyone?

When you have been watching too much CCTV -- "The opening ceremony was a success! We truly are one world, one dream!" -- and running into too many volunteers -- "Welcome to Beijing!" -- and smacking into enormous banners where whole neighborhoods used to be -- "Together we will build a new Beijing!" -- it is hard not to just. Hate. The. Olympics. Straight up.

If every taxi driver in New York had to get a makeover* because of a few weeks of athletic competion, and people were constantly dissing my city's air that I had been breathing for decades, I would seriously be over it.

I did find one treat to sweeten the sour, though.

At Jing Shan school, which is a model school founded for Deng Xiaoping, every kid in the school is roped into the Olympic games. While the adolescents stand outside and scratch their backs with Olympics flags, the little girls inside are performing this dance:

Is it over the top or is it... awesome?

The girls were really excited, but ask the parents what the kids are rehearsing for, and they don't know. "The Olympics," they said, shrugging.

It turns out they were performing with the actual singer of "Beijing Beijing, Wo Ai Beijing," Wang Zheng Zheng, who has taken Chris Brown's place in my life!

Censorship note: I cannot get access to the China Digital Times -- a fantastic blog to get your China on. Maybe this is why:

Olympic Secret: Most Firework-footprints Faked in Broadcast

Translated by CDT from the Beijing Times, via qq.com: In yesterday's Opening Ceremony, a step-by-step series of fireworks-sequenced footprints that "walked" from Yongdingmen along the central axis to the Bird's Nest pushed the whole night into its climax. Many viewers, via live TV broadcast, were amazed by the spectacular Beijing nightscape. ...

*: The cabbies dress really well in Beijing. Every taxi driver I have met, which is a lot at this point, is wearing a pressed linen shirt.

Editor's note: Zoe Chace is an independent public radio producer who is in Beijing for the Olympics. She is traveling with her friend and advisor Lizzy Berryman, who is fluent in Mandarin and lived in China four years ago. She'll be filing periodic dispatches for Passport about what it's like to be in the middle of the world's biggest spectacle, the 2008 Olympic Games. Got any questions or thoughts on what she should report on? Post your thoughts in the comments below.

Previous posts:

• Olympic Diary, Day 2: China's lonely chairman
• Olympic Diary, Day 1: Where is everyone?

By my count, there are more Gucci stores in Beijing than there are barbeque stands. Thus far, Gucci: BBQ = 3:1.

And it's not just for the foreigners. It is because the people in Beijing are changing: Even the back-pocket-sized map of Olympic highlights refers unabashedly to the "rapidly disappearing hutongs" (densly packed, traditional Beijing neighborhoods). Stretches of Hugo Boss, Coach and Porche -- literally rows of new cars on the sidewalk -- line up in their place.

There are some changes just for foreigners, such as this "nonrecyclable" sign:

Who exactly do they think they're fooling here? The sign on the left says "recycle" and the one on the right says "trash" in Chinese, but both go to the same bin. In today's China, modernization only goes so deep.

But on this day -- 08 08 08 -- when China is supposed to throw its doors open to the world, the Forbidden City lives up to its name. Full tour groups, Chinese waving Chinese flags, and everyone in between were cleared out of Tiananmen Square today by soldiers. The middle of the city stood completely empty as if no one had thought to visit Beijing's main tourist attraction on the city's biggest day. If Chinese officials are waiting for a blue skies to open the Forbidden City to the public, we'll be waiting a long time.

Guess Mao will be watching the fireworks all by himself tonight.

Editor's note: Zoe Chace is an independent public radio producer who is in Beijing for the Olympics. She is traveling with her friend and advisor Lizzy Berryman, who is fluent in Mandarin and lived in China four years ago. She'll be filing periodic dispatches for Passport about what it's like to be in the middle of the world's biggest spectacle, the 2008 Olympic Games. Got any questions or thoughts on what she should report on? Post your thoughts in the comments below.

Previous posts:

• Olympic Diary, Day 1: Where is everyone?

Guang Niu/Getty Images

Editor's note: Zoe Chace is an independent public radio producer who is in Beijing for the Olympics. She is traveling with her friend and advisor Lizzy Berryman, who is fluent in Mandarin and lived in China four years ago. She'll be filing periodic dispatches for Passport about what it's like to be in the middle of the world's biggest spectacle, the 2008 Olympic Games. Got any questions or thoughts on what she should report on? Post your thoughts in the comments below.

We got into the Beijing airport at 8 p.m. last night and all was quiet. It was a staggeringly large and beautiful place that felt like a banquet hall, which made it all the more obvious how empty it was.

There were more Olympics volunteers than there were passengers -- and they summarily ignored us all. The airport doesn't feel all the way finished, maybe because there were two stops on the shuttle: TC-D and TC-3. TC-3 is the baggage claim, but I think TC-D is made up. On the two-stop shuttle map, TC-D is listed as "sorry this stop is temporarily unavailable."

There are majestic rows of just-planted trees lining the whole highway from the airport; there are buses shiny as new bars of soap waiting outside to pick you up, and the brand-new taxis all have Olympic magazines hanging from the back of the chairs. The magazine will point out to you which restaurants are more "homely" than others.

When we turned on the TV at our apartment, there were interviews with select volunteers who had remained behind their desks in the airport. The volunteers all spoke in one chorus: "Even though we work 24 hours a day, it is such an honor to serve China and be a part of the Olympics."

One thing that isn't new: hot pot. The hot pot place is open all night and you can order the ingredients by picture. They bring out a bubbly broth and you can make your own soup. You will, however, be alone in the restaurant!