China Burns for Olympic Flame; The Decision Tomorrow on Who Hosts the 2008 Games Could Alter Beijing

Winning an Olympic bid brings prestige, and possibly commercial lucre, to the newly crowned host city. But if Paris or Toronto lose or win the 2008 summer Games - a decision that comes tomorrow - the influence on national pride and on the future of politics is likely to be mild. This is not the case in China. Here, frontrunner Beijing's Olympic bid is of great national moment, a decision that will empty the streets as it is watched on TV. "In the shape of things today, the Olympic bid may be the most important issue," says Cheng Li, author of a new book on China's leaders. "If China doesn't win, it will be seen as a great failure, useable by [President] Jiang Zemin's opponents, and it could bring a domestic crisis. If China wins, it will be a tremendous foreign-policy success."