INTRODUCTION

As the countdown to the Beijing Olympics continues, China has promoted the Games as an international coming-out party under the slogan, One World, One Dream. Since Beijing won the bid to host the games in 2001, however, critics have voiced concerns over China's poor record on issues ranging from human rights to the environment. Some activists, such as the press freedom group Reporters Without Borders, call for boycotts. Other high-profile figures, including the actress Mia Farrow, UNICEF's former goodwill ambassador, have gone so far as to call the 2008 Games the Genocide Olympics because of China s economic involvement with war-torn Sudan. Even the route of the Olympic Torch, intended as a symbol of the universal spirit of the games, has proven divisive. China s decision to route the run through both Tibet and Taiwan has pro-independence forces in both places seething. Before winning the games, some of these concerns were anticipated, and China pledged to the International Olympic Committee that it would keep the games open in every aspect. Some critics now say China has failed to live up to this promise.