The 2008 Beijing Olympics, starting today (Aug 8), provides an opportunity for taking stock of China’s progress since 1978, when it decided to abandon the Marxist-Leninist model of development.

The Games are being held exactly 30 years after the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) made a momentous decision to open China’s doors to the outside world.

As a result, China has become economically stronger. It would not have been able to host the Olympics otherwise. According to the Beijing Olympics Research Centre of the State General Administration for Sports, total investments for the Games came up to almost 290 billion yuan (US$42.26 billion), making them the most expensive in Olympic history.

The official estimate does not include ‘opportunity costs’—from having to close factories three months ahead of the Games to ensure clean air, to shops in some areas being shut to reduce traffic congestion.

No one doubts China’s ability to host the Games, given the impressive growth rates it has chalked up—double-digit rates annually for 30 straight years.

As a result of that sustained growth, China’s gross domestic product jumped from 362.4 billion yuan ($52.81 billion) in 1978 to 24.7 trillion yuan ($3.59 trillion) last year, both figures at current prices. Per capita income rose from 379 yuan ($55) to 16,084 yuan ($2,344) over the same period. The number of people living below the poverty line fell drastically from 350 million in 1978 to about 50 million last year. China’s opening is the most successful poverty reduction programme the world has ever seen.

China is also psychologically more confident now than it was 30 years ago. In the early 1980s, a Western visitor would find himself surrounded by throngs of curious Chinese scrutinising his light-coloured eyes and golden hair. Now, the Chinese mingle easily with foreigners. If this had not occurred, China would have been hard pressed to welcome the more than 10,000 athletes and 30,000 journalists from all over the world.

Another factor enabling Beijing to host the Olympics is strong support from the people. This is so because people are, on the whole, happy with their lot. According to the latest report by the Pew Global Attitude Project survey, the Chinese express extraordinary levels of satisfaction with the way things are going in their country and with the nation’s economy. Compared with 2002, when 48 per cent polled said they were satisfied, 86 per cent are satisfied now. Similarly, 82 per cent think that the economy is good, up from 52 per cent six years ago.

Pew also found that the Chinese are as upbeat about the Olympics as they are about their national economy. A full 96 per cent believe the Games will be a success while 56 per cent say they will be very successful. Despite a protest-marred torch relay outside China, 93 per cent are convinced the Olympics will help boost the country’s image around the world.

At least where the hosting of the Games is concerned, the CCP enjoys ardent support from the masses. This would have been unthinkable 30 years ago when the party was struggling for survival, after having brought the economy to the brink of bankruptcy.

But the Games have also highlighted the CCP’s weaknesses. Its lack of reforms in the political arena, for example, has been seized upon by the disaffected. Without substantial political reform, China’s one-party rule would remain as repressive as it was 30 years ago, they say.

The CCP’s control over the media and cyberspace is as strong as ever. It has yet to make up for the wounds inflicted on ethnic minorities such as the Uighurs and Tibetans during the Cultural Revolution. It also has yet to come to terms with those hurt by the June 4, 1989 Tiananmen crackdown. And compared with 30 years ago, corruption today is an entrenched disease that the CCP has failed to wipe out.

Everyone expects the spirit of the Games to help the CCP reform itself, just as the 1998 Seoul Games helped revamp authoritarian rule in South Korea. Liu Qi, president of the Beijing Olympics organising committee and the capital’s Communist Party chief, has pledged that "the Chinese government will honour the promises and commitments we made during our bid to host the Games". There is mounting pressure, at home and abroad, on China to deliver on its promises.

But rather than seeing positive changes towards greater respect for human rights, many have witnessed such acts as the eviction of migrant labourers from Beijing, tightened surveillance on dissidents, the rounding up of human right defenders, and a blackout of "undesirable information" in the name of stability.

The 2008 Beijing Olympics will definitely showcase China’s ascent in the world. But the event will also open a small window to reveal the CCP’s tardiness in overhauling its political system.