Across a Nation, Olympic Fervor

"Yes, it's a good time to sit down together, maybe have a drink and chat," he said, happy to chat about the Olympics but uneasy about giving his name for publication.

Shenyang is proud of its national reputation as a cradle of good athletes. But the smell of money has attracted local businesses as well. As many as 300,000 extra visitors are expected for Olympic soccer games that will be staged here, according to the Shenyang Travel Administration. The Sheraton Chengdu Lido Hotel has printed Olympic rings on its placemats, and sports shops display large posters of winning athletes.

A taxi driver taking one recent visitor in from the airport was already trying to cash in. After an animated conversation about the Olympics spirit and the good fellowship expected at next summer's soccer matches, he concealed the meter and tried to get three times the normal fare.

Han Weimin, chief of the sports department's economic department, said Shenyang has remodeled its stadium, built a swimming pool and constructed or expanded several fields in anticipation of the soccer matches. The budget money would not have been available without the Games, he added.

"China's economic situation is still pretty backward," said Cheng Lirong, a 30-year-old saleswoman at a dress shop. "Maybe the Olympics can accelerate our development a little."

Cheng, who got married last year, works in Chenyang's upscale Seibu mall, where merchants are relentlessly plugged into the Olympic idea that contacts with the West are good for China. A country classic by Waylon Jennings was playing in the store one recent morning, while Ferragamo vied with Vuitton for the attention of a sprinkling of shoppers.

But even at the more traditional Zhong Jie shops downtown, the image Chinese want for their country in this Olympic year was clear.

A poster of Michael Schumacher, the retired Formula One champion, hung opposite a poster of actor George Clooney in a shop trying to sell oversize Swiss watches at the Saiyang Department Store. Across the street stood Fashion World, where Calvin Klein Jeans advertisements filled the display windows.

Above it all was a giant outdoor sign pushing Adidas running shoes. It bore a large photograph of China's hurdles champion, Liu Xiang, with Olympic rings and the inscription in Chinese, "Nothing is impossible," followed by a translation into English, "Impossible is nothing."