Photo courtesy of The Beijing 2008 Olympic Games' official website

Eight hours more to go before the party begins and you can feel the build-up within the hotels and on the streets.

Yesterday evening, it took me 90 minutes to cross from West to East, a journey that normally takes 45 minutes. Olympic volunteers are everywhere, every taxi is flying the Olympic flag, and the entire city is wrapped up like a giant Olympic present.

Last night, I attended the Australian Team reception at Sofitel Wanda and you could feel the adrenalin in the room.

It was hard to spot the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and his predecessor John Howard in the sea of heads. The basketballers were the easiest to pick out – heads and shoulders above the rest of us.

A former Olympic host, the Australians I spoke to were mostly sympathetic to China’s plight. “I feel sorry for the Chinese, the way they’ve been criticised in the media. But it happens every Games. Athens got criticized, so did we. It only stopped for us after the games began,” said one.

Another Australian, who is a resident in Beijing and who was in Sydney during their Games, said the atmosphere was different. “It’s pretty tense here,” he said. “The security is pretty scary and there are a lot of upset people who were not able to get visas or had to leave the country. In Sydney, it felt like it was more fun. Of course, we had to deal with security too but you’ve got to strike a balance.”

Said another, “Of course, you’ve also got to consider the size of the cities Sydney is a small city, the Games just took over. Beijing is huge and spread-out.”

Whatever the opinions, one thing is clear. Today is a defining moment in Chinese history and a vital part of the country’s evolution.

You could say in a way that the Olympics is China’s official ticket into the global community and it’s learning that that has its benefits as well as its evils. The instant, spontaneous, blanket media coverage comes with the territory and China’s got to learn to deal with this animal and take it on the chin like everyone else.

From the air quality to the strident security measures to human rights to the costs of the Olympics to disgruntled residents, the media’s been picking on anything and everything. “Why can’t they report on what we have done rather than what we haven’t?” lamented a young Chinese friend.

On CCTV9, there was a programme in which the host asked the same question. We built everything on time, we have done everything we said we would do, why is the media still vilifying us, he asked.

Yes, China is having to learn very quickly and think on its feet with the media monster and unfortunately, its history, its sheer size, its apparatus, its machinery, its officials are not built to be spontaneous and candid.

“If only they could say, we are not perfect but we are trying our best,” said another observer. “That would win them a lot of sympathy votes.”

Well, I could not anymore imagine my father saying to me, when I was growing up, “I am just a man, I make mistakes, I am learning too like you” as I could a Chinese leader saying this, at this point of their history.

Perhaps tonight, after that torch is lit, that will change because tomorrow, the Games would have begun.