is essential reading for everyone who wants to understand what the Olympics means to China. It was written by Chinese experts in close collaboration with U.S. and European sports writers as a companion to the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. Like many Games in the 112-year history of the modern Olympics, the 2008 Beijing Games were disparaged by some groups and actively campaigned against by others. The thing made them unique in Olympic history is that they were held in a country that is poised to rise to new prominence on the global stage. Fourteen years late, the rise to prominence is clear, but China's influence is very much in doubt. The calls for a "Genocide Games" boycott refer the Nazi Olympics of 1936. China has been drawing in, closing itself off from global interaction. Indeed, the COVID-19 pandemic has been a contributing fact, but it's now a question whether China has any interest in integrating the Olympic ideals into its perspective on global leadership. remains an important introduction to China and its people. There are chapters about economic, social, and environmental issues connected with the Olympics and fascinating stories about individual athletes and political dramas connected with sports, including "Ping-Pong diplomacy," about which Chinese Premier ZHOU Enlai 周恩来 was quoted as saying, "Never before in history has a sport been used so effectively as a tool of international diplomacy." It also provides wide-ranging illustrated history of sports in China, including women's sports in ancient China, traditional physical activities like tai chi and wushu, extreme and new sports, and the ascension of elite female athletes.