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Now is the time to visit, to witness a major nation in the throes of cataclysmic changes. Before, during and for some time after the Games, it will be spick-and-span, smiling and welcoming and deeply keen to impress visitors, or, as the formal Chinese term has it, honored guests from afar. Repeat visitors to Beijing will barely recognize the city from even five years ago: the busy freeways, dazzling architecture and lively nightlife are all totally new.

Beijing will be putting on its best face for the foreseeable future, conscious that it is open to global scrutiny. The city is way more visitor-friendly than it was a decade ago. The sprucing up has involved the planting of thousands of trees, a fresh touch of paint for the ancient sites and a makeover for key parts of China’s most famous structure, the Great Wall. Pollution remains a problem, however, with coal-burning factories and a thousand new cars a day coming onto already jammed roads.

The Chinese government has officially committed itself to being more open during the run-up to the Olympics; it is also desperately anxious to gain international acclaim by hosting the most spectacular Olympics. Even director Steven Spielberg has been called in to give advice on staging extravaganzas that will appeal to global audiences. Beneath the gloss, however, the government remains wary of too much openness: the scores of men in suits with sunglasses and walkie-talkies lurking in and around Tiananmen Square are there to watch for any sign of opposition. Many Web sites, including that of the BBC, have government-imposed filters that prevent ordinary Chinese from accessing them. Beijing is included in pretty much all tours of China, often with itineraries that cram in far too much. When you make your plans, take into consideration that places such as the Temple of Heaven, the Forbidden City and the Great Wall (preferably a less visited section, such as Simatai) deserve at least half a day, with time allowed for both admiration and contemplation. China is the world’s oldest civilization, with more than 3,000 years of recorded history, and today change is taking place here faster than ever before.