One of the records broken is the number of foreign dignitaries who showed up in China. Reminiscent of the imperial times, heads of state from more than 80 countries lined up to have an audience with President Hu Jintao. More significantly to Beijing was the presence of the leaders of almost all the blue-chip countries, including the United States, Russia, France and Japan.

Earlier this year, Beijing lashed out at the West for politicising the Olympics when the torch relay overseas was disrupted by protest groups. But this time round, it was Beijing's turn to give the sport event a political spin.

How did the Chinese leaders see the Beijing Olympics?

At a study session of Party Politburo members on July 26, President Hu described the hosting of the Olympics as an event of 'paramount importance'.

He said: 'Hosting the Olympics is the century-old dream of the Chinese. It is the common vision of the Chinese descendants both in China and overseas. It is also our solemn commitment to the world which we must honour.'

In a nutshell, Mr Hu summed up the Chinese policy goals since the launch of economic reforms in 1978.

First and foremost, the hosting of the Olympics marked the transformation of China from being a big country in terms of size to a great and strong nation. The century-old dream of the Chinese is to put behind whatever humiliation China has experienced over the past century and regain its rightful status befitting its size.

Second, China is leveraging on Chinese culture as a unifying factor to rally the support of the Chinese diaspora. This is consistent with Beijing's recent effort to expand China's political space by tapping into the vast number of Chinese overseas.

Third, China is eager to show to the world that its rise will be peaceful and constructive, and it vows to be a responsible stakeholder as it regains its rightful status.

The 16-day Beijing Olympics had proceeded according to the script. The spectacular opening ceremony demonstrated to the world that whatever other countries can do, China can do several times bigger, if not better.

The fireworks displayed at the opening ceremony were four times those of all the previous Olympics combined. The rain was successfully diverted from Beijing on the day of the opening ceremony. The show itself involved some 16,000 participants performing to a capacity crowd of 91,000 at the National Stadium.

Directed by Chinese film-maker Zhang Yimou, the performance drew on China's history and cultural heritage and displayed it all with high-tech wizardry. The opening ceremony was, in short, a proud display of China's nationalism. And it wowed audiences worldwide.

China also flexed its muscles in the sports arena. With 51 gold medals in the bag, it trumped the US and topped the honours list for the first time in Olympic history. The China News Agency proudly proclaimed this as the 'end of the American era'.

The US, however, was in the lead in terms of the total number of medals won. When the Western press ranked the medal tally in favour of the US, there was an uproar in Chinese cyberspace. Such was the pride of the Chinese displayed during the Beijing Olympics.

There was, however, some soul searching in China as it took a hard look at the results. The gold medals came largely from gymnastics, weight lifting, diving, shooting, table tennis and badmintion. But the China team had not made much headway in track and field, swimming, cycling, sailing and team sports. Its soccer team was, in particular, a big embarrassment.

It dawned on the Chinese that the country, for the number of gold medals won, has yet to develop into a 'great sports nation'. In political terms, China still has some way to go in its quest for a 'great and strong nation' status.

Some attributed the strengths as well as the shortcomings of China's sports team to the top-down approach of the Chinese athletic training programme.

There were calls for a more bottom-up approach by inducting commercial sponsorship into sports promotion. Such calls struck at the heart of the perennial debate in China over the role of the state.

One other noteworthy trend in the Beijing Olympics was the participation of what the Chinese call the 'foreign brigade'.

Over the years, China has lost some sport talents to other countries. These talents came back to Beijing, flying foreign flags, and played against the China team.

US head coach Lang Ping is one such member of the foreign brigade. She led the US volleyball team and beat the Chinese team, which caused quite a stir among Chinese netizens.

The Singapore table tennis team was yet another foreign brigade, which the Chinese saw as their most formidable rival.

The Chinese have mixed feelings about the foreign brigade. Chinese top chess player Nie Weiping, for instance, took Lang Ping to task, reminding her that she is a Chinese and asking her not to be the coach for the US team.

However, there are also those who feel proud that the Chinese, wherever they come from, excelled in the Olympic events.

After all, overseas Chinese are seen as a natural ally, if not a strategic tool, for China to enlarge its political space. How Beijing will position overseas Chinese in the scheme of China's nationalism remains an interesting development to watch.

China's state press described the Beijing Olympics as a 'watershed event' that should make the world look on China with new-found respect. The world is eagerly looking at what China will do next with its new-found respect and self-confidence.

US political analyst Francis Fukuyama argued in a recent commentary in the Washington Post that 'China's problem today, unlike in imperial times, is that it doesn't have a well-articulated sense of what the country represents in the larger world'.

Still, the road ahead for China's nationalism will be closely watched.

As Professor Wang Gungwu, chairman of the East Asian Institute in the National University of Singapore, wrote in a recent column in The Straits Times: 'The nationalism of small and weak states could be described as heroic. But the nationalism of a large, populous and technologically superior country, even if justified, would only generate fear and alarm.'

The writer is the China news editor of Lianhe Zaobao.

Send your comments to suntimes@sph.com.sg